"Took away jobs of 10,000 bus marshals...": Delhi CM Atishi slams "anti-poor" BJP

The bus marshals have been protesting to get reinstated after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena terminated their services in October last year.

The AAP has alleged that the BJP has stepped back from its promise that they will regularise bus marshals through the LG after the Chief Minister Atishi-led cabinet passed a resolution in the assembly.

Addressing the 'Janta Ki Adalat' on Sunday, Atishi said, "On one side there is Arvind Kejriwal who works for the poor and common people of Delhi. On the other side there is an anti-poor party, BJP which works to harass the poor. In the last few years, BJP's central government has been demolishing slums in every part of Delhi, making people homeless. The pensions for elderly and poor widows has been stopped for 6 months."

"It is not unknown how the BJP government and its LG took away the jobs of 10,000 poor bus marshals, made them homeless and did not spare them the cost of running their houses. All the dirty politics of BJP was exposed yesterday when BJP MLAs who promised to get a resolution signed from the LG backed off in the last minute," said Atishi.

"This is all because BJP is an anti-poor party--because their children can become BCCI chairmen and our children cannot even hold the position of a bus marshal -- this is the dirty politics of BJP," she further assserted.

Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj and other party members were detained by police on Thursday while protesting at Chandgiram Akhara in Delhi, demanding the reinstatement of marshals in buses.

Last month, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, who was a cabinet minister at that time, wrote a letter to Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena, requesting him to restore the jobs of bus marshals.

LG VK Saxena met the protesting bus marshals in his office in the national capital on Saturday.

Further highlighting the work during the 10 years of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government, Atishi slammed BJP for the "poor" conditions of electricity, water, schools and hospitals in the national capital before 2015, and said there has been a substantial progress under Arvind Kejriwal's leadership.

"I want to remind you all what Delhi was like 10 years ago.---10 years ago, in Delhi, there were long power outages. Before Arvind Kejriwal's government was formed in 2015, power cuts of for about over 8 hours used to take place in the scorching summer heat of 2014," Atishi said.

"Despite long power cuts, the common man had to see expensive electricity bills. Hence, middle class families would have to cut down on other household expenses to pay the bills. The common man did not have money to pay the electricity bill. The women in the slums and unauthorized colonies had to wait for hours for the water tanker. There was no water pipeline in the unauthorized colonies and in the slums," she added.

The Delhi CM said that earlier, children of poor families had to go to government schools which were in "fouled up" and poor conditions, and government hospitals in the city were so poor that people had to mortgage their properties to secure treatment.

"Children of poor families went to schools that were in poor conditions. As soon as they entered the school, they could smell the toilets. There were no chairs and desks, no blackboard, no fans, no drinking water and no teachers to teach. This was the condition of government schools 10 years ago," she said.

"If someone in the family fell sick, then the government hospitals were so bad that no one would take their family members there for treatment. Instead they used to get their children treated in expensive private hospitals by keeping their house and jewellery mortgage. The slum and unauthorized colonies were no less than hell. There was no roads, no water, no sewer, no drain," added Atishi.

Stating that no one was able to change the lives of a 'common man', but former CM Kejriwal, was able to understand the pain of a common wan, women and families, and worked for them.

"The people of Delhi were worried, they were worried because leaders and parties used to come and go but there was no change in the lives of the common man. But in 2015, a miracle happened, in 2015, the people of Delhi made their son, their brother, Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister--- he who raised the voice of the common man, was appointed as the CM with a huge majority," stated Atishi.

Lauding Arvind Kejriwal's governance, she added, "Arvind Kejriwal understood the pain of a common man, understood the pain of women, understood the problems of a common family and that is why he solved their issues and problems one by one in 10 years. He has changed the lives of Delhites, it is now the only city where there is 24/7 electricity and even then the electricity bill is zero. Delhi is the only place where government schools have left private schools behind--this is Kejriwal's work."

Atishi further highlighted that Delhi is the only city where people enjoy free and good treatment at government hospitals and mohalla clinics, free water supply and free bus services, adding that's why BJP is "scared" of Kejriwal and AAP's governance.

She said, "Delhi is the only city where free and good treatment is available in government hospitals and mohalla clinics---whether the treatment is for Rs. 500 or Rs. 5,00,000. In 10 years, Kejriwal got 10,000 km of water supply laid, 4200 km of sewer lines laid in unauthorised colonies, got 5,000 km of roads built, got his sisters to travel by bus for free. Today 11,00,000 women travel in DTC buses daily, and go to school, college and jobs in free because of Kejriwal."

"This is why BJP got scared from all the work done by Arvind Kejriwal in 10 years," said Atishi while advocating the AAP supremo for the Chief Minister's face and appealing them to bring him to power again.

The assembly elections in Delhi are expected to held around February next year.

Arvind Kejriwal was released from jail last month after being granted bail by the Supreme Court in the excise policy case. In a surprising move, he announced his resignation as the Chief Minister, following which the party selected Atishi as his successor on the post. (ANI)