Delhi welfare schemes will not be taken away if BJP comes to power: Amit Shah

Amit Shah promises improved welfare schemes for slum residents in Delhi if BJP wins election, despite AAP attacks.

Addressing slum residents in his first rally in Delhi since the announcement of next month’s Assembly election, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday (January 11, 2025) reiterated that welfare schemes in the capital will not stop if the BJP comes to power. In fact, he promised that the BJP would better them, though he did not specify which schemes would be improved.

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party has been attacking the BJP, warning that if it comes to power, it will stop welfare schemes, including those providing free electricity and water in Delhi. However, Mr. Shah vowed: “No welfare schemes for the poor will be stopped if the BJP forms the government in the city.”

He also promised that if his party wins the election, every slum dweller will be provided a house under the PM Awas Yojana. “The residents of the capital’s slums will throw away the ‘AAP-Da’ (AAP government) and become liberators of Delhi,” the Minister predicted.

AAP convenor and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hit back, accusing Mr. Shah of abusing him and lying to slum dwellers. He promised to hold a press conference on Sunday (January 12, 2025) morning at a jhuggi (slum) that the BJP allegedly intends to demolish. “I will expose the dirty intentions of BJP with full evidence,” he said in a post on X.

Addressing the Jhuggi Basti Pradhan Sammelan held at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru stadium on Saturday (January 11, 2025), Mr. Shah claimed that, despite its tall promises of clean water, good education and a garbage-free-city, the AAP government has, in fact, forced slum dwellers to live in pathetic conditions, with dirty water, air pollution, broken roads, and garbage.

Congratulating the Delhi unit of the BJP for fighting against the AAP on behalf of the slum dwellers, Mr. Shah said, “Our leader spent several nights in the [jhuggi jhopri] JJ clusters, and made a list of all your trouble and submitted it to PM [Narendra] Modi. And keeping this in mind, we will bring our Sankalp Patra [poll manifesto], which the BJP will make sure is fulfilled because, unlike the AAP, all our promises are done.”

The AAP is doing the work of disaster, Mr. Shah said, claiming that while India has progressed over the last ten years, Delhi has stayed stagnant. Delhi has become hell because of ‘AAP-da’, he added.