Addressing the Delhi assembly for the first time since he came out of jail two weeks back, former Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for “conspiring against him and his party leaders. He said ‘Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very powerful but not God’ and that he will make sure to not let work in Delhi stall.This was also the first time in months that Kejriwal and former Delhi Deputy CM, Manish Sisodia were in the assembly and the AAP convenor hit out at the BJP with a joke on this fact.
He said, “BJP wanted to show Kejriwal is dishonest and stop all works in Delhi… They put me and all the other leaders in jail…All their conspiracies have failed.” Further attacking PM Modi, Kejriwal said, “They made the rule that leaders aged 75 will retire… But he says that rule does not apply to him.”
Starting his speech by taking a dig at the opposition BJP MLAs, Kejriwal said, “My colleagues in the opposition must be sad to see Manish Sisodia and me here. I always say Prime Minister Modi is very powerful and has a lot of resources, but Modi is not God. There is no doubt that there is God or some kind of energy in this universe which has helped us. Therefore, I want to thank the Supreme Court."
Reiterating his views on the retirement of Modi when he becomes 75 years old, he said, “I talked to a senior RSS leader, who said that they have given an ultimatum to Prime Minister but he shared that Modi is not ready to resign from his prime ministership. He made BJP leaders like L.K.Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi resign but when his turn came, he is not ready to leave. Such is the lust for power.”
However, he added that since he has been in jail, the BJP has tried to stall the work in the national Capital through its Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena including the termination of bus marshalls, stopping medicines and tests in mohalla clinic, pensions not being given to the elderly and stopping the ‘teerth yatra’.
“Please fear God if not anything else. I want to let the people of Delhi know that their brother and son have come back and will make sure that work gets done irrespective of whatever I have to do,” he stated, adding that he also had a conversation with a senior BJP leader.
"I met a senior BJP leader three to four days back and I asked how arresting me helped them. He told me that they derailed the entire Delhi government by arresting me and was very happy about it. I was surprised about what he said to me. I wonder what kind of party it is that is happy by ruining the life of the people of Delhi," he stated.
Kejriwal, who once occupied the ‘number one’ chair as chief minister, was assigned seat number 41, several paces away from his former position. His successor, Atishi, now occupies the chief minister's seat, while Kejriwal's trusted lieutenant, Manish Sisodia, was placed next to him at seat number 40.
When he arrived in the assembly, chants of ‘Kejriwal jai ho’ were also hailed. Kejriwal had served as chief minister of Delhi for nearly a decade before stepping down. He also stated that the BJP leaders tried to prove him dishonest and ineffective from jail.
"People of Delhi know a couple of things. First, they know that Arvind Kejriwal is completely honest and second, they know that Arvind Kejriwal works for the public. They (BJP-led central government) wanted to portray me as dishonest and derail the work that I've done. They lodged a fake case, and jailed me, Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, Sanjay Singh and others. Despite this, our party continues to be strong," Kejriwal added.
He also claimed that despite most of the senior leadership of the party being in jail, AAP didn’t break. “I challenge you that even if two of your senior leaders are jailed, your party will break,” Kejriwal claimed.
