New Delhi: Seeking to turn the tables on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal blamed the Centre Friday for trying to create obstacles before his government’s mission to “Make India No. 1”, hours after his deputy Manish Sisodia’s house was raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with alleged irregularities in the Capital’s now-withdrawn excise policy.
In a video address, Kejriwal also highlighted an article on the front page of New York Times’ (NYT) international edition Thursday that played up the Delhi government’s work in the school education sector. He called Sisodia, who holds the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s education portfolio, among the “best education ministers in the world”, hinting that the CBI raid could be a reaction to the NYT piece.
Kejriwal said: “Today I have good news for you. As we all know, the USA is the most powerful country in the world and The New York Times is the most popular newspaper in the USA. The same newspaper on its front page has published about Delhi’s government schools and their performance.
“This is a matter of pride for all Indians. I don’t recall such positive news about India appearing on the front page of The New York Times in many years. I remember negative news though. For instance, news on deaths during Covid-19 in India was carried on the front page of the same paper.”
The AAP’s national convener further said, “The New York Times in its article highlighted how poor children are getting quality education in Delhi’s government schools, how a large number of children have migrated from private to government schools in recent years and how Delhi has brought a revolution in the school education sector. There was also a photograph of Manish Sisodia on the front page. It establishes him as one of the best education ministers not just in India but in the world.”
Thursday’s international edition of The New York Times had an article with the headline ‘Our Children Are Worth It’ on the front page with one photograph of a classroom in a government school in Delhi and another of Sisodia with school children.
Kejriwal added, “Coincidentally, we also launched a campaign titled ‘Make India no. 1’ recently, which is aimed at uniting all 130 crore Indians into India’s development. And now comes this CBI raid on Manish Sisodia today. His residence has been raided by CBI before, but they (have) got nothing on him. This time too, they will get nothing. Let the CBI do its job. They are taking orders from the top (BJP-led central government). We knew we would face many obstacles in the ‘Make India no. 1” mission and this raid is nothing but one of the obstacles.”
The CBI on Friday morning raided Sisodia’s residence, in connection with Delhi’s excise policy implemented last year. Last month, Delhi’s lieutenant governor V.K. Saxena had recommended a CBI probe on the Delhi government’s excise policy citing violation of rules and procedural lapses, which forced the AAP government to roll back its much-touted policy.
In the video address, Kejriwal also launched a phone number (9510001000) on which people could give a missed call to become part of the AAP’s campaign, he said.
While launching the ‘Make India no. 1” campaign from Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium on Wednesday, Kejriwal had called it a “national mission” and said he would travel across the country to rally support for the cause.
The campaign, according to senior AAP leaders, is part of the party’s larger strategy to give a big push to its expansion mission across states after the victory in Punjab earlier this year.
Also read: ‘Abused for welfare schemes’: How AAP is trying to fight BJP after Modi’s ‘revdi’ remark
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