Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday equated the Congress with the BJP for demolishing slums and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s poll promise to replace shanties with houses.
The BJP and the Congress accused the former chief minister of "shedding crocodile tears".
"PM Modi had said, 'Jahan jhuggi, wahan makan' — where there's a jhuggi, there will be a house. But what he really meant was, 'Jahan jhuggi, wahan maidan' — he wanted to clear the jhuggis and leave empty land behind…," Kejriwal said at a rally on Jantar Mantar Road for those evicted during the recent slum demolitions in Delhi.
"PM Modi is a liar. They keep shouting, 'Modi ki guarantee' — but his guarantee is fake, his guarantee is hollow, his guarantee is completely bogus."
Kejriwal added: "They used to boast about a 'four-engine government', but now I say they have 10 engines — the Centre is theirs, the MCD (civic body) is theirs, the Delhi government is theirs, the LG (lieutenant governor) is theirs, DDA (Delhi Development Authority) is theirs, Delhi police are theirs — all the engines are under their control…. But within just five months, they have destroyed everything."
He then trained his guns at the Congress, which has not held a single Assembly or parliamentary seat in Delhi since 2014.
"Before us, during Congress rule, they were demolishing jhuggis on a massive scale. I remember, I used to live in the jhuggis of Sunder Nagri, running an NGO…. Both the Congress and the BJP are against the downtrodden, both parties work for the rich," he said.