Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha on Wednesday claimed that the low inflation in Delhi was a result of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s governance model and welfare schemes. Addressing a press conference, Chadha cited the film ‘Peepli Live’ to express his disappointment over the rising inflation in the country.
“Everything, from medicines to education, has become expensive. The Modi government has set a record by setting the highest inflation rate in the last nine years,” he said. The Rajya Sabha member said that due to uncontrollable inflation, basic necessities have become 24 per cent more expensive.
“Even items like milk, curd, rice, flour, tea, and coffee that were never taxed by the British are now being taxed by the Modi government. In this era of declining income and rising inflation, people now need a ration card instead of an Aadhaar card.”
Chadha said his claims on inflation were based on a report issued by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation of the Indian government. “The report reveals that the national average inflation is 6.83 per cent, while in Delhi, it is only 3 per cent.
This means that inflation in Delhi is less than half of the national average. In contrast, Rajasthan has 8.6 per cent inflation, Haryana 8.2 per cent, Odisha 8.23 per cent and Telangana 8 per cent,” he said.
The reason Delhi’s inflation is half the national average is because Arvind Kejriwal has provided a welfare model in Delhi, he asserted.
“We can call it the Arvind Kejriwal Relief Model. Under this, the people of Delhi receive 200 units of electricity, 20,000 liters of water, health services, women’s transport services, and free pilgrimage for the elderly. “Through these welfare schemes, a family in Delhi saves approximately Rs 15,000-16,000 every month. CM Arvind Kejriwal is working to provide relief of Rs 15,000-16,000 every month to every family in Delhi through these welfare schemes,” he said.
Chadha said rather than talking about ‘One Nation One Election,’ Kejriwal prefers to talk about inflation, unemployment, and the atrocities on farmers.
“Due to the welfare schemes initiated by Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi has the lowest inflation in the entire country. What the BJP calls ‘revdi,’ I want to tell them that it’s not ‘revdi,’ but rather, it’s ‘prepaid services.’ Because even the poorest of the poor pay taxes for all these services, and these taxes go into the government’s treasury.
“In the country, there are some governments that plunder the treasury filled with the people’s tax money. In contrast, Arvind Kejriwal’s government returns the money received from the people through taxes by providing welfare services,” he said. In the press conference, when Chadha was asked about fighting the Lok Sabha polls as part of the INDIA alliance, he said the decision to join the pact was informed by the example of 1977 Janata Party.
“I look at 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the perspective of the elections in 1977. In 1977 also, there was a powerful government at the Centre that had imposed unemployment, inflation and Hitlershahi on people. To oppose that Hitlershahi, political outfits came together and fought the elections. “The Janata Party banner was formed that had communists, socialists. In the same way, we have formed an alliance for 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” he said.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said Chadha’s statement referring to Indira Gandhi government as “dictatorial” regime shows that INDIA is not an alliance but a last ditch attempt at political survival.
“They all know that they are each others’ enemy but they all fear that the third consecutive defeat in 2024 will mean end of political careers of many of them, so they are trying their best to stick together but the basic differences continue to wreck their boats,” he said.
Sachdeva asked the AAP to explain its decision to join the alliance even as it continues to slam former Congress prime minister Manmohan Singh and parry charges from the Punjab Congress.
“People of the country today want to know from both Congress Party and Aam Aadmi Party as to how they can be a part of any alliance when AAP leaders call Congress government of Indira Gandhi as dictatorial and that of Manmohan Singh as the corruptest regime while Congress leaders of Punjab and Delhi openly call AAP government’s corrupt,” Sachdeva said.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)