North-West Delhi MP Yogender Chandolia staged a sit-in protest against the AAP party in Bawana JJ Colony along with party workers and residents (image:x.com/BJP4Delhi)
New Delhi: The Delhi BJP on Sunday held protests in slum settlements across the city against the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to highlight the issued faced by people living in these areas. The party said in a statement that protests were held at 968 small and large slum clusters in Delhi to bring into attention the issues that have arisen due to the negligence of the AAP government. It added that that residents of these slums participated in the demonstrations along with the party workers.
While addressing the protest at the Govindpuri slum, South Delhi MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that the condition of slum areas had deteriorated due to the “corruption” of the Kejriwal government. There are no proper roads, sanitation or drinking water facilities. Residents of these slums are deprived of basic amenities, he said.
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“Once the BJP forms the government, it will work to fulfil the aspirations of slum residents,” Bidhuri added.
As Delhi Assembly elections are expected to take place in February next year, the Delhi BJP has attracted residents of slum areas through a comprehensive reach-out campaign.
Delhi BJP general secretary Vishnu Mittal said that senior party leaders would stay in slum clusters on the December 15 night to interact with people about the issues they are facing.
North-West Delhi MP Yogender Chandolia alleged that the poor condition of toilets and drains and electricity bills compelled slum residents to live in deplorable conditions and the AAP government is responsible for this. Chandolia led the protest in the JJ Colony at Bawana.
West Delhi MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat addressed protesters at the Goyla Dairy slum. He said that for the last 10 years, the AAP government have been treating people in the slum as a vote bank and as a result, the slum dwellers are living in subhuman conditions today.
Other BJP MPs, senior party leaders such as Parvesh Verma and Ramesh Bidhuri, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta, MLAs Abhay Verma, OP Sharma, and Jitendra Mahajan, and former Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay were engaged in the protests held at several Assembly constituencies.
Meanwhile, reacting to BJP’s protests, AAP said that “BJP’s double standards are evident. They pose for photographs with slum dwellers, eat meals in their homes, and then conspire to demolish those very slums, cutting off their votes in the process,” Times of India reports.
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Continuing further, the AAP said that the same BJP protested have spent the past year grabbing the rights of slum residents and making them homeless. “Even now, BJP-controlled agencies remain relentless in demolishing ‘jhuggis’ (slums),” the party said.
Only Arvind Kejriwal stands for all Delhiites, the party stated. He gave up IRS carreer to live in slums and understand their struggles firsthand. “Since 2015, his government has delivered real change,” the party added.
