NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said the “Delhi model” of governance is showing direction to the entire country in terms of education, health and electricity supply.
Addressing the House, he slammed the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme as the “biggest scam”. This came a day after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena asked him to implement the central scheme here.
Before beginning his address, the chief minister asked members of the House to salute his former deputy Manish Sisodia, who was arrested by the CBI in the Delhi excise policy case on February 26 last year.
Speaking on the motion of thanks on the L-G’s address, Kejriwal criticised BJP MLAs for causing multiple interruptions during the address.
“We may have differences between the government and opposition. But the House is considered the temple of democracy and it is necessary to maintain decorum here. It has never happened earlier. But this time and before this, the opposition created a ruckus by raising slogans during the L-G’s address,” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal said the L-G, in his address, has mentioned the works done by the Delhi government. “In the 75 years of Independent India, the works that are being done in Delhi today haven’t been done anywhere else in the country,” he said.
“If such work would have been done (earlier), there wouldn’t have been a need for us to join politics. We had no interest in joining politics. Today, the Delhi model is being discussed across the country,” he added.
Outlining various initiatives of his government in education, health and power sectors, the chief minister said, “The AAP’s Delhi Model is showing a direction to the etire country.” He asserted that education, health, and power sectors have been instrumental in Delhi’s development.
These can alleviate the country’s situation, he said, adding that around four to five lakh students in Delhi withdrew their admission from private schools and took admission to government schools.
“Since we have provided quality education to children of the poor in Delhi, we can do this in the entire country. What kind of model is being run in the country today? Schools are being shut all over the country. Barring Delhi, the entire country is in a way being pushed towards privatisation of education,” Kejriwal claimed.
“The country has 10 lakh government schools with 17 crore students. With Rs 5 lakh crore, all government schools can be upgraded into excellent schools.”
“I am providing a ‘Ram-Baan’ (infallible) idea to eradicate poverty in five years. It’s easier to say ‘Garibi hatao’ in speeches than done. Different parties said such things, but none had the real intent to eradicate poverty,” Kejriwal added.
The Delhi BJP, in a statement, accused Kejriwal of being biased against the people of UP, Bihar, and Haryana, and demeaning repeatedly them by labelling them as a burden on Delhi’s health services.