Hardeep Singh Puri interview: ‘Delhi is going down under Kejriwal … AAP started amid an anti-corruption drive but now is the most corrupt’

What is the BJP’s vision for Delhi?

The important thing about Delhi — while you are talking about Viksit Bharat — is for it to be a befitting capital city. (Washington) D C looks like the capital of a major economy … If you look at London, it looks like a capital. You cannot have the kind of deprivation and squalor, the khaddas (potholes on roads) that he (Kejriwal) has produced here.

Have you come across complaints about the AAP’s governance?

People I have met are fed up with the fact that their taps produce sewer water … People are fed up with electricity bills. One person got a bill of Rs 2 lakh; it was a false bill. Is there a (power) meter manipulation going on (in Delhi)? Some people think that he (Kejriwal) is not interested in providing clean water because he is mixed up with the tanker mafia … Water, electricity, the health system, It is all a disaster, corrupted to the core. Delhi’s population is 2.5 crore, while Uttar Pradesh’s population is 20 crore. During the pandemic, he (Kejriwal) was intent on getting three times the amount of (liquid medical oxygen) tankers UP had.

Whenever I have been to a mohalla clinic, the picture is of a completely run-down (structure). Hardly anybody goes there. You are supposed to be the first point of contact in a health system, but there is farzi (fake) billing there. On education, why does it take five times the amount of money to build a classroom? He (Kejriwal) said he would build 500 schools … 30% of the kids (in Delhi government schools) do not have a desk or a bench to sit on. This is not my view; this is the people’s view.

What alternative is the BJP proposing?

We (the BJP) have demonstrated an alternative, the Modi development model. The whole country is benefiting from the PM’s developmental agenda. We have gone from being the 10th largest economy to the fifth largest. We will soon be the third largest. GDP is going up but Delhi is going down. Anything you ask of Kejriwal, he blames the Lieutenant General.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Yogender Chandolia and Bansuri Swaraj address a public rally for BJP candidate Dushyant Gautam ahead of the upcoming Assembly election at Karol Bagh. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)

That is the problem … He (Kejriwal) is an impediment to anything to do with development. He opposes everything. His model is sab kuch free kar do (make everything free). But make them (the schemes) viable. He is a con artist who says something and does something completely different.

How is Kejriwal “an impediment to development”?

When I was Housing and Urban Affairs minister, we gave 3,200 flats to citizens from the economically weaker section of society (in Kalkaji) … They are all full. But what did you (the AAP) do? Water supply is under your power, the Delhi Jal Board is under you … You should give people water. Someone in your outfit (AAP) is mixed up with the water tanker mafia. You are dealing with a classic shoot-and-scoot politician who comes to the people very straight and humble, very humble, But when somebody shows them the mirror, they say unke rishtedaar to Rohingya hain (their relatives are Rohingyas) … He does not know the difference between a refugee and an illegal infiltrator.

My previous generation came in as refugees after Partition. They built their lives and lived in refugee camps … He (Kejriwal) abuses the Sikh community; the Purvanchalis …. He has also alleged that crime has increased in Delhi. When he (Kejriwal) brings in ghuspaithiye (infiltrators), this is what happens.

How do you see the poll promises of parties in the Delhi elections?

In Punjab, Kejriwal made a promise of Rs 1,000 for eligible women beneficiaries, 36 months have passed and not a single rupee (has been distributed). The BJP’s case is different. Out of the 500 guarantees we gave, 499 have been completed. We talked about housing and home. There are four crore beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. After we were elected a third time, we promised another three crore (under the scheme)…

When we say something, it is a guarantee. He (Kejriwal) takes credit for flyovers. I got a list of these … Not one was built by him. Either they were built before 2014 or by the Central government. Look at the world-class infrastructure (constructed by the Centre). You have a new Central Vista-Kartavya Path, a new Parliament, the Bharat Mandapam. Who has built all that?

How do you view the relationship between the AAP and the Congress? They are allies at the national level but are contesting the Delhi elections separately.

He (Kejriwal) started his political startup by sitting on the stage with (anti-corruption activist) Anna Hazare ji. He went on to say that he would never form a political party … A fantastic U-turn … The Congress said he was a friend, and then he said he was a fraud. Even the Congress is saying so.

In your experience, not as a politician but as a diplomat and a bureaucrat, you must have seen a lot of countries with welfare programmes. How do you see them in comparison to Delhi and India?

You cannot compare models. In some societies, if you are to bring in the free market without a dose of welfare, countries will get destroyed. At the end of the day, you have to combine welfarism, or a dose of welfarism, with productive economic growth … The difference is between giving somebody 300 units of electricity free and then cheating them on their (power) meters as he (Kejriwal) is doing.

The problem is that Kejriwal thinks it is all short-term. Whereas the BJP has a bigger one (vision) … Take a look at the BJP’s policies for street vendors … It is not like we (the Centre) gave them free money. We gave them Rs. 10,000 to 20,000 as a loan; their data got uploaded; and they moved out of the informal sector… All of the BJP’s schemes are designed to bring people into the formal economy.