Home Elections You can come and pull my ears if we don’t make Delhi world-class: Amit Shah

You can come and pull my ears if we don’t make Delhi world-class: Amit Shah

Button Babarpur se dabna, current Shaheen Bagh tak jaana chahiye: Amit Shah

Shah takes out a roadshow in Ghonda Sunday. (Express Photo: Gajendra Yadav)

Addressing a public gathering in North East Delhi’s Babarpur Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a fresh attack on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for not implementing the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat health scheme in the capital.

“In Delhi, if anyone falls sick and can’t afford treatment at a hospital, then the family believes in dying a slow death rather than affording treatment cost. Modi ji has given affordable and free treatment to 7 crore people under the Ayushman Bharat scheme… But people in Babarpur and other parts of Delhi are not receiving its benefits as the Kejriwal government has refused to implement the scheme in the national capital. Now it’s his responsibility to treat patients. For 15 years you gave a chance to the Congress, and five years to AAP. I guarantee now that we will turn Delhi into a world-class city if we come into power. If that does not happen, you can come and pull my ears,” said Shah, requesting people to vote for the BJP in the February 8 Assembly polls.

Read | Not right to insult people of Delhi, says Arvind Kejriwal

While AAP’s Babarpur candidate is Delhi unit chief Gopal Rai, the BJP has fielded Naresh Gaur.

Blaming the CM for “spreading lies”, Shah alleged that none of the poll promises made by the AAP government have been fulfilled in the last five years. He also took a dig at the government for not installing enough CCTVs across the capital.

“Several surveys have been conducted across the country in which a government tops in pure water, another ranks number one in road construction and some others in electrification. But the Kejriwal government hasn’t won a single award. His government tops the chart of liars. Last time, they managed to get one video of mine on a CCTV, where I was asking the government about the number of cameras placed in Delhi. I want to ask Kejriwal ji, it was one of the cameras which was smartly placed, where are the others?” he said.

On the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Shah once again reiterated the need to implement it. “Recently, Modi ji implemented CAA in the country. The Act offers to give citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsis living in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who have witnessed inhuman behaviour for many years. Is it wrong to give them citizenship?” he asked.

Shah’s speech on Sunday started with Shaheen Bagh — the site of an anti-CAA protest led by women that has been raging for over a month —and ended with the same. At another event on Saturday, Shah had said there should be “no Shaheen Bagh” in Delhi. “Button Babarpur se dabna chahiye lekin uska current Shaheen Bagh tak jaana chahiye,” he said.

As Shah spoke about CAA, a man shouted “CAA wapas lo”. After the Home Minister left, conversations swelled around CAA, Kashmir, and the AAP government. “There has been too much talk about the CAA, which is why Amit ji is here to explain it to the public. Modi ji and Amit Shah have been working towards the development and safety of the country. We need leaders like them,” said Sonu Kumar, a resident of Babarpur.

Sukanya Sharma, another resident, disagreed: “CAA is fine but for us, the Kejriwal government has given free power and water supply. Our life has become easier and expenses have gone down. We don’t know about the country but at least our house is safe.”

Those who despise Gandhi against protests: Chidambaram

A day after Home Minister Amit Shah asked the people of Delhi to vote for BJP to get rid of the protests in Shaheen Bagh, Congress leader P Chidambaram hit out at him, saying only those who “despise” Mahatma Gandhi would want to get rid of such protests. “Home Minister seeks votes to ‘get rid of Shaheen Bagh’. Only those who despise Gandhiji would want to get rid of Shaheen Bagh….. Shaheen Bagh represents the essence of Mahatma Gandhi. Getting rid of Shaheen Bagh amounts to getting rid of Ahimsa and Satyagraha,” Chidambaram tweeted. Addressing a BJP event on Saturday, Shah had said, “We want a Delhi which is free of pollution, where every household has clean water to drink and electricity for 24 hours…. there are no traffic jams and there is never a Shaheen Bagh.”

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