A day after Delhi’s sanitation workers called off their strike over payment of salaries, it was a battle for “broom-upmanship” as both the BJP and the AAP leaders took to cleaning the streets of Delhi while blaming each other for the garbage crisis in the city. However, angry residents described AAP’s cleanliness drive as a mere publicity gimmick and rued the fact that none of these leaders visited their constituencies when the MCD strike was on.
The Congress also stepped up its attack against the Centre and city Government as a number of sanitation workers called on Rahul Gandhi to thank him for his support. Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit also held CM Arvind Kejriwal responsible for the mess in the national Capital. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, along with other AAP leaders Sanjay Singh, Ashutosh, Dalip Pandey, Kapil Mishra and Alka lamba, also took part in the cleanliness drive.
Ashish Khetan faced massive protest from people in Baldev Nagar area. Krishna Nagar (East Delhi) MlA SK Bagga and his supporters also faced people’s anger. Residents protested when AAP leaders said that they had been there for the past 12 days, “When everything has been cleaned, they are comingIJ WhyIJ To politicise the issue,” news agency ANI also quoted residents as saying: “This is all AAP’s doing, this is all gandi rajneeti (dirty politics).”
“Why didn’t AAP leaders start this when safai karamcharis of MCD were on strikeIJ If they are serious, they should stay till evening to supervise the lifting of garbage in the area,” they said. Meanwhile, continuing their barbs against the BJP, AAP leader Ashish Khetan again blamed the party for the mess, saying “Who created this crisisIJ Who bankrupted the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)IJ Delhi will be cleaned when the MCD is free of corruption.”
“The Delhi BJP’s chief was last year seen spreading garbage and then cleaning it up himself. Now, the BJP is trying to take a revenge on people of Delhi because they didn’t vote for them,” AAP MlA SK Bagga said. “When Prime Minister Narendra Modi started the Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan, we all became a part of it. I would like to appeal to all municipal corporation mayors to not make the people of Delhi suffer,” AAP leader Sanjay Singh said.
Soon after AAP leaders’ “safai abhiyan”, BJP Delhi chief Satish Upadhyay also got into the cleanliness mode. Upadhyay, who also led a cleanliness drive in the Capital, blamed Kejriwal for the stinking mess, saying the latter was only doing politics and not bothered about governance. “We have target of 48 hours to clean Delhi,” he said. Attacking the BJP and the AAP, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh blamed both Kejriwal and Modi and said they are “masters of nautanki”. “AAP starts cleanliness drive after sanitation workers strike has been called off. Photo ops for AAP. Modi and Kejriwal are masters of nautanki,” tweeted Singh.
Amused over the entire situation, Sheila Dikshit said such a thing was “never witnessed” during the Congress rule. “The problem has been created by the AAP. It is their responsibility to keep Delhi clean. In 15-year Congress rule, MCD workers were never deprived of their salaries, a proper budget was made every year,” she said. According to Delhi’s Department of Environment, on an average, the national Capital produces 8,630 tonnes of solid waste per day. However, the strike had badly impacted the system of garbage collection in Delhi with piles of household waste spilling on roads.