Ramvir Singh Bidhuri is the MLA from the Badarpur Legislative Assembly constituency in Delhi and the Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Legislative Assembly. He started his political journey in 1970 as an ABVP member.

He was associated with Jana Sangh till 1974 as an active member. He was the Chairman of the Haryana State Warehousing Corporation with the rank of Cabinet Minister from 1981-85.

He was elected to the first Legislative Assembly of Delhi in 1993 and since then has been elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly four times. After being elected MLA for the fourth time in 2020, he was elected the Leader of the BJP Legislature Party and became the Leader of the Opposition with the rank of a cabinet minister. Bidhuri was nominated as a member of the National Executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2013.

In an interview with Nikhil Vyas, Bidhuri talks about the MCD polls, education and other issues related to the national capital.

Excerpts:

Q. What are the BJP’s prospects in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls?

A: MCD polls will be held and the BJP will come into power in the corporation for the fourth time. The integration of the Municipal Corporation will benefit the people of Delhi. Now there will be a contribution from the Union government in running the Corporation due to which the speed of development of the city will increase further. Earlier this year, the Centre unified the erstwhile south, north and east municipal corporations of Delhi, reducing the 272 wards under the three civic bodies to 250 under the MCD. When Arvind Kejriwal became the Chief Minister of Delhi, there were three MCDs. The amount which was meant for the MCD was not given by the Kejriwal government due to which development works in the city were hampered. During the Covid lockdown in Delhi, it was the MCD which carried out all testing and vaccination work successfully. Everyone saw the MCD’s role during the pandemic. The Kejriwal government completely failed in the health sector while addressing the Covid-19 situation. Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s timely intervention helped in handling the pandemic situation in Delhi. The work done by the BJP-ruled MCD during the Covid lockdown in the national capital and the host of development works in the city which were carried out by the Centre will definitely benefit BJP in MCD polls.

Q. How do you look at the city government’s education model in Delhi?

A: The Kejriwal government’s model of education has completely failed in the national capital. The AAP government has not opened any new Delhi government school, neither it has opened any new Delhi government college and also there is a shortage of teachers in the city government schools. Then how is it a world-class education model? In 83 per cent of Delhi government schools, there are no principals, is this a world-class education model? A total of 445 Delhi government schools have no vice principals. There are no science and commerce subjects in 755 Delhi government schools, then how is it a world-class education model? There is a shortage of 24,000 teachers in Delhi government schools. Forty per cent of students are absent from government schools. No new school has been opened by the AAP government in Delhi. The AAP government which had talked of opening 20 colleges in five years in Delhi has not opened a single college in 7.5 years. In Delhi government schools, there are a total of 600 vocational trainers and they don’t even get minimum wage. Not a single guest teacher was regularised in Delhi by the AAP government. There are 22,000 such guest teachers. There are 12 Delhi University colleges which are financed by the Delhi government. These colleges are experiencing a funding crisis and their condition is very poor. The Delhi government is unable to pay salaries to the teaching and non-teaching staff in the colleges fully funded by the Delhi government.

Q. What is the reason behind the Delhi government curtailing the duration of the Assembly session?

A: They are trying to avoid discussion on issues of public interest by curtailing the duration of the Assembly session. The AAP government has been running away from discussing the problems of the people. In the last two-and-a-half years, not even once was any discussion allowed on any proposal given by the opposition. There were a total of seven days of Question Hour in the Delhi Assembly in the last 2.5 years and no short-duration discussion was accepted during the Assembly sessions. Short Assembly sessions are convened so that the problems of the people of the national capital cannot be discussed.

Q.Which are the civic issues in Delhi that need to be addressed immediately?

A: Clean water, environment and drainage in the city should be addressed immediately. The issue of the public transport system also needs to be addressed as air pollution is on rising in the city. Another reason behind the rise of air pollution is dust. People are forced to use their own transport because the public transport system is not proper and also there are PWD roads in the city which are not good. Q. What do you think of the BJP’s prospects in the poll-bound states– Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh? A: The BJP governments in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have worked very hard for the development of the states in line with public expectations. I have no doubt that we will receive a decisive mandate from the people once again and come back to serve the people for five more years in both these states.