NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the AAP government in Delhi of wasting a decade fighting with the Center and urged his people to give the BJP a chance to turn the national capital into a city of the future. The chief minister also assured that no public welfare scheme would be disrupted if the BJP came to power, but the party government would eliminate corruption in its implementation.
Addressing a rally in Rohini area, Modi called the AAP government a “disaster” that had hit Delhi and claimed that the BJP would usher in change.
“Only when this ‘aapda (disaster)’ is resolved in Delhi, the double engine of development will come into action,” Modi said.
The prime minister said the Center had been developing roads in Delhi, expanding the Metro network, starting the Namo Bharat Regional Rapid Transit System and running big hospitals.
“However, the moment you step out of a subway station, you can see roads full of potholes and overflowing sewers. In some areas, even car and taxi drivers refuse to drive due to long traffic jams,” said.
“In the last 10 years, Delhi has witnessed a state government that is nothing less than an ‘aapda (disaster)’! Delhiites have realized this. Only one voice resonates in Delhi: ‘Aapda nahi sahenge, badal kar rahenge (will tolerate disaster, will bring change),” Modi said.
The chief minister said that when the people of Delhi were grappling with COVID-19, struggling to find oxygen and medicines, the “aapda people” were solely focused on building their “Sheesh Mahal”.
“They made a huge budget for ‘Sheesh Mahal’. This is their truth… They don’t care about the people of Delhi. That’s why every Delhiite today is saying… ‘we won’t tolerate aapda, we will do it.’ change,'” he said.
Modi also accused the AAP government of spreading fear that a BJP government in Delhi would disrupt various welfare schemes implemented by it.
The chief minister asserted that a new BJP government would implement central schemes which he claimed had been stalled by the AAP government with renewed vigour.
“For Delhi, these people have made every season, every climate, ‘aapda kaal’. The energy of Delhiites is spent in dealing with ‘aapda’ throughout the year,” he said.
“Aapda” was turning every season into an emergency, with water shortage, waterlogging and pollution, the chief minister alleged. “Therefore, only if the AAP is withdrawn from Delhi will the dual engine of development and good governance come.”
“We are in the 21st century and 25 years have passed. Two or three generations have entered their youth. The next 25 years are very important for Delhi. In the next 25 years we will see India emerging as a developed nation before your eyes. “All of us will be stakeholders in this journey,” Modi said.
The national capital should be part of this glorious journey, he added.
“In Delhi, people blessed the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections and now, in the assembly elections, they are expected to bless the BJP. This is a golden opportunity to win the heart of Delhi and free it from the disaster (‘ aapda’),” he said.