Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for “destroying” peace and harmony of the country through its dictatorial attitude, former Delhi Chief Minister and Congress candidate for the North East Delhi Parliamentary constituency Sheila Dikshit appealed the voters to vote for the Congress to keep out the “communal forces” from power.
Addressing a public meeting in the Babarpur Assembly constituency, she said the Congress is the only political party which dearly upholds the secular and democratic traditions of the country. Referring the statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which he allegedly said that every vote being casted for the BJP candidates will go to him, she said it showed his dictatorial attitude.
Dikshit said in the last five years, the BJP leadership discarded democratic traditions and values to make fun of the fundamentals of democracy. She said there has been a constant bid to undermine and politicise constitutional offices. “The BJP has been carrying out this divisive policy on communal and casteist lines since independence, to divide Hindus and Muslims on communal lines.
Stepping up its campaigning, Dikshit on Thursday also undertook a padayatra in the Constituency and interacted with the people.
Dikshit, who has been Chief Minister for the three terms between 1998 and 2013, will take on BJP’s sitting MP Manoj Tiwari and Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Dilip Pandey in North-East Constituency. The 81-year-old was last a Member of Parliament from 1984-89 from Kannauj. Dikshit had unsuccessfully contested from East Delhi constituency in 1998. Again in 2013 Assembly polls, she faced a defeat from Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.