Kejriwal touts Delhi’s ‘revri’, dares PM to provide free electricity in NDA-ruled states

AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal Sunday touted subsidized services in Delhi like education and healthcare as his “six revris” for the people and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement a free power scheme in the states ruled by the BJP-led NDA. The former Delhi chief minister, addressing his second ‘Janta Ki Adalat’ rally at Chhatrasal stadium, said he would campaign for Modi in the Delhi Assembly polls in February if he announced free electricity in “22 states” ruled by the National Democratic Alliance.

The “double engine” governments of the BJP are losing steam across the country, he said in a blistering attack on Modi and predicted that the party was going to lose the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir polls.

“The people of the country have understood that double-engine government means inflation, unemployment and corruption. Their double engine developed a snag in the Lok Sabha polls. Now, the second engine is also going away from the states,” he said referring to the Assembly polls lost by the BJP.

Showing a packet of ‘revri’ (a sweet), Kejriwal claimed that if the BJP was voted to power in the Delhi Assembly polls in February, free services like electricity, water, bus ride for women and pilgrimage of the elderly would end.

“I am a Halvai (confectioner). I mixed sugar, sesame, ghee and cardamom of the people and gave it back to them as revri. This is not my revri, this is God’s prasad,” he said holding aloft the packet.

AAP volunteers distributed packets of ‘revri’, each containing six pieces symbolizing free services and facilities provided by the AAP government in Delhi. “There are six Revris in each pack, don’t eat them here. Take it to your home, perform ‘puja’ with this and share it with others as ‘prasad’,” Kejriwal told the gathering. Kejriwal said that considering the two crore people of Delhi as his family, he provided them free services — electricity and water, good education for children, treatment in hospitals, bus rides for women and pilgrimage to the elderly.

He added that the seventh “free gift” of Rs 1,000 monthly honorarium for women was online.

“Modiji says I am giving revri,” the former chief minister exclaimed and challenged the prime minister to name one BJP-led NDA-ruled state that implemented schemes like the AAP in Delhi.

“People say, Modiji did not do anything in 10 years,” Kejriwal said and claimed that he will retire as prime minister after turning 75 on September 17 next year.

In an embodied political posturing, he said, “I want to say to Modiji, just do one thing in the next one year. Delhi polls are due in February. Provide free electricity in the 22 states, I will campaign for Modiji in the Delhi polls.”

Kejriwal dared the BJP to get the Delhi Assembly elections conducted along with those in Jharkhand and Maharashtra in November while asserting that AAP is ready for it.

The AAP routed the BJP in the last two Assembly polls in Delhi, winning 67 and 62 seats in 2015 and 2020, respectively.

Kejriwal, who resigned last month as Delhi chief minister, alleged there was “LG Raj” in Delhi instead of a democracy. He has pledged to fight for the rights of the people and get full statehood for Delhi by ending “LG rule”.

The AAP has been engaged in an unending tussle with the office of Delhi LG that intensified during incumbent VK Saxena over a host of governance issues.

“When I was in jail, the LG removed the marshals and stopped the medicines. Who is the LG to work against the people of Delhi?” he said, assuring people that he will ensure all pending works and schemes get back on track.

Citing the issue of reinstatement of bus marshals removed last year from service, Kejriwal lauded Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj for laying at the feet of Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta on Saturday.

“It’s not a small matter. Bharadwaj is a minister. It was democracy laying at the feet of the BJP, not Bharadwaj,” he said.

The AAP Supremo, who was released from Tihar jail after spending more than five months there in connection with the excise policy scam case, claimed his insulin dose was stopped during incarceration.

“My kidney could have failed, I could have died. Was this your intention?” he asked, lashing at Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Kejriwal also took a jab at Modi’s alleged “close ties” with big corporates and said, “Modi ji has a friend who gets all the contracts from the Centre. My fault is that I did not allow a single revri to go to his friend and gave it to the people of Delhi.”

The AAP chief said he never gave any poll tickets to his family members. The BJP fueled “rumours” that Kejriwal wanted to appoint his wife as the next chief minister of Delhi, but a party worker was given the post, he said.

He also condemned the BJP-led Center over the law and order “collapse” in Delhi, saying the city was gaining notoriety with the rising number of murders, extortion calls and loot.

Instead of paying attention to the city’s law and order, the BJP is busy stalling the works of the Delhi government, Kejriwal added.

Chief Minister Atishi, former deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, and ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj and Gopal Rai also addressed the rally.