NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday asked people to vote for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to make their children engineers and doctors in the future rather than a ‘chowkidar (watchman)’ which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants everyone to be. Kejriwal also announced that he would not be celebrating Holi this year as a mark of respect to the victims of the February 14 Pulwama attack.
Taking a jibe at the campaign line launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Lok Sabha elections, Kejriwal asked people to vote for the current PM if they want their children to become ‘chowkidars’ (watchmen). Modi, who turned the Congress’ ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ line of attack against the Opposition with the ‘MainBhiChowkidar’ campaign, has been asking the entire nation to take part in the initiative to take pledge of a watchman.
“If you want your children to become chowkidars then vote for Modi. However, if you want to provide good education to your children so they become doctors, engineers and lawyers then vote educated and honest people of the Aam Aadmi Party,” Kejriwal said in a tweet.Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri sharply reacting to the jibe by Kejriwal stated that it is the election season but there is no need to belittle a job. “Chowkidar means having the passion to prevent, scams, theft and lies,” he tweeted.
Kejriwal has been aggressive in targeting the Prime Minister and the country’ ruling party with the elections turning the corner. In a ‘Grand Alliance’ rally at Jantar Mantar earlier this year, Kejriwal had said it was time to vote an educated person to power. Pitching the elections as a comparison between the work done by the Delhi government in the last four years and that of the Central government, the AAP chief has been highlighting the reforms of Delhi’s education system.
A video is also gone viral in which he is seen making comments like “I am an educated person. The promises I make are with full planning. So what I promise, I fulfil.” The video could not be verified for authenticity.
Challenge to Union minister
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday hit out at Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri for his “anti-
Delhi” policies saying someone who does not have much performance to show as a minister was analysing electoral politics.Challenging Puri for an open debate, the AAP said it would expose the “real face of the BJP and the Union Minister” in the next seven days. The comment comes a day after Puri slammed CM Arvind Kejriwal for becoming “desperate” for an alliance.