Published 21:52 IST, January 26th 2020
Delhi Election: AAP takes on 'Amit Shah's BJP' over Kejriwal govt's 'education' model
Making 'education' a poll plank for the triangular battle in the upcoming Delhi Assembly Elections, AAP has propelled the topic to the political discourse.
AAP's Atishi Marlena lauded the Delhi government for 'transforming' the schools and hospitals in the union terrority, by sharing a video of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal elaborating over the education system under his regime. In addition to crediting the government, Atishi reprimanded 'Amit Shah's BJP' for 'failing to even 'repair a single school'. Making 'education' a poll plank for the triangular battle in the upcoming Delhi Assembly Elections, AAP has propelled the topic to the political discourse.
Taking on Home Minister Amit Shah, Atishi said, "Arvind Kejriwal's government transformed the schools and hospitals, while Amit Shah's BJP failed to fix/repair a single school. Even so, Amit Shah relentlessly insults the people of Delhi."
In the video, shared by Atishi, Arvind Kejriwal in a presser, can be heard appealing the Home Minister to not play 'dirty politics' over education. The Delhi CM said, "For the past 15 years, the BJP has been in power in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). 'You've been in power for 5 years, have you taken into account one school? Then what is your interest in education? You're in elections for your dirty politics. Don't do dirty politics on education.'"
Shah lists 'failures' of AAP Govt
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday listed the failures of the AAP government, claiming that Delhi is unsafe in the hands of the present ruling government. Addressing a rally in Karawal Nagar, Delhi, the Home Minister said, "The party and their chief Arvind Kejriwal does not speak about their failures. Did the government set up new schools in the national capital? Instead, they worsened the condition of the poor." Further, Amit Shah had claimed that PM Modi regularised the unregularised colonies in India, further raked up the topics of Ram Mandir, Article 370, Sikh riots in his speech.
Furthermore, Amit Shah accused Kejriwal of encouraging the infamous JNU protests from 2016. "Abuse us as much as you want, but we will not spare you for saying bharat mata ke tukde hongay," Amit Shah said. The Home Minister criticized the Opposition for supporting Shaheen Bagh protests for political gains, calling AAP 'shameless'.
AAP's education model
In an electoral race, AAP had maintained to provide an equal chance at quality education to the children belonging to the diverse strata of the society. AAP government built 8,000 new classrooms in 30 schools. The AAP government's education budget has gone up every year, now contitutes upto 26% of the national capital's total budget.
Some principals and teachers, under the AAP regime, were sent on a 12-day session to Cambridge University. The AAP government even introduced subjects such as --IT, beauty & wellness, travel & tourism, financial market, security. The government has provided free education upto class 12 and increased scholarships for those students who scored over 80%. The government even installed CCTV cameras in school, allowing parents to view the live feed and scrapped the managed quota for admissions. However, AAP failed to deliver the promise to open 20 defree colleges, as affiliated colleges can be opened only under Delhi University, which is under the Centre.
The Election Commission of India announced that Delhi would go to the polls on February 8. The results will be declared on February 11. In the previous election, AAP had won a resounding majority bagging 67 out of 70 seats as against BJP who could win only from three constituencies. So far, neither BJP nor AAP has named its Chief Ministerial candidate.
Updated 21:52 IST, January 26th 2020