Marking total failure of the Arvind Kejriwal Government as they completed one year in office on Sunday, thousands of Congress workers led by party’s Delhi unit president Ajay Maken held a candlelight march from Rajghat to the ITO Chowk to observe “Chhalawa Diwas”. The massive demonstration was held to mark the one-year misrule of the Aam Aadmi Party Government.
Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit flagged off the candlelight march following which the demonstrators shouted slogans such as “na pension, na pagar hai, ye vigyapan ka sarkar hai; ek saal ki dukhad kahani, kuda bangai rajdhani” etc. The Congress workers shouted slogans against the Kejriwal Government, and played a parody song to highlight the failures of the Kejriwal Government.
While counting the failure of the AAP Government, Maken said, “Kejriwal, who talks about principles and fought against corruption, had come up with a very weak and toothless Jan lokpal in 2015, even though Kejriwal’s political career had begun with the India Against Corruption movement.”
Maken said that in the Jan lokpal Bill, Kejriwal removed the clause about Investingating Officer (IO), and the MlAs and Ministers were kept out of the category of Public Servants.
Congress workers carried a flower each in their hands to submit to Kejriwal with the plea that in the next year at least, he should concentrate on proper governance and development of Delhi, instead of clashing with others, indulging in blame-game and politicising every issue. The Kejriwal Government wasted its time in confrontations with others and blame-game, added Maken.
“When he was in the Opposition, he talked about consensus, but when it comes to giving a 400 per cent hike in the salaries of the MlAs, did he seek the opinion of the people, though he keeps harping on seeking people’s opinion on every issueIJ” Maken asked Kejriwal. He said the Kejriwal Government compromised on principles and ideals, and played fraud on the Jan lokpal. He said the Kejriwal Government hiked the salaries of the MlAs to Rs 2.35 lakh per month, along with Rs 12 lakh loan to buy two cars of Rs 6 lakh each to circumvent the odd-even rule. Besides this, the MlAs have also been given Rs 3 lakh as travel allowance to enable the MlAs to make travel jaunts along with their family members.
Maken said on the one hand the Kejriwal Government increased Rs 27 as VAT for every Rs 100 worth petrol purchased, but the pensions of widows, handicapped and the old people have not been disbursed for the past one year. The sanitation workers, doctors, nurses and teachers of the civic bodies were not paid their wages, and as a consequence they went on strike to demand their wages, leaving the Capital in a total mess.