PANAJI
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, on Sunday flagged off the party's election campaign with a scathing attack on BJP and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar while also taking pot shots at the Congress at a massive public rally at Campal ground, Panaji.
Kejriwal who received a standing ovation as he entered, tore into Parrikar's promises, saying the ex-CM had betrayed the people of Goa. "Promises made to Goans on a host of issues including the mining scam, the Regional Plan and casinos remain unfulfiled while new issues have cropped up like the beach cleaning scam, the Entertainment Society of Goa scam and a garbage ‘scam’.
Speaking before a crowd of over 8,000, Kejriwal said “Before coming to power in 2012, Parrikar had promised that people behind mining scam would be sent to jail. Were they sent to jail? Parrikar had promised that casinos would be shut. Parrikar had promised that corruption would be removed from Goa. Did he do these things?” he asked.
A short circuit in the generator which disabled the public address system threatened to derail the meeting. Thankfully it was restored 15 minutes later.
Coming down heavily on the BJP-led State government in Goa, Kejriwal continued, “Under the current government, Regional Plan 2001 is over while Regional Plan 2021 is suspended. Rampant land conversions are happening on adhoc basis. Same scams are happening in Goa today, which occurred during the Congress rule. There is beach cleaning scam, there is entertainment society of Goa scam, and there is garbage scam. Did anything change when BJP came to power in Goa?”
Kejriwal even said that if he can file a first information report (FIR) against Sheila Dixit government in Delhi, why can’t Parrikar send people to jail who were indulging in corruption during Congress rule.
He further said that as per the State government, coconut trees are grass and the government has kept coconut trees of entire State at stake to give permission to a beer manufacturing factory in Uguem.
Counting his government’s achievements in Delhi, Kejriwal said they are creating mohalla clinics for Rs 20 lakh which have an air-conditioner, which conduct a number of tests for free, which have doctors and people don’t have to pay anything for these services.
Kejriwal said that his government’s focus in Delhi is education and healthcare. Due to this focus, he claimed that the results in government schools were better in Delhi than even in private schools. He added, “But, in Goa, government schools are being shut. In Goa, primary health centres are in terrible shape”.
Kejriwal concluded his speech by saying, “People of different religions will have to come together in Goa to fight elections just like they did in Delhi. There too people didn’t come together to get AAP into power or to make Kejriwal the chief minister. People came together in Delhi for their future generations.”
Bhagwant Mann, AAP member and MP of Sangrur in Punjab, echoed Kejriwal’s sentiments. Mann said, “The successive governments have destroyed our lives. We have to wake up. This is common man’s fight and common man will have to fight”.
Much like Kejriwal, even Pankaj Gupta, national secretary, AAP said that people in Goa were tired of Congress and that’s why they gave BJP a chance in the previous elections, but BJP broke all the promises it had made to people.
“Is Goa ready for the AAP?” Kejriwal asked at the end of his speech. It was met with a resounding yes, from those gathered.
