NEW DELHI: Patriotism fervour is in the air ahead of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses Delhiites on the occasion of Independence Day on Sunday. According to sources, his speech could focus on the plans and initiatives announced in the ‘Desbhakti Budget’ presented earlier this year by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
The Delhi government plans to install 500 high-mast national flags across the national capital for which the administration has already started work on ground, and this could find place in the chief minister’s speech. According to the ruling party, in order to give a more “substantive” meaning to nationalism for the next generation ‘Deshbhakti Curriculum’ has been launched in schools and the chief minister is likely to talk about this initiative as well. The administration feels this will help “realise the dreams of freedom fighters and the celebration of Independence Day will cease to be symbolic in schools”.
Interestingly, the new curriculum was launched on Saturday, a day before the Independence Day. To showcase the spirit of patriotism in the minds of the leadership, the roads of Delhi, which are being developed on ‘European Model’, are being revamped in such a way that along with “modernity”, the roads will also offer “glimpses of patriotism”. This includes installation of statues of freedom fighters and artefacts of historical importance placed on roadsides to make Delhiites feel proud of their city.
According to sources, Kejriwal will also be using this opportunity to politically bolster his party’s chances in the upcoming Assembly elections in some state where it is likely to test political waters. Kejriwal wants to place the Aam Admi Party as the best option at the national level and to give an impression to the people that AAP has a national perspective and is not just limited to Delhi. Besides Punjab and UP, the party is contesting polls in Uttarakhand as well, where nationalism is a very emotional subject.
Earlier, with the aim to churn out ‘global leaders’, the government had launched its own Delhi Board of School Education which has now collaborated with International Baccalaureate. The schools of national capital will now get education of international standard, sort of putting them at the same level of children in America, Canada, Spain, Japan and South Korea, among other developed countries, and this could most likely to be a part of the chief minister’s Independence Day speech.