Will next Lok Sabha polls be fought between Modi and rest of India? Kejriwal suggests so
Now, more than three years later, when the Modi government at the Centre is facing severe criticism over its handling of the Indian economy, Kejriwal decided to renew his attack against the PM.
On Thursday, at a book launch event in the national capital, which also saw the participation of veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha, who has recently criticised the Modi government for allowing finance minister Arun Jaitley to create a mess out of the economy, and Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari, Kejriwal said that the next general elections would be contested between Modi and the rest of the country.
The event was to unveil the book– Tidings of Troubled Times–written by Tewari. Thus the launch event looked pretty interesting as three leaders from three different parties (including the BJP) joined hands to attack PM Modi in both the direct and indirect terms.
“The people are going to fight the 2019 elections. Parties will not fight….The battle is going to be between your (pointing to Sinha) leader, your big leader and the people,” said Kejriwal.
The AAP leader suggested that “whether the Opposition will come together or not… that is arithmetic” which is also “necessary in electoral politics, but the way I can see the churning that is happening among the people… people can forsake food but cannot compromise with freedom”.
“You cannot imagine the atmosphere of fear that is pervading in the country…. And I not saying this fear is only among Muslims or Christians…. Across the board there is fear among traders, industrialists, stock market…. Everywhere there is fear…. How can the country function like this?
“The coming election is not going to be Opposition versus BJP…. It is going to be the BJP versus the rest of the country.”
Kejriwal said that the entire country seemed be under surveillance and there was an unprecedented “raid raj” in the country. The Delhi CM praised Sinha for showing courage and speaking the truth about the slowing economy.
Sinha said he was aware that the “company in which I have been photographed will send some message…. But I must also say that I don’t really care because… I am past caring”.