New Delhi: In an exclusive interview to ETV Bharat, Delhi Congress chief Subhash Chopra expressed his confidence of winning the Delhi assembly election. He said that this will prove to be a comeback election for the Congress party.
He accused the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) of bringing the Citizenship Amendment Act to divert peoples' attention from economic failure and unemployment. He further said that he is proud of the women who are protesting against CAA at Shaahen bagh.
Q: What is your assessment of the Congress prospects in the 2020 Delhi assembly elections given the party could not win a single seat of the total 70 in the 2015 polls?
A: Well, this will prove to be a comeback election for the Congress party.
Q: What is the basis of your claim?
Let me take you back to the 2013 assembly elections in Delhi which took place in the backdrop of activist Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement and a demand for the Jan Lokpal Bill to curb the menace. Everyone wanted that there should be a Jan Lokpal. But what happened in the last six and a half years? What has the chief minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal done on that issue? He has done nothing. Instead, he has been accusing all these years that the central government and the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi were not letting him work.
Q: The Congress campaign is harping mainly on the legacy for three-term former chief minister late Sheila Dikshit. Can you list three reasons why the people of Delhi will vote for your party?
A: The students are the future of the country. They were protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act and were beaten up brutally by the police. There were different standards adopted by the police with the students of Jamia Milia Islamia University where they barged in without permission and the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, where the police waited to enter the gates as some vandalised the campus. A chief minister is elected to protect people.
What was the chief minister doing then? A government which can’t save the hapless students has no right to be in power. He (Kejriwal) should have been there and watched their (students’) interest. Further, what happened to the chief minister’s claims of reducing pollution in Delhi. As many as 58 persons died per day due to respiratory diseases last year in the city. See the high onion prices. These issues do matter. A government which can’t give clean water and air to the people and check rising prices of food items has no right to be there. That’s why we are fighting the polls. We are giving our viewpoint and not merely saying he has done nothing.
Q: But the AAP claims to have provided cheap power to residents. Your comments!
A: Cheap power is a false claim. The chief minister announced 200 units free. We have announced relief to the tune of 600 units. He had promised subsidy will be routed through Transcos. Why did he give state to private companies? It could have been routed through the consumer. We have promised small shop keepers will pay no commercial charges till 200 units.
We will give free power to farmers for running tube wells. These things are needed in Delhi. We don’t give false promises. If we say, we do it. And we have done it earlier. There was a time when there was no water and power and people were scared of coming to the national capital. Who created the flyovers and the metro, who introduced CNG, who built hospitals, schools and 5 universities? We made Delhi the best capital in the world. It was the creation of the Congress government. If people bless us, we will again make it the best city.
Q: Why do you think the centre brought the CAA?
The BJP ruled centre brought the CAA to divert attention from its economic failures and inability to create jobs. We opposed CAA inside and outside parliament. But we have always supported peaceful protests. There is no place for violence in any movement. Otherwise, it will be automatically defeated. I am proud of the ladies who are sitting at Shaheen Bagh. They came out in support of their children. We need such ladies. I bow my head before them.
