New Delhi: “No one can stop the idea whose time has come,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Friday. He cited the popular quote from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables while explaining why he thinks that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre has been after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ever since the latter won the Punjab assembly elections earlier this year and amid its efforts to expand its footprint in other states.
This was one of the three points made by the AAP chief in a video press statement issued Friday afternoon, shortly after Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the Kejriwal government’s Excise Policy 2021-22 over alleged violation of rules and procedural lapses.
The other two points he made were — the AAP’s brand of “honest” politics, and fear of the “good work” the AAP government has been doing in Delhi.
“We are not scared of going to jail. If you consider yourself sons of Savarkar, who had sought apology of the British, we are the sons of Bhagat Singh, who never bent down to the British and sacrificed his life,” said Kejriwal, taking aim at the BJP as he defended Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who is also in charge of Delhi’s excise department.
The new excise policy came into effect in Delhi from 1 October, 2021. Under the policy, the government cancelled all existing licenses and then divided Delhi into 32 zones, following which tenders were floated for ownership of bunches of 27 liquor shops in each zone. The primary objective of the policy, according to the policy document — accessed by ThePrint — was to augment the national capital’s excise revenue.
Dismissing allegations against Sisodia as “baseless”, and calling the CBI probe against him a “false case”, Kejriwal described the deputy CM as a “staunch nationalist” and a “tremendously honest” person.
Reacting to Kejriwal’s remarks, Leader of Opposition in Delhi assembly and BJP MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri told ThePrint: “Does Mr Kejriwal think he is above the law? If there is no wrong, then the concerned persons will get relief from the court. Why are they concerned?
“If violations of law are flagged to an investigation agency, initiating a probe is its duty. He should take the certificate of honesty from the judiciary, if he has faith in it,” he added.
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‘3 reasons why BJP govt is after AAP’
“There are three broad reasons why the BJP government is after AAP,” said Kejriwal in his video statement. “First, we are an honest government, so they (BJP) fear us. And, hence, they want to show to the world that we are corrupt just like them. So, they are slapping false cases on us one after another. But that is not going to work.”
“Second, since AAP won Punjab polls (on 10 March), people across the country have expressed support for AAP. That is what they (BJP) fear. They do not know that they cannot stop the AAP from spreading across the country anymore. People across the country want quality healthcare, education, water supply, power supply etc,” he added.
The Delhi CM further said: “I want to remind them of an English saying: No one can stop the idea whose time has come. The AAP’s time has come, India’s time has come.”
“And third, they (BJP) want to block the good work our government has been doing in Delhi. Even the Singapore government invited us to tell the world about the good work we have done in Delhi,” he added.
The development comes around seven weeks after the Enforcement Directorate arrested senior AAP leader and Delhi’s health minister Satyendar Jain in a money laundering case. Jain is currently in judicial custody.
‘AAP did 4 press briefings but didn’t respond to Lekhi’s questions’
Rajya Sabha MP and national media in-charge of BJP Anil Baluni told ThePrint, “Senior AAP leaders, including the Delhi CM, did four press briefings today and stressed on how honest they are, but they did not answer any of the questions raised by Meenakshi Lekhi.”
At a press conference Friday, BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi accused the AAP government of giving waivers to liquor firms that caused losses worth Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer, and issuing refund of a Rs 30 crore earnest money deposit to a company which got a zonal license without prior approval of the L-G or competent authority.
She also accused the AAP government of tweaking rules to do away with the import pass fee of Rs 50 per case of foreign beer, which allowed retailers to sell foreign beer at a lower price, leading to revenue loss for the exchequer, allegedly giving two zonal licenses to blacklisted entities, and not taking action against a bunch of license holders for defaulting in payment of license fee.
ThePrint reached Delhi government spokespersons with specific queries on Lekhi’s allegations via messages, but they did not comment on the same.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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