Mar 24, 2025 06:30 AM IST
Sunday’s event was the first public function Kejriwal addressed since his defeat in the February assembly polls
In his first attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Delhi since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lost the assembly elections last month, former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that the first thing the BJP government did in Delhi was to remove the pictures of BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from government offices, and alleged that restrictions are being put on free bus rides schemes for women.
“Bhagat Singh and BR Ambedkar are our ideals…the first thing the new government in Delhi did was to remove the pictures of both. We were waiting for them (BJP) to announce ₹2,500 monthly allowances to women…but the first thing they did was to remove the pictures of both the great men from the offices. I was very saddened to see this and when the BJP did all this, Congress did not say a word about it. This shows that there is some collusion going on between the two parties,” Kejriwal said at a function at AAP headquarters on Sunday evening on Shaheedi Diwas.
Sunday’s event was the first public function Kejriwal addressed since his defeat in the February assembly polls.
“I saw a video in which a bus conductor refused to give a pink ticket to a woman who boarded the bus saying that orders have come from above that women carrying smart phones should not be given pink tickets…such women should download apps in their phones and get the tickets. How many women will download the app? Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that no facility (free services running under AAP government) will be closed. I want to appeal to him that it will be Modiji’s greatness if he does not stop these facilities and provide new facilities to people…many women are able to travel to work due to free bus rides, many female students are going to colleges due to free bus rides…they will suffer if the free bus rides are stopped,” Kejriwal said during his address.
“Before the elections, Modi had said that on March 8 women will be given ₹2,500 monthly allowances, you promised free gap cylinders on Holi…people kept waiting for it… Modi Ji, if you stop the old facilities also then it will be a betrayal to the people of Delhi,” Kejriwal said.
The AAP leader alleged that the BJP is “worse than the British” while saying that he was issued a show cause notice for sending a letter to the lieutenant governor from inside Tihar Jail where he was lodged for nearly six months last year. “When Bhagat Singh was in jail, the letters he wrote contained things against the British, but the British still sent those letters to his family and friends. But when I wrote a letter to LG sahab from jail, I was given a show cause notice asking how dare you write this letter,” Kejriwal said.
An official of the transport department said that the free bus rides scheme for women is going on in Delhi and is currently available across all public buses for women. The officer, however, did not respond to the claims of the former Delhi CM.
