NEW DELHI/ GUJARAT: Ahead of upcoming Gujrat Assembly election, AAP National Convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal announced another guarantee for the state on Tuesday, saying that his party will restore the Old Pension Scheme in the state.
Kejriwal said, “Government employees of Gujarat are on the streets demanding the restoration of the old pension scheme. They are disappointed and agonised by the apathy of the state government.
“The AAP government is going to implement the old pension scheme in Punjab, we will implement it in Gujarat similarly. If the present Gujarat Government can implement the old pension scheme then it must do so immediately, otherwise AAP will do it. Imperative to throw the present BJP Government out of power, their ego has superseded their senses because of their 27 year long rule. Government employees should come together and prepare to remove these people from power. Please silently work on this internally for the next two months,” he said.
Later in the day, the AAP Convenor also addressed a Parent-Teacher Town Hall in Vadodara to discuss the broken education system of Gujarat. He informed how AAP tried to book 13 different halls to hold the Shiksha Samvad in Gujarat but ‘these people’ threatened the owners and got the events shelved.
He stated, “These people think that we are so weak as a nation that they can stop conversations over education by threatening people. We will come to Gujarat, talk about education, fix schools, transform the education system, do whatever you can, you can’t break out spirits. We have to scrap the clerical education system of the British and establish an entrepreneurial education system of our own land; we have to make job providers not job seekers. They played out dirty politics by keeping the masses undereducated and underprivileged to harness a votebank for themselves.”
Addressing a press conference in Vadodara. He said, “For the past few days, government employees in Gujarat are holding a vehement protest. They are extremely stressed and angry. For the first time, such a large number of government employees took to the street and gheraoed the Secretariat. All they are demanding is that the Old Pension Scheme should be brought back. I guarantee to those employees that we will implement the Old Pension Scheme when the AAP comes to power in Gujarat.”
He continued, “Yesterday, the CM of Punjab gave orders to implement the Old Pension System in his state. The way we are gearing up to implement the system in Punjab, we will do the same in Gujarat. I appeal to all the employees to continue their movement. If the current government gives you the Old Pension System, well and good and if they don’t, we are only two months away from the elections. We will give you the Old system after forming a government.”
Kejriwal added, “State Government employees play a pivotal role in bringing a particular party to power during elections in that particular state. I request them that this government is corrupt. They are indulged in all sorts of wrong deeds and they are anti-people. They have been in power for 27 years and now they are full of arrogance. We have to oust them from power at once. We all have to come together and work towards defeating them.”
He appealed, “All we want is one chance. These people keep coming back during every election and ask for one more chance. When we come to campaigning in the next elections, we will only ask you to vote for us if we deliver what we promised. All the government employees can raise awareness about our vision internally. You can also raise awareness through social media or word of mouth.”
The AAP National Convenor said, “We have also observed something interesting that both these parties have colluded against us. They hurl a lot of abuse on me. They call me a liar, a terrorist and what not. What’s astonishing is that both of them have the same expression and choice of words. What wrong have I done when I say that we will help the people of Gujarat in getting rid of inflation? These parties abuse me for this because they do not want the inflation to go away. When I say that people of Gujarat should get electricity free-of-cost, these parties cannot digest this. When I said that we will transform the government schools of Gujarat, these parties started attacking me.”
“My only fault is that I am talking about the welfare and progress of people of Gujarat. Both of these parties are opposing us left-right and centre. In the upcoming days, both of these parties will field their national leaders for election campaigns and they will abuse me. They will call me a thief, corrupt person and all sorts of names”, he continued.
Kejriwal concluded, “Today, ex-servicemen of Armed Forces who belong to Gujarat are protesting. Forest Guards are also protesting. I saw a video where a uniformed personnel is fighting with another personnel in uniform. This is not a good sight. National Health Mission workers are also protesting. LRD (Waiting), VCs from several villages, teachers and farmers have also taken to roads. It looks like the entire Gujarat is on the streets. I want to assure all of them that the moment AAP will come to power, we will resolve all your grievances.”
The Delhi CM said, “We have brought remarkable progress in Delhi within a span of 7-8 years. However, if there is one thing which gives me maximum satisfaction, something which I can tell God after my death, it has to be transforming the government schools. It is the most pious thing which we could have done. Now they will have a bright future and I can die peacefully that my life was devoted for the welfare of this planet. When we came to power in Delhi, the government schools were as bad as they are in today’s Gujarat. There were two parallel systems. One for the poor children and the other one for rich children. Not just the rich, if someone managed to have some savings, they used to send their children to private schools. Even if it means sleeping with an empty stomach. They made so much sacrifice for a better future for their children.”
He added, “Government schools were in a pitiable condition. Students used to fail frequently because no classes used to take place. Teachers do not even come to class. However, the poor people do not have a choice except sending their children to government schools. Dropout rates were very high because the parents lost hope from the system. They used to involve their children in their shops so that they could lend a hand in earning money for the family. Even the parents whose children were going to private schools were not happy. Private schools used to charge hefty fees and they were arbitrarily hiking the fees whenever they wished to. They were being run by a mafia who did not spare any opportunity to loot the parents by charging picnic fees, development fees and what not. Many parents were forced to take out their children from private schools because they did not have money to pay fees.”
He continued, “After seven years of committed governance, we have given excellent government schools to the people of Delhi. People see the photos of our schools on social media and ask me if we have transformed all the schools. Yes, we have transformed all of them. But there are other government schools under the MCD which are still in pathetic condition and BJP is solely responsible for it because they reign over the MCD. MCD elections are about to take place and the people of Delhi will bring us to power. We will transform MCD schools as well. Delhi Government schools are already excellent. And we need not praise ourselves, facts speak for themselves. The biggest proof is that 4 lakh students studying in private schools have taken a transfer to government schools.”
He said, “1100 students from our public schools have passed the NEET and IIT exams. My country has provided me with a very good education throughout my life. I’ve promised to do all in my power to ensure that every child in the nation receives the same high-quality education that I did. I’m overjoyed that I was able to provide every Delhi youngster such education today. The children of rickshaw drivers, the working poor, plumbers, security guards, and carpenters now in Delhi receive the same education that I did. The only way to end poverty in this nation is via education. Our nation will get rid of poverty if we provide our children with a proper education.
During the Shiksha Samvad, AAP National Convenor responded to a query raised by the parents’ of differently-abled children by saying, “A separate class would be created for them. We can’t do it by ourselves, so we’ll unite Gujarat’s 6.5 crore people to help us create a new educational system. The whole of our educational system is flawed. This is based on Macaulay’s methodology. The 1830s saw the development of this system. We made a serious mistake in 1947. I have a lot of respect for all the freedom fighters, but after India gained its independence, the British educational system should have been abolished and a new system should have been created specifically for the country.”
He added, “In Delhi, we are putting effort towards this. Children should become job givers and not jobseekers. This system has been implemented in Delhi. We have begun conducting Entrepreneurship classes for 11th and 12th kids. Every child receives two thousand rupees from us. Some young people form groups and have established profitable enterprises. A team of 52,000 people has been created and is working on the business as of right now. Rich people are making investments in their businesses today. Now, the job seekers would become the job givers when these kids finish school.”
He continued, “In the government schools of Delhi, we have begun taking classes on business, happiness, and patriotism. By dismantling the entire British educational system, we must introduce a new one throughout the nation.”
Kejriwal said, “The country has been independent for 75 years. This period is not small. Despite having the best engineers and doctors in the world, our nation is trailing behind. Our kids now travel to Ukraine to study medicine. It’s unfortunate. Children from all throughout the world used to study in our country at Nalanda University in ancient India. But what is happening to our nation right now? We must equip our nation so that students from all around the world come here to study, rather than sending our own youngsters elsewhere. These people accuse me of giving free ki rewari. All of this is being done for the benefit of the populace. I don’t bring cash home. In Delhi, we offer free yoga classes. Every morning, free yoga courses are offered in Delhi’s parks. We will also promote yoga in Gujarat.”
He added, “In Delhi, we are constructing an opulent residential school where street children will be accepted and efforts will be made to integrate them into society. Gujarat suffers from a chronic teacher shortage. We will hire a huge number of teachers here. Leaders of various political ideologies oppose the country’s youth receiving a quality education. They have engaged in petty politics for the last 70–75 years to keep the populace uneducated and underprivileged, so that they keep getting votes without doing any work. We have to stop this.”
Kejriwal said, “I do not want a vote bank. I want an educated, powerful, and prosperous India. If the Aam Aadmi Party wins the election and establishes the government, we will give a bright future to your children. For your children, we will construct schools. This violence, dishonest politics, and corruption will continue if you support these people. I am also a common man just like you. Nobody in this nation knew who Kejriwal was until ten years ago. Like you, I was leading a simple life. If good people like us don’t get involved in politics, how can the politics of the country improve? Shri Anna Hazare used to say that Politics is muck. I believe that in order to clean the muck, I would have to kneel in it and clean it with Jhaadu.”
The Aam Aadmi Party crushed the BJP’s ambition to knit another web of lies to mislead the public. Senior AAP Leader and MLA Shri Dilip Pandey challenged the BJP to prove the authenticity of their allegations saying, “BJP is working out of frustration as it has sensed defeat in Gujarat. All the agencies like CBI-ED are under their control and yet they are unable to imprison us; this clearly exposes their lies. All their might is proving insufficient to stop AAP’s juggernaut. All the people of Delhi and the country are convinced that all allegations hurled by BJP are blatant lies.”
Meanwhile, National Spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Gaurav Bhatia today said that in the new excise policy, the corruption of Kejriwal is being exposed continuously. The contract for L-7 zone number 19 was awarded to Universal Distributor whose partner is Karamjit Singh Lamba, who is very close to Kejriwal. In fact, ignoring all the rules, he gave the contract to Karamjit Singh Lamba, a former municipal councilor so that black money would come to him.
Addressing a joint press conference with state BJP president Adesh Gupta today, Bhatia asked Kejriwal and Sisodia the question as to why they were distributing the revadis of corruption to these close ones. Kejriwal did not reply even on the issue of waiving off of Rs 144 crore by loss of revenue. From the same Rs 144 crore amount, 40 per cent, i.e. 66 crore rupees had been waived of this Universal Distributor. He said that all those to whom Kejriwal distributed the certificate of honesty proved to be staunch dishonest and called his own ministers and MLAs freedom fighters but the truth is that they are symbols of corruption and nothing else. National Spokesperson Sardar R P Singh and state BJP media relations in-charge Harish Khurana were present in the press conference.
Bhatia said that Kejriwal has not answered any questions of BJP till date because he talks without any facts, proofs and issues but BJP presents everything with facts. He said that the people of Delhi are watching who did the work of looting the revenue of Delhi and distributing it among their friends. That’s why while you can avoid BJP’s questions, but can’t escape punishment by people.
Gupta said that if one wants to do gimmicky politics, then no one will be better than Kejriwal for that. Only Kejriwal can pretend to take an auto ride on one hand and by flying in a chartered plane on the other. But the reality is that Kejriwal has become synonymous with corruption. He said that Kejriwal had made the liquor policy only so that he could collect crores of rupees and spend that amount like water in the elections. By using the money of tax payers politically, Kejriwal is only playing the victim card.
He wondered as to for how long will Kejriwal keep away from BJP’s questions. The people of Delhi have come to know that there is no difference between Kejriwal and corruption. That’s why they have also stopped expecting from ‘byanveer’ Kejriwal and have now made up their mind to get rid of him from Delhi. He said that the BJP’s fight against corruption will go from the people of Delhi to every street and locality, which will uproot Kejriwal from power.
Responding to allegation, Senior AAP Leader and MLA Dilip Pandey said, “BJP held a press conference again today only to waste the valuable time of all of us. They gave a proof of their frustration and incompetence. It is nothing but ‘BJP ki baukhlahat kyunki Gujarat mein woh dekh pa rahe hai apni haar ki aahat’. BJP is good for nothing. They have all the power in this country and all the investigation agencies are in their control. CBI, ED, Income Tax Department and Police have the mandate to work on their command and yet they hold a press conference daily to pull another gimmick to distract us from real issues.”
He added, “We are continuously asking why all the claims you are making are only with the media and not with CBI or ED? Why don’t you do something to prove that your claims are true and provide answers to the public? You have all the agencies under your control. Why don’t you make any arrests? They are bringing up irrelevant names and pictures to establish their connection with our leaders which makes no sense. Can you call this evidence? Is it a joke? You have made a mockery of the investigation process. If there is anything wrong, you can arrest us. You’re bringing printouts of random photos to implicate us. Do you think by presenting irrelevant pictures and numbers you can establish your case? Neither they are able to prove that we have done anything wrong nor they are able to arrest us.”
मैं आपके बच्चों को अच्छी शिक्षा देने की बात करता हूं तो ये नेता मुझे गालियां देने लगते हैं।
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) September 20, 2022
ये दूसरी पार्टियों के नेता आपके बच्चों को अनपढ़ रखना चाहते हैं ताकि उनका वोट-बैंक बना रहे।
मैं आपके बच्चों का भविष्य और एक समृद्ध भारत बनाना चाहता हूं। pic.twitter.com/Qs1SNGY6WQ