Kejriwal Claims BJP if Voted to Power in Delhi will Demolish All Slum Colonies, Centre Refutes

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Jan 12: In a bid to win over the votes of the slum dwellers, the former Delhi chief minister and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday claimed that the BJP if voted to power would remove all the slums in Delhi to construct luxurious houses.

Mr Kejriwal also challenged the union home minister Amit Shah to withdraw all the cases registered against slum dwellers in the last 10 years within 24 hours and resettles the slum dwellers, who have been evicted, at their original areas and in return he would retire from contest in the coming Delhi Assembly elections.

“Withdraw all the cases you have filed against the people of slums, and submit an affidavit in court that you will give houses to all those people on the same land from which they were evicted. I will not contest the elections. I challenge you to accept it. Otherwise, Kejriwal will not go anywhere,” the former Delhi chief minister said.

Addressing a press conference at Shakur Basti, a slum colony in the national capital, Mr Kejriwal warned the slum dwellers that voting for the BJP in the coming Assembly elections would be like signing their own death sentence. “Not months or years, the BJP will not wait even for two days after the Delhi election results are out on February 8 to clear off the slums to give the land to its friends,” Mr Kejriwal cautioned. “They want your votes first and your land after the elections,” Mr Kejriwal said describing the BJP’s ‘Jahan Jhuggi Wahan Makaan’ scheme as a “complete eyewash.”

Even as the union urban development minister Hardeep Singh Puri contested Mr Kejriwal’s claims and accused the AAP government in Delhi of non-cooperation in implementing the Centre’s slum improvement schemes, Mr Kejriwal claimed that only 4,700 flats for slum dwellers had been constructed by the BJP-led central government in the past five years, leaving the city’s 4 lakh slum households in the lurch. “At this pace, it will take 1,000 years to provide housing for all,” he claimed.

“They have made planning of all slums in Delhi. Forget five years, they’ll demolish all slums in one year. If Delhi’s slum dwellers give their vote to the BJP, it’ll be like signing off on your own suicide. They will kill all of you and take all your slums. They have already made plans to give each slum to private people,” he said.

The former Delhi Chief Minister claimed the Delhi Lt Governor had changed the land use of slum areas on December 27, paving the way for their demolition immediately after the elections. He alleged that the Railways had already tendered land occupied by slums on September 30.

“The BJP’s love for the residents of jhuggis (slums) grows only during elections. They don’t care about the people living in jhuggis. Before elections, they want votes from them, and after elections, they want their land,” Mr Kejriwal said.

“Amit Shah ji lied to the residents of Delhi’s jhuggis when he claimed, ‘Jahan Jhuggi, Wahan Makaan‘. But the BJP didn’t clarify whose house they were talking about. According to them, it’s ‘Jahan Jhuggi, Wahan Unke Dost Ka Makaan’.”

Kejriwal was accompanied by senior AAP leader Satyendar Jain, the party’s candidate from Shakur Basti constituency. Jain is seeking re-election from the seat for the fourth time after winning it in 2013, 2015 and 2020.

Union Minister Puri dismissed Mr Kejriwal’s allegations as baseless and countered with accusations of his own. He claimed that the AAP government in Delhi had deliberately delayed central government schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and other slum rehabilitation projects. “Since 2006, it has been the state government’s duty to regulate unauthorised colonies, but the AAP government did not cooperate,” Mr Puri said.

Mr Puri accused Mr Kejriwal of using misleading claims to divert attention from AAP’s own governance failures. “In 2017, I sent a letter urging the Delhi government to implement slum rehabilitation projects. Instead, they insisted on conducting a survey first,” he said. Mr Puri further claimed that senior AAP leaders had shown interest in land acquisition without supporting housing projects for slum dwellers.

“A Central Vigilance report revealed that toilets were being counted as classrooms under AAP’s education initiatives,” Mr Puri alleged. He claimed that while AAP promised to build 20,000 classrooms, only 4,260 were constructed, with funds allegedly misused. Mr Puri also alleged a shortage of 6,000 teachers, which he said contradicted the government’s promise of world-class education.

The AAP is aiming to secure a third consecutive term in Delhi. The party, which won 62 of 70 seats in 2020, is seeking to consolidate its voter base among marginalised communities, including slum dwellers. Delhi goes to polls on February 5 and the results will be announced on February 8.