In a sharp attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of Delhi Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday dubbed it a “disaster” that had struck the national capital. Lashing out at the AAP-led Delhi government, PM Modi accused it of wasting a decade fighting with the Centre and urged its people to give the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) an opportunity to turn the national capital into a city of the future.
While addressing a rally in Delhi’s Rohini area in the runup to the assembly polls, the Prime Minister also assured that no public welfare scheme would be discontinued if the saffron party assumed power, but the BJP government would weed out the corruption in their implementation. He also emphasized that the BJP would usher in change. “Only when this ‘aapda (disaster)’ is gotten rid of in Delhi will the double engine of development come in,” Modi said.
PM Modi said the Centre had been developing highways in Delhi, expanding the Metro network, starting the Namo Bharat Regional Rapid Transit System, and running big hospitals. “However, the moment you step out of a Metro station, you can see potholed roads and overflowing sewers. Some areas are such that even auto and cab drivers refuse to ply due to long traffic jams,” he said.
“In the past 10 years, Delhi has witnessed a state government that is no less than an ‘aapda (disaster)’! Delhiites have realized this. Only one voice is reverberating in Delhi: ‘Aapda nahi sahenge, badal kar rahenge (We will not tolerate disaster; we will bring change),” Modi said.
Continuing his attack on the AAP and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, the Prime Minister said when the people of Delhi were grappling with COVID-19, struggling to find oxygen and medicines, the entire focus of the “aapda people” was on building their “Sheesh Mahal.”
“They made a huge budget for the ‘Sheesh Mahal.’ This is their truth… They do not care about the people of Delhi. That is why every Delhiite today is saying, ‘We will not tolerate aapda; we will change,'” he said. PM Modi also accused the AAP government of spreading fear that the government of the saffron party in the national capital would discontinue several welfare schemes implemented by it.
The Prime Minister asserted that a new BJP government would implement central schemes that, he claimed, had been stalled by the AAP government with renewed vigour. “For Delhi, these people have made every season, every weather, ‘aapda kaal.’ The energy of Delhiites is spent in dealing with ‘aapda’ throughout the year,” he said. “Aapda” turned every season into an emergency, with water shortages, waterlogging, and pollution, the Prime Minister alleged.
“Therefore, only if AAP is removed from Delhi will the double engine of development and good governance come.” “We are in the 21st century, and 25 years have passed. Two or three generations have entered their youth. The next 25 years are very important for Delhi. The next 25 years will see India emerging as a developed nation before their eyes. We all will be stakeholders in this journey,” Modi said.
The national capital should be a part of this glorious journey, he added. “In Delhi, people blessed the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections and now, in the assembly polls, are set to bless the BJP. This is a golden opportunity to win the heart of Delhi and free it of disaster (‘aapda’),” he said.
