Ramping up the heat in the campaign for Assembly elections, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today challenged Union Home Minister and BJP's chief campaigner in the polls Amit Shah to a televised debate on issues about the national capital.
Kejriwal's dare to Shah came a day after the chief minister had challenged the BJP to name its chief ministerial candidate for the state polls. Kejriwal had asked the BJP to name its CM face by 1pm today.
“Yesterday, I had asked the BJP to declare its CM candidate. I had said I am ready for a debate with that person on all issues. But the BJP did not declare its CM candidate. Either they do not want to project a CM face or they do not have anyone to project as CM,” Kejriwal said at a press conference today.
Kejriwal said the people of Delhi wanted to know who was the BJP's chief ministerial candidate. “In a democracy, the people have a right to decide who will be their chief minister...But Amit Shah says they should vote for him and he will decide later who will be the chief minister. What if he brings in an uneducated person?” he said.
The chief minister then went on to challenge Shah to a public debate on issues pertaining to Delhi. “I invite Amit Shah to a debate on every issue concerning the people of Delhi. The people have many questions. They have raised issues such as Article 370 and Ram Mandir. The people have already voted for them in the Lok Sabha elections on these issues. Now, they want to know what they have done for Delhi,” Kejriwal said, referring to the liet motif of the BJP in the election campaign.
Kejriwal's dare to Shah is an attempt to bring the electoral debate back on the issue of who will be the chief minister of Delhi, and expose the inability of the BJP to project a face to take him on. He said that if the BJP was unable to declare a CM face, it could at least name the likely candidates, and if leaders like Vijay Goel, Manoj Tiwari, Hardeep Puri, Harshvardhan and Smriti Irani would figure amongst them.
Referring to the BJP bringing in all its MPs, union ministers and chief ministers to campaign in Delhi, Kejriwal said, “To defeat a small man like me, they have brought in so many big names.”
By talking of a debate on issues regarding Delhi, the effort is to take the focus off the BJP's pet issue of anti-CAA protests, especially Shaheen Bagh, and bring local considerations back into the poll discourse.
“The people of Delhi want to know from the Home Minister why he is not getting the Shaheen Bagh road opened? He is using it for doing dirty politics. The people of Delhi are being put through so much discomfort only so that the BJP can win,” he said.
Asked about the claims made by Delhi Police that the man who had opened fire at Shaheen Bagh, where an anti-CAA protest has been on for close to two months, was an AAP member, Kejriwal said that he should be given stringent punishment, and if at all he had any connection with the AAP, he should be given double the punishment. He, however, targeted Shah over the development, saying that the police coming out with the information so close to the elections exposes the intent of the Centre.
Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announcing the setting up of the Ram Temple Trust, and if the timing of the announcement was in any way suspect since it came so close to the elections, Kejriwal said it was a good thing and that he wanted to congratulate the people of India for it.
To a question on whether the BJP's bitter campaign against him had forced him to prove his Hindu credentials by reciting the Hanuman Chalisa, Kejriwal said everybody should read it. “The BJP wallahs should also read it. There is so much unpleasantness in their thoughts and words. If they read the Hanuman Chalisa, they will get good thoughts,” he said.