Delhi Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj lashed out at the Central government for not including the tableaux of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-ruled states, Delhi and Punjab, for the upcoming Republic Day Parade 2024 accusing the ruling BJP of vendetta.
Addressing a press conference over the issue on Friday, the senior AAP leader said the Delhi’s tableau was in line with the topic suggested by the Centre, ‘Viksit Bharat’, yet was rejected without assigning any reason.
Delhi had proposed to portray the education and health model of Delhi with mohalla clinics and government schools which was rejected by the Centre.
The minister said the rejection was no coincidence, but a revenge of the saffron party against the AAP governments as not only Delhi but the tableau of AAP-ruled Punjab was also rejected.
He said the tableaux were designed on the concept suggested by the Centre. If there were any changes in the proposed theme, suggestions could have been given. As such there was no competition in the selection process, he added.
Bharadwaj recalled in 2022, Delhi’s design with the theme ‘Resolve 75’ was rejected at the second round of meetings while in 2023 too Delhi’s design, which was based on the theme of ‘Nari Shakti’, was rejected.
On Thursday, addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, AAP chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said, “Not including the tableau of Delhi and Punjab in the Republic-Day parade reflects on the dirty politics being pursued by the BJP while the BJP-ruled states like Assam, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand are consistently given an opportunity at the Republic-Day parade. Like last time, this time too, Delhi and Punjab were sidelined.”
Kakkar said if Prime Minister Narendra Modi “had a heart as big as the people of Delhi”, he would have given Delhi a chance to participate in the parade.
She had said, “The health and education models are a matter of pride for Delhi. The government and the people of Delhi prioritise education. The think tank of the Central government, namely NITI Aayog, has stated that Delhi government schools are among the top 10 in the country because significant changes have been observed in the education system here. Former president of India, late Pranab Mukherjee, had also praised the government schools of Delhi. Similarly, when America’s former first lady Melania Trump also came to see Delhi government schools.”