On Thursday, Aam Aadmi Party leader from Surat, Dharmendra Vavliya, shared fake news to deliberately target the Bharatiya Janat Party (BJP) ahead of the Gujarat Elections. Dharmendra Vavliya accused the BJP of promoting the ‘revdi (freebie) culture’ and ignoring the development of the state.
The AAP Councillor from Surat shared a video in which a school-going boy could be seen falling from the footboard of an overcrowded bus. Vavliya shared the video on September 1 and said, “This is the BJP Model. Even if children of common people die on the streets, they don’t care. They (BJP members) are busy distributing revdis to their friends”.
Dharmendra Vavliya tagged several Gujarati handles in his tweet to imply that the video is from the BJP-ruled Gujarat and tried to pin the blame on them for such over-crowded buses. His misleading tweet was also shared by AAP Gujarat chief Gopal Italia.
आप और आपके बच्चे जिए या मरे हम तो अपने मित्रों को रेवड़ी बाटेंगे। यह है भाजपा का मॉडल। @AAPGujarat @AAP4Surat @AAPAmdavad @AAP_Baroda @AapNavsari pic.twitter.com/oeMKuRs4wr
— Dharmendra Vavliya (@Dharmendravavli) August 31, 2022
He accused the BJP members of distributing freebies to the people ahead of the Gujarat Elections. Meanwhile, reports emerged revealing that the video which was shared by the AAP leader was from Tamil Nadu, a state ruled by DMK and not BJP.
According to the reports, the incident is said to have happened in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu on August 30 where a schoolboy, clinging to the footboard of a bus nearly escaped death after falling from the footboard of the bus. The bus was overcrowded and commuting from Seyyur to Acharapakkam. Several people in the video could be seen clinging to the footboard of the bus.
Aam Aadmi Party banking on freebies to make a dent in Gujarat
Earlier, on August 10, the Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal promised a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 to all women above the age of 18 years in Gujarat if his party came to power. He also promised to increase the entry-level salaries of police personnel in the state as part of his poll campaign in Gujarat. However, he stated that the promises should not be considered freebies.
Kejriwal’s earlier poll guarantees to the people of Gujarat include free electricity up to 300 units and an allowance of Rs 3,000 per month to the unemployed youth.
The BJP in sharp criticism then had said that the AAP had done no development at the grassroots level and now wanted to become heroes by distributing freebies. Recently PM Modi also cautioned against the culture of freebies in politics.
“There is also a big challenge. If not paid attention to now, it can cause a lot of harm to the youth of India and the current generation. Your present will be lost and your future will be confined to darkness. That is why it is important to wake up now. Today, everything is being done in our country to introduce the culture of collecting votes by distributing gifts”, PM Modi was quoted.
He further slammed the leaders for providing freebies to the people of Gujarat ahead of elections and said, “leaders who indulge in such a culture will never build new highways, airports or defense corridors for you. They feel that they will buy people by giving them gifts”.
The Legislative Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Gujarat in December 2022 to elect 182 members of the Assembly.
