Invigorated by the thumping win of his party in the recent Punjab Assembly election and the party projecting him as a possible face around which the Opposition could coalesce for the 2024 general election, Aam Aadmi Party national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
Speaking during a discussion on the Lt. Governor’s address to the Assembly, he referred to the Prime Minister’s “56-inch chest” and contrasted it with the BJP’s reluctance to contest civic polls in the Capital. Pouring scorn on the BJP for promoting The Kashmir Files, he said “if the Prime Minister has to take refuge at [the filmmaker] Vivek Agnihotri’s feet, it means he has not taken a single good step in eight long years”.
“Hitler too had his bootlickers but he at least gave them employment. What did he [Modi] give you? (Did he) give jobs to your children, arrange electricity for you? Only Kejriwal helped you in need. I have given jobs to 12 lakh children of Delhi, fixed schools and hospitals. If someone at your house is ill, Kejriwal delivers medicines, not Modi,” the Delhi Chief Minister said in the Assembly, exhorting BJP members to join AAP and be a part of its nation-building project.
Drastic shift
The broadside at Mr. Modi is a drastic shift on the part of the AAP chief, who hardly took his name, let alone attack him, in the run-up to the Assembly polls earlier this year. He had followed a similar pattern in 2020 and 2021 even while going against the BJP or the decisions taken by the Central government.
The pattern changed slightly as the Punjab election closed in, and the tempo increased in the aftermath of the Delhi State Election Commission on March 9 deferring elections to three municipal corporations citing a communication from the Centre about their unification.
Mr. Kejriwal sharpened the attack on a day five AAP candidates were declared elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab. “The BJP says they are the world’s largest party, but they are scared of AAP, the world’s smallest party,” he said in the House. “If you have courage, fight the election. You talk about a 56-inch chest, if you don’t contest admit that it’s not a 56-inch chest beneath the kurta,” he said with a laugh.
The AAP chief also attacked BJP leaders for supporting The Kashmir Files and called it a “false film”. He accused Mr. Agnihotri of minting money by exploiting the agony of Kashmiri Pandits. On the BJP’s request to make the movie tax-free, he said, “Why don’t you upload it on YouTube and make it free?”
During his speech, Mr. Kejriwal even referred to farm Bills and took Mr. Modi’s name, something he had not done in multiple speeches in 2020 and 2021 at Jantar Mantar and the Singhu border.
