NEW DELHI: Chief minister

says

created Shaheen Bagh because it could not counter the good work done by the

government in the past five years. In a wide-ranging interview with

Subhendu Mukherjee

and

Alok KN Mishra,

a day before campaigning comes to an end, he offered to open a window for cooperating with the corporations by giving them funds for specific projects, recalled how the Anna movement was all about hardcore patriotism, expressed concern about the violence wracking university campuses, and reiterated his commitment to work for the people of Delhi.

In any election, there is a lot of rhetoric from all sides. But this time personal attacks and communal overtones reached unprecedented levels. You were called a terrorist more than once, even by a Union minister. Where do you think is it coming from?

Do you wish Shaheen Bagh had not happened?

Independent of this, Shaheen Bagh has emerged as a symbol of the anti-CAA movement. What would you like to say about it?

Except for fielding Manish Sisodia and Bhagwant Mann, you carried the burden of the entire campaigning for your party while BJP unleashed a phalanx of senior leaders in the past 15 days. Will this have any effect on the election outcome?

AAP’s manifesto has promised deshbhakti curriculum. What was the need for it?

Political observers feel you are taking a soft nationalist stand.

kattar rashtrabhakt

Is that the reason why you did not go to Shaheen Bagh, Jamia and JNU?

Do you empathize with the students because there is turmoil in all campuses.

So, whom do you blame for this?

How is Arvind Kejriwal of February 2015 and that of February 2020 different? What has five years of being chief minister taught you and how has it changed you?

dhurandhar

You spoke about patience. Do you think that the initial one or two years were spent in combat. It could have been utilised in a better way.

You spoke about sanitation. What is the reason behind Delhi being a dirty city? What do you plan to do about it?

How will you tackle this?

Municipal polls are far away. You have promised to focus on sanitation in a major way. But the performance of the municipal corporations, which say that they are starved of funds, does affect the quality of life in Delhi. What is the way out?

Is there a way to address the grievance of corporation on funds?

You have questioned BJP about the lack of a chief minister face. Amit Shah has said that every citizen of Delhi is BJP’s CM candidate.

Pollution is Delhi’s biggest problem and it affects the poor the most. You did odd-even and the pollution level has come down but it is still a major issue.

BJP leaders are promising smog towers for Delhi.

Congress appears to be absent from the election campaign in Delhi. There are rumours that Congress has worked out a tactical alliance with Aam Aadmi Party.

You talked about giving transport a push in the next five years but buses did not come to Delhi in as many numbers as expected.

The modes of para transit like autos, e-rickshaws and grameen sevas are known for breaking traffic laws. Efforts to regulate them trigger an outcry on grounds like they belong to economically backward section.

The issue of hanging of Nirbhaya convicts has turned political when it is actually a legal issue. How did this happen?

But Nirbhaya’s parents are blaming your government.

You have been urging people to vote for AAP irrespective of the parties they belong to. Are you disassociating elections from ideology? And what has been your feedback?

Does that mean scaling down of your national ambitions?

The Anna movement which led to AAP’s birth and your party forming the government had a larger message and a larger resonance, much beyond Delhi. What will happen to that if you confine yourself to local issues?

Does that mean you want to adopt a non-confrontational approach with the Centre?

How has your relationship with the lieutenant governor evolved?

How will the guarantee card that you launched a few days back work and what if midway progress is very slow and things do not turn out the way they should be. Will the response to criticism also be innovative?

Those who have left you — like Kapil Mishra and Kumar Vishwas — are bitter and indulge in personal attacks on you. They were close to you. How do you react to it?

Law and order is not under you but we have seen since Sheila Dikshit’s time that its implementation always has implications for the Delhi government. What is your assessment of Delhi Police?

What do you have to say about the man who fired at Shaheen Bagh and has turned out to be an AAP worker, according to the police?

Are the pictures fake?

Do you think EC has done enough to check hate speech in the elections?

How have been your meetings with the PM and home minister?

Your manifesto talks about developing the river front. Isn’t that what the Centre will be doing?

During Sheila Dikshit’s tenure, infrastructure got a big push. Do you think your government has done enough for infrastructure?

We are staunch nationalists: Arvind Kejriwal's exclusive to TOI

It is happening because BJP does not have anything to counter the work that has been done in Delhi. It has tried everything but failed to punch holes in our work. It came out with photographs of some of our schools but these turned out to be fake. It came up with some videos of mohalla clinics but these too turned out to be fake. It came up with the water issue but that too didn’t wash with people. They were left with nothing. They gathered all parties — JD(U), RJD and LJP and formed an alliance — but that did not work. Now they have fielded 200 MPs, 70 union ministers, 11 CMs without any results. They have no option left and are trying to polarize on the lines of Hindu-Muslim.It is BJP that’s deriving benefit from Shaheen Bagh. It is contesting the election on the issue of Shaheen Bagh only, nothing else. The road should be opened. Everyone wants that road to be opened. It is obstructing school buses and ambulances and causing a half-an-hour commute to stretch over three hours. Amit Shah is home minister and the most powerful man in this country. Nobody is going to believe that he cannot get a road opened. It can be opened within 10 minutes if he wishes. He does not want to get the road opened because he wants to keep the Shaheen Bagh issue alive. It is very sad that for one election, he has for one-and-a-half months put people to trouble. Shaheen Bagh has been created only and only by BJP for elections.Shaheen Bagh is an issue only because of the blocked road. Otherwise, it’s not a Delhi specific issue but a national one.We are a small Delhi-centric party and have a shortage of faces. Incidentally, this time all are contesting the election and are busy in their respective assembly constituencies. Manish, Sanjay Singh and Gopal Rai, besides me, have done many public meetings. We do not have many leaders of national stature. Our biggest strength is our people and our work. BJP does not have a counter to our work. They cannot explain what they did in the MCD in the past 15 years. People of Delhi gave me the responsibility for schools and we made the schools better. They gave them responsibility for sanitation and they turned Delhi into a garbage dump (kuda ghar). I want to ask BJP what they have done for a clean Delhi. If Shaheen Bagh ceases to exist as an issue today, they won’t know what to say in their election speeches.Gandhiji had said a student who comes out of school or college should have three qualities — he should be a good human being, be capable of earning for his family and should be a hardcore nationalist. We started the happiness curriculum for making them good human beings, entrepreneurship for pet bharne ke liye (earning a meal) and deshbhakti for making them hardcore nationalists.We are not soft nationalists, we are hardcore nationalists. We have come out of the Anna movement. Under the Anna movement, we put the Indian flag in the hands of every child and it became a matter of pride. We are(hardcore patriots).I do not have any role in that, I have my limitations. I am Delhi CM. I am responsible for education, health, power and water. In case the corporation faces a problem tomorrow, I would not poke my nose in that. It is a law and order problem related to CAA and NRC and I do not have any role in that. Amit Shah will have to tackle it.Violence and politics taking over colleges is not a good thing. We all send our children to study and make a career. Such violence causes a sense of insecurity among people about their children. All over the country, people are feeling insecure about where they should send their children and it is not about three or four universities.I blame the central government. We should keep party politics away from university campuses.I think we are more experienced and have got a little more patience now. When we were out of government, we used to wonder like any other common man why hospitals, roads, schools and water supply are in bad condition and do not improve. We used to feel it has been 70 years, and it must be very complex — that’s why they are unable to do it. All parties have tried but nothing happened.But the earth-shaking changes witnessed in Delhi (in the past five years) prove it can be done. They were all(bigwigs) but the intent was missing. Everyone was looking for personal benefits, and if a person is occupied with personal benefits all time, he will not think about the country and progress. We are not here for making money. We are honest and want to work. Barring the administrative problems due to the power tussle with the lieutenant governor and the Centre, things have moved very fast. Education, health, electricity and water sectors have witnessed big changes. It has ignited hope and now we have a vision for the next five years.The administrative structure had made us restless. After a Delhi high court order, all files were being routed to the LG. The HC almost said that the CM is only an adviser to the LG. How can that be in a democracy? All files were sent to the LG and he did not clear them due to political reasons. It caused restlessness because we had a huge mandate and we were unable to do anything. Ultimately, it is our accountability...people will question us. Subsequently, the SC judgment changed the scenario. It gave us more power.BJP in the municipal corporations does not have any intent to clean Delhi. It is not rocket science. The world has many well-known sanitation firms. If you float a global tender, many companies will come up and clean Delhi.We will do it and make the corporations do it. We will contest the civic elections and hope to win. It’s not rocket science. The most difficult part was education. Building construction, toilet cleaning and water supply were relatively easier. Motivating teachers and doctors was difficult. Now government doctors and teachers are being appreciated. This will also be done.There are many ways of doing things. We had a list of work to do with MCD before the civic elections — vacuum cleaning and painting of roads to make them look tidier. For Yamuna cleaning, we are in an advanced stage of addressing the issue of four major drains flowing into that river by cleaning them with STPs. A lot of work will be done before the corporation elections and a lot after that.We will give the corporations funds earmarked for specific projects — like we are giving you these funds for solid waste management only. Otherwise, they end up diverting funds.That is a political position. People have the right to know who the chief minister face will be, whom they are voting for. People elect a CM but BJP does not believe in democracy. If you make an illiterate person CM later, it will be like cheating people of Delhi. BJP should disclose their CM face. I want to debate with him.The silver lining is that pollution has come down, not gone up. In other cities, pollution is going up but we have brought it down by 25%. In 2015, the average AQI was 155 while it was 115 last year. The real problem manifests between October and February due to stubble burning and temperature inversion. Due to frequent power cuts, around 6 lakh generators were operational in 2015 in Delhi. The 24-hour power supply has led to the generators being switched off. Eastern and western peripheral expressways, increase of green cover with 1100 acres of additional land being used for afforestation and other factors have reduced pollution.In next five years we will take several steps, including tackling of dust pollution and greening of open areas. Transport will get a push which we hope will reduce the number of two-wheelers. As of now, no one knows the real sources of pollution because we do not have equipment to measure. Pollution changes every minute and varies from month to month. So, we have tied up with Washington University. From April 1, a lab for real-time source apportionment of pollution will be functional and on-the-spot decisions about tackling particular reasons for pollution can be taken.Smog towers are overrated. We had sent some people to China to study smog towers, but these have not been successful. If they are successful, we will install them.We do not have any understanding with any party. I believe Congress will get confined to 2% to 3% of vote share in this election. Various surveys are showing that they have been reduced to a vote share of 2% to 3%. People do not see any hope in Congress.The reason was that in 2017 we had executed the work order for new buses but someone went to HC and got a stay on purchase. It took us three years to get the stay vacated. It was vacated only six-seven months ago. It caused a delay. But buses have now started coming, and in four to five months I think we will have 4000 more.Delhi is facing an overall issue of traffic indiscipline and it involves all vehicles. It is related to enforcement. Enforcement agencies are not under us. If the enforcement agencies become a little stricter, the situation will improve. Hike in traffic fines has led to some improvement.Delhi government does not have any role in it. We do not have the police or judicial system under us. Our role is confined to forwarding the files received from MHA to prison and the ones received from prison to MHA.Nirbhaya’s parents are simple folk and are being misled.I am saying that for the first time a party has improved schools and hospitals. If you vote for other parties, they will go back to their earlier condition. So, in national interest and in the interest of your own children, vote for AAP.There is no such national ambition. People of Delhi voted for me for Delhi. They will vote for me for Delhi for the next five years. I will be in Delhi for the next five years. The party will decide whether it wants to contest elections at other places.Improving schools is a national issue, not confined to Delhi. All over the country, schools are in a bad condition. Roads and hospitals should be better. Twenty first century India will not be built by Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizens. It will be built by better schools, colleges and hospitals and progress in our space programme. In the past five years, the capital has given the country a model of development. This model can build 21st century India.I was never confrontational. Whenever we were seen being confrontational, confrontation was imposed on us. Like LG was sitting over the CCTV camera file which was cleared after our dharna. We needed to get confrontational only to get work for people of Delhi done. After the Supreme Court judgment, we do not need to get confrontational anymore.He is an excellent person. I have high respect for him. We have very good relations. I think the Supreme Court judgement helped.I have given a five-year guarantee. I will be answerable if work is not done in five years.It feels bad but it is part of politics.Delhi Police is good. It can become the most efficient police force of the country provided those controlling it are good. They can control crime if they are given clear instructions and there is no interference.Delhi Police is being used as a political tool. As I told you, BJP has nothing to counter our work with. When nothing worked, they hurled abuses like terrorist, thug and anti-national at me. DelhiPolice is their last resort. Suddenly, before elections they have come up with some photos claiming that he is an AAP member. His family members have denied any links with AAP. The country is watching how Amit Shah is coming up with conspiracies at the last moment. The person must be punished, and if he turns out to be an AAP worker, give him double the punishment.I do not know. We do not know that person.I think they could have done much more. They could have stopped whatever is going on. They did take some steps but after the bans were lifted, they began all over again…lost any fear.After Narendra Modi became PM, I went to call on him. I told him he was the PM of the country and I the CM of the capital city. So, it is extremely important that both governments and both of us have extremely cordial relations. He appreciated that. The home minister has, however, not given me an appointment.It involves multiple agencies. I had advised them to create a special purpose vehicle for it like Delhi Metro. The first task is to clean the Yamuna and after that the river front will be developed. We will give the land we hold for the purpose.All infrastructure development under Sheila Dikshit took place during the Commonwealth Games. An amount of Rs 70,000 crore was pumped into the capital. In 15 years, 65 flyovers were constructed. Our government constructed 27 in five years. All such work fails to get any attention when people talk about our work in the areas of health, education, water and power which have been highlighted more.