New Delhi: AAP National Convenor and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday hit out at the BJP-led Central government and Home Minister Amit Shah for failure to maintain law and order in the national Capital which, he said is witnessing Mumbai-style gang wars and a spurt in murders.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Kejriwal said, “Over the past year-and-a-half, law and order in Delhi has collapsed. Businessmen are getting extortion calls, women are facing eve-teasing and there is a spurt in murders, making Delhi one of the most unsafe cities to live in.”
Highlighting comments like Delhi becoming the “rape capital of the world”, Kejriwal shared crime data and said that in 2022 as many as 501 murders were reported in the city, which was among the highest in the past few years.
“In the last three months, at least 20 people were killed in gang wars in the trans-Yamuna area,” he said.
“Delhiites are living in fear. They are afraid of being harmed by criminals,” he said, adding that when people made him the Chief Minister 10 years ago and asked him to improve hospitals and power supply he delivered on the promise.
However, Delhi Police and consequent crime control in the city is the responsibility of the BJP-led Central government and it is due to the failure of Home Minister Amit Shah that Delhiites are feeling insecure, Kejriwal said.
“The ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ slogan was given by the BJP. We have opened schools for enabling girls’ education, now it is their turn to provide security and save the girls,” said Kejriwal.
Targeting HM Shah for the “uncontrolled” crime in Delhi, Kejriwal said, “These crimes are taking place within a 20-km radius of Shah’s home. How will he provide security in the entire country when he is unable to stop crimes close to his home in Delhi?”
Kejriwal also cited examples of the murder of a police Constable in Govindpuri on November 28, the killing of two gangsters in a gang war in Farsh Bazar on October 31, a woman’s rape in Karol Bagh on October 21 and a gym owner’s death after being shot in Greater Kailash on September 14 – all incidents that took place within 14 kms of HM Shah’s home in central Delhi.
“Is Amit Shah willing to admit that he is unable to control crime in Delhi?” Kejriwal asked.
Sharing the problems of Delhiites, Kejriwal said, “Women and businessmen are most impacted by the lawlessness. In the past one year, about 160 extortion calls have been made to businessmen. About 70 to 80 per cent people don’t even report the matter to the police.”
“If businessmen don’t pay up, they are targeted by gangsters who fire gunshots outside their homes or establishments to scare them,” Kejriwal said.
“Doing business in Delhi is becoming unsafe. This is also forcing businessmen to shift out of Delhi,” said Kejriwal, while releasing a map of Delhi, highlighting the distance of crime scenes from HM Shah’s home in central Delhi.
The latest attack by the AAP on the Central government has come just ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections that are slated to be held around February and appears to be aimed at enlisting the alleged failures of the BJP-led dispensation in serving people in the national Capital.
–IANS
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