NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, addressing a town hall event named ‘Mahila Samman Samaroh,’ has urged women not to serve dinner to their husbands if they “chant” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name. This statement comes in the wake of the Delhi government’s announcement of the ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana,’ a scheme providing Rs 1,000 monthly to women above 18 years.
During the event, Kejriwal emphasised the need for women to influence their family members to support him and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He encouraged them to swear upon the women in their families that they would back AAP, stating, “Tell them that I have made their electricity-free, their bus tickets free, and now I’m giving these Rs 1,000 to women every month. What has the BJP done for them? Why vote for the BJP then? Vote for Kejriwal this time.”
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Kejriwal took a swipe at the BJP, defending his empowerment scheme by stating, “They (BJP) say this scheme will spoil women. They say Kejriwal is wasting money by giving Rs 1,000 to every woman in the city. I ask them when you waived off big loans of a lot of people, weren’t they spoilt?”
Highlighting the alleged superficiality of women’s empowerment in politics, Kejriwal stated, “The parties give some post to a woman and say that women have been empowered. I am not saying that women should not get posts, they should get big posts and tickets, they should get everything. But only two or four women benefit from this. What do the rest of the women get?”
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Kejriwal asserted that the ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana’ would bring real empowerment, proclaiming it as the “biggest women empowerment program” globally. “Empowerment will happen when there is money. Real empowerment will happen now when every woman gets Rs 1,000 every month,” he stated. Linking the empowerment initiative to political support, Kejriwal urged women voters to cast their ballots for AAP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“It is your responsibility to now convince your husbands, brothers, fathers, and other people in the locality to vote for the person who is working for their benefit.”
In a direct appeal, Kejriwal advised women to withhold dinner from husbands chanting Modi’s name, positioning the act as a form of protest against perceived political allegiance.