Kejriwal targets BJP over Vijay Goel’s remarks on migrants

A sweat-drenched Arvind Kejriwal addressing a 9,000-strong crowd at Jantar Mantar on Sunday in his all-out attack on the BJP also took on senior BJP leader Vijay Goel for his recent controversial statements on migrants. Goel is a Rajya Sabha MP and former Delhi BJP president.

Goel’s statement in the Rajya Sabha last week on why the influx of migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar into Delhi should be stopped, had elicited strong reactions from the Aam Admi Party (AAP) on social media, accusing the BJP of acting like the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.

Goel was forced to issue a statement to clarify his position in which he blamed “certain vested interests” for “trying to create an unnecessary controversy by distorting facts”.

But AAP appears to be keen on extracting all the political mileage it can out of the issue. Kejriwal, addressing the rally at Jantar Mantar on Sunday, sought to remind the BJP of the political fate that met former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who too was caught in a controversy for blaming migrants, in her case, for the rising crime in Delhi.

Asked about AAP’s potential to inflict political damage over the issue of migrants, Satish Upadhyay, Delhi BJP president said, “It is not at all a political issue. Goel has clarified. He has said he has been misquoted. And as far as our party is concerned, everyone is equal and we respect everyone, whether they are from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Punjab, the north eastern states, south Indian states. We welcome everybody.”

As far the BJP was concerned, he added, the issue was closed.

“AAP is an expert at spreading rumours. They want to confuse people of Delhi. And they want to believe that they are the Raja Harish Chandra of the political system and everybody else is corrupt,” said the Delhi BJP chief.

On the issue of elections in Delhi, the main agenda of AAP’s Sunday rally, the BJP still appears averse to the prospect of elections in the Capital.

Kejriwal has said that AAP will launch a door-to-door signature campaign if Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung does not dissolve the Assembly and call for elections in a week’s time.

Reacting to Kejriwal’s threat of launching a public campaign, Upadhyay said, “They can do anything they want. When they went to the Supreme Court, they said they want elections. When they went to meet the Lieutenant Governor, they gave him a letter urging him not to call for elections. Why did he leave Delhi in 49 days? What was the reason? He had an eye of Prime Ministership.”

The BJP made light of the turnout at the AAP rally, dubbing it is an orchestrated crowd.

“Earlier, they used to say that the Congress and the BJP hire buses to bring people for rallies. Ask them how many buses they hired yesterday? How much money was paid to them? To bring people in buses to rallies is not a big thing. They like to point fingers at others but they don’t follow what they say. They are always full of double-standards, always guilty of double-speak,” said Upadhyay.

For the BJP, government formation still appears to be the preferred choice.

“Nobody wants an election every other day. There was a Lok Sabha election and before that an assembly election. People are tired of elections. And if at all, there is no possibility, then the state will go for an election,” said Upadhyay.