New Delhi: The ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi on Sunday accused a BJP corporator of demolishing a ghat built for Chhath Puja, triggering a political war during the religious ritual which holds significance for all parties aiming to woo Purvanchali voters ahead of Assembly election in February.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh claimed that after a BJP corporator demolished a ghat for Chhath Puja, the Delhi Development Authority claimed that ghats cannot be built.
“The BJP is a party opposed to people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. I myself had to sit on a dharna in the Greater Kailash area to protest against the demolition of a Chhath Ghat in the area by a BJP corporator,” he said.
Addressing media persons, he said under the Arvind Kejriwal government the number of ghats available for Chhath Puja had increased 10-fold in the city in the past decade.
“The AAP government has been trying hard to provide facilities in Delhi to people from UP and Bihar who cannot go to their home states for Chhath rituals,” he said, adding that party workers will share this information with Delhiites during Kejriwal’s ongoing padyatra (foot march).
Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj also attacked the BJP for trying to create hurdles in ramping up facilities for Chhath devotees.
“The DDA officials have blocked a path used by Dalit members of our village for Chhath Puja,” said the legislator from Greater Kailash constituency.
The political war of words of Chhath Puja facilities got intense with the Delhi Congress President Devender Yadav lashing out at the AAP government for failing to clean the Yamuna before the festival.
He said that the AAP government has not taken any steps to ensure that lakhs of devotees offer prayers in fresh, clean waters by creating separate Chhath Ghats.
Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva also pointed to the emergence of toxic foam in the Yamuna in the run-up to the Chhath festivities as an example of the AAP government’s insensitivity towards Purvanchalis.
He said, “This foam isn’t just pollution, it’s the result of deep-rooted corruption in the AAP government.”
The BJP Delhi chief alleged that the Yamuna has remained polluted as the Delhi government misused the central government’s allocated Rs 8,500 crore for Yamuna cleanup.
Earlier, AAP MP Sanjay Singh also highlighted the great response being received by party convener Arvind Kejriwal during his ongoing padyatra across Delhi.
He said a shaken BJP even tried to stop his march by openly attacking him. “BJP leaders even supported the attack and issued videos in its support,” he said.
He said the second stage of Kejriwal’s padyatra would begin from Rajouri Garden with the objective of reaching out to Delhiites and telling them how public welfare works of the AAP government were being blocked by the BJP.
He alleged the public welfare schemes of the AAP government had rattled the BJP. “Not even a single state, out of the 22 ruled by the BJP, is offering free bus travel to women and or world-class schools,” he said.
Singh challenged the BJP to compete with the AAP on welfare politics rather than jailing AAP leaders like Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain to create hurdles in the implementation of development projects.
The AAP MP said the BJP has turned into a party of “humla (attack) and Jumla (words meant to create hysteria)”.
–IANS
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