In his Republic Day speech, Arvind Kejriwal asks, “Is there a dark shadow over democracy?”
During the state’s Republic Day celebrations on Wednesday, Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the whole country should “wonder if there’s a dark shadow falling on the existence of our democracy.”
In a fight with Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena over who should run the city-state, Kejriwal said, “When our forefathers gave us this constitution and wrote freedom and democracy into it, they committed the country in the name of We, The People of India… The constitution of our democracy made the public the most important thing. But over the past few years, we’ve seen that even that has been in danger… Governments are the most powerful only because the people of a country, who are the real most powerful force, have given them jobs to do. But in the last few years, we’ve seen something strange.”
The CM went on to say, “In one state, the elected government passes law after law, but the governor won’t sign them. Can one man, who doesn’t have the support of the public, stop the laws passed by the government of the people? Can a man have so much power that he can ignore what people say, what they want, and what they expect?
Kejriwal said, referring to the Punjab government’s decision not to call a special assembly session last September and the Kerala governor’s notices to Vice Chancellors to explain themselves, “An elected government wanted to call a session of their Legislative Assembly. Sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it? But the Governor wouldn’t sign that file either. He asked, “What do you want to get out of this session?” Can a governor who wasn’t chosen by the people have so much power that he can question why a government that was chosen by the people wants to meet with its elected representatives? It’s not a democracy. You can’t let one man hold democracy in his hand like a leash. We have seen so many examples of this in the past few years alone. Vice-Chancellors were chosen by elected governments for the state universities they ran, but their governors fired them for no clear reason… As we move into our 74th year as a republic, the whole country needs to think about whether or not our democracy is under threat. We need to figure out how to deal with this.”
The CM also called for a boycott of China because it was said that India has lost control of 26 of the 65 Patrolling Points in Eastern Ladakh.
“This is something that worries every person in our country. Our soldiers fought the Chinese on the border with everything they had… It is our duty to boycott China, look it in the eyes, and make it clear that we will not give up on national security. But trade with China has grown in the last few years, even though China has been bad on the borders. In 2020, our country spent 65 billion dollars on goods. In 2021, the amount of money spent on imports jumped by 50%, from 60 billion dollars to 95 billion. Why are we giving China more money at the expense of our own safety… We bring things like shoes and slippers, mattresses and pillows, glasses, toys, and statues into the country. Don’t we make these things here… Why do they bother our own business owners and try to get them to leave, but they love the Chinese?” Kejriwal said.
The CM recently went to Telangana at the request of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and said that state governments should learn from each other.
“There were four CMs there” (in Telangana). The government of Telangana has started a great project. In their state, there are 4 crore people, and all of them will get a free eye exam. If any of them need follow-up care or glasses after the exam, they will also get that for free. I thought it was a great idea. I said right there that we would also do it in Delhi…. In Delhi, we set up Mohalla Clinics. The CM of Telangana saw the model and used it in his own state. We changed the way schools in Delhi worked. The chief minister of Tamil Nadu came to check on us. He liked it, so he used it there… What’s the point of fighting with each other?” He said.
He said about BJP, “These people are now fighting with the court system. Who makes trouble with judges? Now, they are fighting with other state governments, students, farmers, and traders. No one will be able to stop India from becoming number one if they stop fighting with the country and instead work together.
For the first time, a boys band from a government school took part in the celebration, which is always held on January 25. Some of the people who took part in the official celebrations were students from Government Boys Senior Secondary School No. 1 Punjabi Bagh, MAPS Ashok Vihar, and MAMS Pritampura.
Congratulations Delhi🎉
As per multiple surveys of Central Govt/Agencies, Delhi is now—
📊 No. 1 in Start-ups
⚡ No. 1 in EV Penetration
🏫 No. 1 in Education
🏥 No. 1 in Healthcare
📹 No. 1 in CCTV Coverage
🌳 No. 1 in Green Cover Density among Mega Cities—CM @ArvindKejriwal pic.twitter.com/rhX0fajp6n
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) January 25, 2023
Kejriwal praised the people of Delhi and said that reports from the Centre showed that Delhi did much better than other states on a number of measures.
“Central Government reports say that Delhi is now number one in the country for startups, electric vehicles, education, health, CCTVs, and green cover. Delhi has the lowest inflation rate in the whole country because food, electricity, water, education, health care, bus rides, and religious trips are all free. The rate of inflation is 3% in Delhi, 7% in Gujarat, 7.8% in Haryana, 7.5 in Madhya Pradesh, and 6.8% in Uttar Pradesh. Delhi is now the best place in the country to start a business. “Now, Delhi has more startups than any other city in the country, even more than Bangalore,” he said. Kejriwal said this about Delhi’s CCTV coverage: “When I was a kid, there was a song from a Bollywood movie called “Isko haraya toh kya kiya, usko haraya toh kya kiya, Dara Singh ko harao toh jaane.” It means that you have to show how tough you are by beating the bigwig. Today, your Delhi is falling behind big countries like America, London, Singapore, New York, and Washington.
He also asked the Centre to stop charging GST on food like milk, yoghurt, and wheat.
