NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addressed another townhall event on Friday, saying the ruling Aam Aadmi Party will extend free bus rides to students, if voted back.
Quizzed on his take on the amended citizenship law, which touched off violent protests across the country and has evoked calls for a rollback from a cross-section of the society, the CM said there wasn’t any need to bring the law and the Centre should, instead, look at more pressing issues that the country is faced with.
“I don’t understand the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). When will Amit Shah clear the air on it? There are no homes for the needy, no jobs for our youth, businesses are shutting down and all that the government is planning on is to give citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan and elsewhere. Fix what’s ailing your country before sheltering others. The economy is down in the dumps. What was the need to bring this law?” Kejriwal said.
Asked if he is gung-ho on his party’s prospects in the forthcoming Assembly elections, the CM said, “I am confident that the AAP will win Delhi again. We have been seeing different voting patterns in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections.”
Hard-selling his government’s work over the last five years, the CM said, “We have worked with utmost sincerity to improve people’s lives in Delhi. We’ve worked across sectors, especially education, health, infrastructure and electricity. We have laid sewer lines, installed CCTVs in neighbourhoods and subsidise water and electricity charges, which couldn’t be done in 70 years. However, a lot remains to be done. We have to clean the Yamuna and the city itself. We have to revamp the transport sector and rid the city of pollution.”