“This is a movement to end dictatorship, to bring back democracy,” said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal while addressing thousands at a rally at Ramlila Maidan today against what his party has termed the “dictatorial ordinance” on the issue of services promulgated by the Union government last month.
“We had assembled in this Ramlila Maidan 12 years ago during the India against corruption movement. Today, we have gathered here again to remove a dictator. This campaign will also become fruitful,” Kejriwal said.
“The Constitution was written by Babsaheb Ambedkar. He wrote that the people will be supreme. The PM has changed the Constitution. The people are not supreme, the PM is. People’s vote has no value. He says it doesn’t matter who the people of Delhi vote for,” he added.
The ordinance effectively reverses the Supreme Court’s May 11 judgment on the issue of services that gave the elected regime the power to wield control over the Delhi government officials.
He went on to say: “People are surprised that a Prime Minister is this arrogant. This is dictatorship. Modiji’s ordinance has overruled the Supreme Court’s order. This is also an insult to the people of Delhi.”
“I will get it cancelled and implement the Supreme Court’s order to save democracy. This is not just against Delhi. Similar ordinances will be applied in States as well soon,” warned AAP chief.
He further said, “Compare 21 years of Mr. Modi’s work and Mr. Kejriwal’s 8 years of work. Mr. Kejriwal has done more work, though I didn’t have as much power at Mr. Modi. If they put one Manish Sisodia in jail, we have a 100 more.”
The rally was attended by around one lakh people, the AAP claimed.
Slamming PM Modi, Kejriwal said: “The king brought in demonetisation. This affected the economy of the country. Then one day someone asked him to bring in a Rs 2,000 note. After some years, he withdrew the notes. People told him to bring in farm laws, people died, he withdrew the laws after a year,” he said.
“The king would jail those who spoke against him. He jailed cartoonists and journalists. As things started to get worse, the gods asked the people to remove the king from power and it happened in a year,” Kejriwal said.
Arvind Kejriwal said at the party’s ‘maha rally’ on Sunday: “One day the PM decided to get a photo clicked in a school. He couldn’t find one school to get a photo clicked in. BJP has been in power in Gujarat for 30 years. They had to make a fake classroom in a studio and call 10 children, got desks places and the PM got clicked with a student. The people are asking Modi ji, Kejriwal has done so much, what did you do. So he decided he will not let me work. He arrested Manish Sisodia. He thought work on education will stop. He jailed Satyendar Jain, he thought mohalla clinics will shut, hospitals will stop functioning. I want to tell them, we don’t have 1 Manish Sisodia, we have 100. We don’t have one Satyendar Jain, we have 100. You jail one, others will be ready to work. When you couldn’t do anything by sending them to jail, they brought the ordinance to stop work.”
“There is unemployment everywhere, they can’t understand how to remedy that. There is corruption everywhere, they don’t know how to fix that. Traders are suffering because of GST, they don’t know how to fix that,” he added.
AAP founder told his party members: “I have been travelling to different parts of the country. A few days ago, I met people of many parties. The people of the country are with you. 140 crore people are with you. The people of Bengal, Maharashtra, Kerala, UP are with you.”
