AAP hits the streets over slum demolition drives, threatens mass agitation

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday launched the ‘Ghar Rozgar Bachao Andolan (Save homes, jobs movement)’ at Jantar Mantar with a protest against the ongoing demolition drives in slum clusters in the city.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal accused the ruling BJP of betraying slum dwellers and urged Delhi’s 40 lakh slum dwellers not to fall for “Modi ki guarantee” again.

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Kejriwal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised ‘Jahan Jhuggi, Wahan Makaan (Where there’s a jhuggi, there will be a house)’ before the Delhi Assembly election, but delivered the opposite. “What he really meant was ‘Jahan Jhuggi, Wahan Maidan (Where there is a jhuggi, there will be barren land)’. They’ve thrown the poor into boiling oil and left them to die,” he said, calling the Prime Minister’s guarantees “fake and hollow”.

Mr. Kejriwal also said the BJP government would not complete its five-year term if they continue to demolish slums.

Senior AAP leader Gopal Rai warned the BJP that the poor will occupy the “Prime Minister’s residence if slums are demolished without providing alternative housing”, adding that there would be mass agitation if the demolition drives don’t stop.

Hitting back, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said, “The call for an attack on the Prime Minister’s residence has once again brought to light the dark and Naxalite-like faces of [Arvind] Kejriwal and Gopal Rai and they must understand that there is no place for their words in a civilised society.”

Mr. Sachdeva claimed that the BJP government is “committed to giving better lives to slum dwellers”, who were “compelled to live in bad conditions” along drains and railway tracks in the city.

‘New homes, new lives’

“Just as we have resettled slum dwellers from Kalkaji, Jailorwala Bagh, Kalandar Colony, and Kathputli Colony. We will continue to provide new homes and new lives to people,” the city BJP chief said.