AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday demanded that a referendum should be held on whether the taxpayers' money should be spent on providing quality services like healthcare and education or on one’s family or friends.
"There should be a referendum on whether Government money should be spent on one family as a party wants so, or on one's friends or it should be spent on building good schools and hospitals in the country," he said in a video message without taking any names. Kejriwal said that some parties are creating an atmosphere that if free facilities are given to the public, then it will harm the country and the taxpayers will be cheated.
“If they say that giving free facilities to the public will harm the country, then what is the job of the Government? Taxpayers aren't cheated when they get good education and healthcare, they are cheated when politicians use their money to pay loans for their friends,” he added.
The reaction of Kejriwal, who is touring the BJP-ruled Gujarat on a poll campaign, came on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Panipat that "freebies" impede India's effort to become self-reliant and also burden taxpayers. “Anyone can come and announce to give free petrol and diesel if their politics is self-centred. Such steps will take away rights from our children and prevent the country from becoming self-reliant. It will increase the burden on the taxpayers of the country,” Modi said. Modi had last month cautioned people against what he called a “revadi (sweet) culture” under which political parties seek votes by promising freebies and said this could be “very dangerous” for the development of the country.
“Today, the taxpayers are looking at the Government and feeling cheated; they are seeing their money being spent on a few friends of the powerful,” Kejriwal said. He further added that if loans worth Rs 10 lakh crore were not waived off by these people, then country would not have been in such a deficit situation today and there would have been no need to impose GST on milk and curd.