AAP national convener and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of disregarding the legacy of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and social reformer Bhimrao Ambedkar. He also accused the party of being “worse than the British”.
Speaking at the AAP’s ‘Ek Shaam Shaheedon Ke Naam’ event, Kejriwal said that his party entered politics to fulfil the dreams of Bhagat Singh and Bhimrao Ambedkar and not for power.
“Our role models are Babasaheb Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh. Bhagat Singh used to say that merely removing the British was not enough, the structure of society had to change. Otherwise, brown rulers would replace the British,” Kejriwal was quoted as saying by PTI.
“This is exactly what has happened. Today’s rulers are worse than the British,” the former Delhi chief minister added in a jibe towards the BJP.
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He alleged that the BJP removed portraits of Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar from government offices in Delhi within 48 hours of assuming power. Kejriwal also accused the Congress of colluding with the BJP on the issue.
When we put up the pictures of these two, Congress protested that Gandhiji’s picture was not put up. However, when the BJP removed the photos of these two, Congress did not say anything. There is a collusion between these two…” Kejriwal said, according to ANI.
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Further, the former Delhi CM criticised the BJP government for allegedly restricting the free bus ride scheme for women in Delhi. He claimed that bus conductors in Delhi were denying free pink tickets to women unless they downloaded an app.
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“Why are they doing this? Instead of improving facilities, they are withdrawing the existing ones. By now, they should have started giving ₹2,500 to women but they have not,” he said, accusing the BJP of failing to fulfil its poll promises, reported PTI.