Ahead of heating assembly elections in Delhi next month, Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday claimed that the ruling Aam Aadmi Party was behind engineering riots in the city over the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the national capital will be unsafe if they are voted back to power.
He also hit out at Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who told a TV channel that he stood with Shaheen Bagh protesters, and said the AAP has worked to disrupt peace in the city. Shah also hit out at the Congress and said they have opposed every decision of the Modi government abrogation of Article 370, banning triple talaq, building Ram Temple.
Addressing a rally in Matiala in west Delhi, Amit Shah said, “Many a time Rahul baba (Rahul Gandhi) gives a statement. Kejriwal also gives a statement. Immediately, Pakistan prime minister gives a statement.”
“If you see their statements on YouTube, you will find similarity in them. I always think, what is the relation between them. What Rahul baba and Kejriwal say, Imran Khan says the same,” he added. He also accused the two of instigating the youth and minorities in the national capital, which saw a wave of violent protests last month over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Attacking the Aam Aadmi Party, Amit Shah said, “Delhi will not be safe if these people come to power. Those who want to engineer riots have no right to remain in power.”
He later addressed a roadshow in Uttam Nagar in west Delhi and a rally in Nangloi Jat in northwest Delhi. Amit Shah also took an aim at the two parties for backing the “tukde tukde gang” of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, a reference to Left-leaning students and activists of the varsity.
The BJP in the past has targeted the Aam Aadmi Party for not giving sanction to prosecute former JNU students union leader Kanhaiya Kumar in a sedition case. Although Delhi Police comes under Union Home Minister, Shah accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of flaring the violent protests in the capital.
Shah took on the Delhi government and Arvind Kejriwal over issues ranging from “unclean” drinking water to not fulfilling promises of giving free WiFi and stalling the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
“If there is a competition in the country of making false promises, Kejriwal would definitely get the first prize. I have come to remind you that you forgot the promises you made, but neither the people of Delhi nor BJP workers have forgotten,” he said. “Your vote will decide whether you want a government like that of Modi which works or one who constantly stages protests,” he added.
Amit Shah also listed out the work done by the Modi government for Delhi, like regularising 1,731 unauthorised colonies. He said if the BJP is voted to power, the party will implement 112 central government schemes that will benefit people. The Home Minister said for four-and-a-half years the chief minister kept saying “Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not let him work so development could not be done in Delhi”.
“Now, you (Kejriwal) are saying you developed Delhi in five years so ‘lage raho Kejriwal’,” he added. On providing clean drinking water, Amit Shah said Kejriwal announced a similar scheme three days after Prime Minister Modi announced it from the Red Fort on Independence Day last year. Shah alleged that the national capital currently gets “unclean” water. But if the BJP is voted to power, Delhi will get water as clean as bottled one.