NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday launched a social media campaign titled ‘BJP Ki Chhoti Soch’, accusing Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood of mocking the financial background of AAP MLAs Sanjeev Jha and Kuldeep Kumar.
As part of the campaign, AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj, Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha and several party leaders sharply targeted Sood and the BJP, alleging that the remarks reflected a regressive and elitist mindset.
Bharadwaj said the minister’s comment suggesting that “people from small localities roam around as big national spokespersons” exposed the BJP’s thinking. “We may be poor in terms of money, but we are rich at heart,” Bharadwaj said in a post on social media platform X.
AAP MLA Sanjeev Jha termed Sood’s remarks extremely unfortunate and said they showed disrespect towards people from modest backgrounds. “Ashish Sood is suggesting that people win elections from small localities and then roam around as big spokespersons. I represent the Burari Assembly constituency. People there may be poor and may live in kachchi colonies, but they are not small,” Jha said.
He further said, “Ashish Sood has won an election for the first time, while I have won four times. The number of votes he received is equal to my margin of victory. Whether in terms of experience or margin, I am bigger than him.”
Questioning the mindset behind the remarks, Jha asked whether living in a bungalow makes someone ‘big’ and living in a kachchi colony makes someone ‘small’.
“Seventy per cent of Delhi lives in kachchi colonies. If Ashish Sood considers them small, these very people will show him his real place,” he said, adding that the remarks insult people from Purvanchal, the poor and those living in unauthorised colonies.
Citing other instances, Jha referred to controversial remarks made by a minister’s husband in Uttarakhand and a Ghaziabad case involving a Bihar resident, claiming these reflected the BJP’s broader outlook. “This mindset will be answered by the people at the right time,” he said.
In another video, Jha said, “We live in kachchi colonies, but we are not small people.”
‘Remarks insult the poor’
“Sood has won an election for the first time, while I have won four times. The number of votes he received is equal to my margin of victory. Whether in terms of experience or margin, I am bigger than him.” AAP MLA Sanjeev Jha said, adding that the remarks insult poor people.