NEW DELHI: Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari on Tuesday accused the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government of ignoring deaths of the homeless this winter in the national capital.
Tiwari said that while the homeless people were dying due to cold, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party leaders were campaigning for the Delhi Assembly polls with the slogan ‘Achhe Beete Panch Saal, Lage Raho Kejriwal’.
Referring to an NGO’s report that claimed 90 lives were lost in the city in the first 10 days of January, Tiwari said the government has no right to remain in power. "According to a report by the Centre for Holistic Development, 90 people died from January 1 to 10. Also, 323 people died due to cold in December, taking the total death toll due to cold in the last 40 days to 413," the Delhi BJP leader said.
Based on the findings of the NGO report, Tiwari, who is also MP from northeast Delhi, said that 3,623 homeless people had died in Delhi in 2019. Tiwari said there is a sense of ‘hopelessness’ in Delhi as the people have lost faith in the Kejriwal government.
"People are dying due to cold, but the Aam Aadmi Party does not talk about it. Instead it keeps lying to the people... Such a government has no right to remain in power. Homeless people are dying and the Kejriwal government has blocked the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana," he added. No immediate response was available from the ruling AAP.
According to general secretary of Centre for Holistic Development Sunil Kumar Aledia, the report was compiled using information gathered through RTI queries. "The deaths are very unfortunate. It should not be a political matter and the entire society, including political parties, should immediately get down to stop such deaths," he said.