Firing fresh salvo at Narendra Modi, the AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said his decision to enter the electoral fray from Varanasi was not a ‘symbolic gesture’, but to defeat the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Kejriwal was speaking at national conference on Roadmap for Indian Muslims and said that he will conduct a referendum in Varanasi to know whether he should fight against Modi or not. However, unhappy with the nomination of Md Irshad Ahmed, the AAP contestant from Madhubani, around 50 party workers of the AAP from Madhubani staged a protest, where seminar was organised.
“I read in newspapers and websites and that this is a symbolic fight. I must tell you that we are going there not to contest elections, but to defeat Modi,” Kejriwal said. He was addressing a conference Roadmap for Indian Muslims, attended by over 500 professionals and intellectuals from several places including New Delhi, lucknow, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Senior AAP leaders like Prashant Bhushan and Gopal Rai also attended the event.
He said that all parties indulged in corrupt practices and communal politics and this was led by the BJP and the Congress. “All parties are the same. They indulge in corruption and communal politics, but leaders of all these parties are Congress and the BJP. It is important to defeat these parties...Not on the basis of numbers, but by defeating their leaders. It is important to defeat Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi,” he added.
“We have sent Kumar Vishwas to Amethi and he has been stationed there for the past three months. He is being attacked on daily basis, but he is too strong to back out,” he said. Kejriwal added that if the BJP claims that voting for Modi would bring stability, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has given more stability.
“When I had been to Bangalore, people told me that I will eat into (BJP) votes. If Modi comes to power he will give stability. Then I said if you want stability then Dr Manmohan Singh has given maximum stability in last 10 years. People don’t want stability, they want security and justice,” he said.