Days after walking out of Tihar jail, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal gave a renewed push to the Aam Aadmi Party’s Lok Sabha polls campaign, announcing “Kejriwal ki Guarantee”, listing 10 works (guarantees) that will be done on a war footing.
These include giving full independence to the Indian Army to reclaim India’s land currently occupied by China, scrapping the Agniveer scheme, providing free electricity, education, and health, and creating two crore jobs in the next year if the Opposition’s INDIA Bloc forms the Government at the Centre.
With polling yet to take place in 18 of the 22 Lok Sabha constituencies that the AAP is contesting — four in Delhi, 13 in Punjab, and one in Haryana — the Delhi Chief Minister pitted his vows to the people of India, called “Kejriwal ki guarantee”, against the Prime Minister’s “Modi ki guarantee”.
The Opposition bloc, which has parties such as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam among others as its members, was formed to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the Lok Sabha polls.
Interestingly, the Congress manifesto and all parties that are part of the India Bloc have not mentioned anything related to reclaiming the country’s land currently occupied by China.
Addressing a Press conference at the AAP headquarters, Kejriwal reiterated his promise of full statehood to Delhi and also claimed that the INDIA Bloc will form the next Government and his AAP will be part of it.
“The BJP has always failed on its promises; my guarantees have proven track record,” Kejriwal said.
People have to take a call whether to go for the Kejriwal ki Guarantee or Modi Guarantee, he said.
On the announcement of his guarantees, Kejriwal said this was delayed due to his arrest but there are still many phases of elections left.
“I have not discussed it with the rest of the INDIA Bloc but this is like a guarantee that no one will have any problems with. I take this guarantee that after the INDIA Bloc comes to power, I will make sure that these guarantees are implemented,” he said while making the announcement, adding he will press upon INDIA Bloc partners to fulfill these guarantees.
“Out of the 10 guarantees, the first guarantee is that we will provide 24-hour electricity in the country. The country has the capacity to generate 3 lakh MW of electricity but the usage is only 2 lakh MW. Our country can produce electricity more than the demand. We have done it in Delhi and Punjab, we will do it in the country also. We will provide up to 200 units of free electricity to all the poor. It will cost `1.25 lakh crore, we can arrange it…” Kejriwal said while the AAP has fulfilled its “guarantees” of free power, good schools and Mohalla Clinics in Delhi, “(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi has not fulfilled his guarantees”.
The AAP’s second guarantee is that it will arrange good and excellent free education for everyone. Government schools will provide a better education than private schools.
“The country can progress only if children get access to proper education.
“Today, the condition of schools is very poor. Over 18 crore children study in 10 lakh schools across the country and they have no future. In Delhi and Punjab, we have shown that we can do it and we will do it across the country,” the AAP chief said.
He said, “This will cost the Government `5 lakh crore, half of which will be spent by the Centre and half by the States. To keep up the standards, every year, it will cost the Centre Rs 50,000 crore. This is not a lot of money keeping in mind that all children will have access to good education.”
AAP’s third guarantee is Mohalla Clinics.”We will arrange good treatment for everyone. Mohalla clinics will be opened in every village, every locality,” said the Delhi CM.
District hospital will be converted into a Multispeciality Hospital, he said.
“Every person born in this country will get free treatment. Treatment will not be done on the basis of insurance as this is a big scam. We will create infrastructure. Rs 5 lakh crore rupees will be spent on healthcare,” he added.
Announcing his fourth guarantee, Kejriwal said land occupied by China will be freed and Rashtra Sarvopari is our guarantee.
“China has occupied our land but our Central Government is denying it… Whenever we ask the Centre, it says no one has come into our land… The whole world knows as this is the era of satellite images. There is a lot of strength in our Army. All the land of the country which has been occupied by China will be freed. For this, efforts will be made at the diplomatic level on one side and the Army will be given complete freedom to take whatever steps it wants to take regarding this,” he said.
Scrapping Agniveer scheme is his fifth guarantee. Kejriwal promised to stop the contractual form of the Agniveer scheme and said all those who have been inducted through the programme will be given permanent postings.
Stating that the scheme weakens the Indian Army, Kejriwal said, “The Agniveer scheme, wherein the youth is inducted into the Army for four years and then asked to leave, has no ownership. This scheme was brought in because the Centre felt that the burden of salaries was too high. We have to spend for the country’s security. We can’t compromise on that front.”
The AAP’s sixth guarantee is Minimum Support Price for farmers. “Farmers will be provided MSP as per the Swaminathan Commission report, said Kejriwal while announcing the guarantees.
“You can give a life of dignity to the farmers, if you are paying them full prices for their crops,” he added.
His seventh guarantee is full statehood to Delhi. “Our seventh guarantee is that Delhi will be given statehood which has been the right of the people of Delhi for many decades,” Kejriwal said.
The AAP’s eight guarantee is employment generation. INDIA Bloc Government will generate 2 crore new jobs annually to address unemployment concerns, the Delhi CM said.
Taking a dig at the BJP, Kejriwal said, “The system where honest people are being sent to jail and the corrupt are being protected will end. It is the biggest reason behind the country’s corruption.”
“Our 9th guarantee is to end corruption and BJP’s washing machine is the biggest cause of corruption in this country, said the AAP chief. He said, “The BJP’s washing machine will be dismantled. Like we had attacked corruption at both the lower and higher levels in Delhi and Punjab, we will replicate it across the country.”
In his 10th guarantee, Kejriwal promised to simplify GST by removing it from PMLA regulations and said he aims to surpass China in the manufacturing sector. “Our target is to leave China behind, which is far ahead in terms of manufacturing and trade. If traders can’t do business easily and openly, it is a big impediment in the country’s progress,” he said.
Kejriwal said, “Data shows that over the past 8-10 years, 12 lakh high net worth individuals have shut businesses here and left the country because the Government has harassed them.