Despite repeated failures in delivery, Arvind Kejriwal has continued to promise freebies in every new state he approaches. This time he has promised freebies in Gujarat, where assembly elections will be held in December this year. Interestingly, he had made similar promises for Punjab, but after the Aam Aadmi Party won in Punjab, its government miserably failed to deliver the same.
While addressing Aam Admi Party’s workers at the Gujarat Adivasi Sammelan organized by the party’s Gujarat unit, Arvind Kejriwal said on 1st May 2022, “Today, there is free electricity in Delhi. People are getting free electricity for 24 hours. How do the people of Delhi get free electricity for 24 hours? Because in Delhi there is an honest government. I am not involved in corruption and I don’t allow anyone else to. I saved the money on everything. I stopped the bribery that took place in every little thing. It saved so much money. I freed the electricity using those funds.”
BJP वाले मुझे खूब गाली देते हैं कि “केजरीवाल सब FREE कर रहा है।”
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) May 1, 2022
ईमानदार हूं इसलिए जनता के लिए फ्री कर रहा हूं। तुम लोग बेईमान हो, इसलिए फ्री नहीं कर रहे।
-CM @ArvindKejriwal #AAPGujaratAadivasiSammelan pic.twitter.com/SNu2sNHRy1
He further said, “The BJP leaders abuse me saying that Kejriwal is giving everything for free. I am doing this because I am honest, ‘imandar’. You people are dishonest. Therefore you are not doing this. Now, there is only one parameter to check if the leader is honest. The leader who gives for free is honest. And the one who does not give free electricity is dishonest.”
Arvind Kejriwal also tried to adopt PM Modi’s style of interacting with the audience, asking them certain questions, and getting the answers aloud. He asked, “Isn’t it the only parameter? Shouldn’t Gujarat’s people get electricity for free? Do they want free electricity or they do not? Do Gujaratis want 24-hour electricity or they do not? Which party will do that?” People did not raise their voices to answer his questions as they usually do with Narendra Modi. This attempt by Arvind Kejriwal miserably failed.
Promising freebies took the Aam Aadmi Party to power in Punjab. Soon after that, on March 24, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann sought Rs 50,000 crore per year for two years from the Centre as financial aid claiming the financial health of the state is very poor. Mann informed PM about the financial condition of the state and told him that there is debt worth Rs 3 lakh crores. Further, he demanded a special package for Punjab worth Rs 50,000 crores for two years to improve the state’s financial condition.
One of the major poll promises of AAP was freebies to the Punjab people. AAP chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had promised 24-hour free electricity supply to everyone in Punjab. He had also promised Rs 1000 monthly financial aid to all women above the age of 18 years in Punjab. He had also promised to renovate all schools and hospitals in Punjab and establish ‘Pind Clinics’ along the lines of Mohalla Clinics where everyone will be treated free of cost. Soon after swearing-in, Mann had announced 25,000 government jobs, which will also come from the state exchequer.
However, after having made these promises of freebies, Mann has claimed the state is under tremendous debt and sought the Centre’s help. This led to speculation that should the Aam Aadmi Party-led government in Punjab fail to fulfil the freebie promises, they might put the blame squarely on the Central government, a strategy Arvind Kejriwal has used quite often. As Gujarat will undergo elections probably in the month of December when the term of the current assembly concludes, Arvind Kejriwal has started promising freebies to the state where people are known for their firm belief in the inherent entrepreneurial attitude more than getting freebies from the government.
