“People call it ‘Ashirwad’…”: Kejriwal hits back at PM Modi’s ‘Aapda’ jibe; points “crisis” within BJP

New Delhi [India], January 3 (ANI): Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Aapda’ (crisis) at the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government, party’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Friday highlighted his government’s works in the national capital and said that people consider this as a ‘Aashirwad’ (blessing).

“Jo kaam AAP Sarkar kar rahi hai use log aapda nahi aashirwad kehte hai (The work the AAP government is doing isn’t a crisis; people call it a blessing),” Kejriwal said at a press conference today, adding that there are three “Aapda” (crisis) in the BJP.

“Aapda Delhi mein nahi BJP mein aayi hai (The crisis isn’t in Delhi; it’s within the BJP). The first crisis for the BJP is that they don’t have a Chief Ministerial face. The second is that they lack a narrative — they don’t even know what issues to contest the election on. The third crisis is that they don’t have an agenda for this election. These three crises are within the BJP,” he said.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and said “Those who have been in power in Delhi for the last 10 years – have damaged school education”.

PM Modi also attacked AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and said, “In the last 10 years, Delhi has been surrounded by an ‘Aapda’. By keeping Anna Hazare at the front, a few ‘kattar beimaan’ people have pushed Delhi towards ‘Aapda’. ‘AAP aapda bankar Delhi par toot padi hai’.”

Speaking further, Kejriwal emphasized that over the last 10 years, the AAP government has achieved so much in education, healthcare, electricity, water, and roads that listing of these achievements could take hours.

“In contrast, the BJP government hasn’t done a single thing in ten years that the Prime Minister could proudly highlight in his speeches. If they had accomplished anything, they would be showcasing it instead of criticizing the people of Delhi,” Kejriwal said.

“During the 2020 elections, the Prime Minister made several promises to the people. He had assured that by 2022, every person in Delhi would have a permanent house. This was also stated in their manifesto. Today, the Prime Minister handed over the keys to 1,700 houses. This isn’t the first time — in total, they have constructed only 4,700 houses in five years. Delhi needs 1.5 million houses, yet only 4,700 have been built in five years,” the AAP supremo added.

Kejriwal further claimed that in the past five years, the BJP have rendered 2,78,796 people homeless by demolishing slums.

“The Prime Minister had promised permanent housing but deceived the people. By the 2030 elections, they plan to demolish all slums in Delhi. These people are enemies of the poor. In five years, I built 530 mohalla clinics; had the PM built 5,000, he would’ve earned praise. I constructed five new hospitals; had he (PM) built 50, he wouldn’t have needed to criticize me,” he said.

The assembly elections in Delhi are due in February and the dates for the same are expected to be announced in a few days.