Ahead of the upcoming Assembly election, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday announced a campaign to publicise the subsidised services provided by the Delhi government. The drive — ‘Revri par charcha’ — will be run from November 25 to December 10, during which party workers will hold 65,000 public meetings across the city to inform residents about the “freebies” or “revris” provided by the AAP government.
The campaign takes its name from a comment made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2022, when he, in an apparent dig at AAP, said that “revri culture” had saddened the average taxpayer. Mr. Kejriwal has since raised the issue several times, connecting the rising inflation with the need for subsidised services. Last month, the former Delhi Chief Minister likened himself to a “halwai” [confectioner] “who has given six freerevris to citizens of Delhi — electricity, education, water, health care, pilgrimage for the elderly, and bus travel for women”.
Addressing party workers, Mr. Kejriwal said, “We’re soon going to introduce a seventh revri: ₹1,000 per month for every woman.”
He added that the party’s district and booth-level office-bearers will reach out to voters during the 19-day drive “to make people understand what these free facilities mean and how only AAP can provide them”.
The AAP chief said the BJP does not provide any of the six free services in even one of the 20 States where it is in power. “Moreover, it is the BJP’s commitment to stop all the freerevris in Delhi.”
He also said that AAP workers will ask voters what the BJP, which is in power at the Centre, has done for Delhi in the past 10 years as “the national capital is a half-State and the Central government has as many powers as we do”.
‘People’s right’
Attacking Delhi’s ruling party over its poll drive, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva accused the AAP government of blocking city dwellers’ access to the Central government schemes, such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, and PM Vishwakarma Yojana.
“Receiving the benefits of public welfare schemes is the right of every Delhiite. If BJP comes to power, it will ensure that these rights are upheld, all Central government schemes are implemented, and the scope of the existing State government schemes is expanded,” said Mr. Sachdeva.
Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav said that even after being in power for over 10 years, the AAP government is being forced to promote its schemes “as there was nothing visible to the residents of the Capital”.
Published - November 23, 2024 01:46 am IST
