Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Legislative Assembly, Vijender Gupta on Saturday welcomed the order by Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena to the Chief Secretary to investigate the issue of 90,000 poor people in Delhi not receiving ration cards.

Gupta labeled the Aam Aadmi Party government as one that exploits the Dalits and the poor, stating that this government has snatched food from the mouths of thousands of poor families by not providing them with ration.

He explained that the Kejriwal government has conspired against the poor, deprived them of their rights, and exposed its anti-Dalit and anti-poor agenda by halting the distribution of ration.

Gupta recently wrote a letter to the Lieutenant Governor, seeking his intervention in the matter. Taking note of the issue, the Lieutenant Governor has directed the Chief Secretary to investigate.

The Leader of the Opposition mentioned that during the tenure of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the ‘Antyodaya Anna Yojana’ was launched under the 'National Food Security Act' with the aim of providing ration to the poorest families in society.

Under this scheme, as per the 2011 census, 1,56,800 extremely poor families in Delhi were entitled to receive 35 kilograms of ration every month, which included 21 kg of wheat, 14 kg of rice, and one kg of sugar.

These families primarily included landless agricultural laborers, marginal farmers, artisans, weavers, blacksmiths, slum dwellers, daily wage laborers, waste pickers, tribal communities, poor families with HIV-positive members, potters, cobblers, porters, widows, disabled persons, and the homeless—those belonging to the lowest strata of society.

Gupta said when the Aam Aadmi Party came to power 10 years ago in 2015, 76,458 poor families were receiving ration under this scheme. However, after almost 10 years, this number has decreased to 66,532, meaning around 10,000 fewer people are receiving ration, while this number should have increased over the last decade. Out of the 1,56,800 families, the remaining 90,000 poor individuals could have been issued ration cards, but the Kejriwal government failed to do so.

Gupta pointed out that when the BJP raised the demand for these families to be issued ration cards, on July 31, 2019, the Delhi government’s Food and Civil Supplies Department prepared a list according to constituencies for issuing ration cards to these poor individuals and sent it to the concerned department's minister, Imran Hussain, for approval. However, the minister commented on the file, ordering the issuance to be stopped until further notice.

Gupta said if these 90,000 poor individuals had been issued ration cards, they would have been receiving 35 kilograms of free ration every month today under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s central government. However, the Kejriwal government has deprived them of this free food for the last five years, snatching away the food from their children.

The Leader of the Opposition expressed his dismay, stating how shameful it is that the Kejriwal government, which claims to be the well-wisher of the poor and underprivileged, has failed to provide them their rightful ration. The government has taken away the free food that they were entitled to from the central government.

He added that this government is strongly opposed to the poor, which is why it does not want to provide healthcare under the 'Ayushman Bharat Yojana' or 35 kilograms of ration under the 'Antyodaya Yojana' to the poor.