New Delhi [India], June 29 : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Gopal Rai on Sunday said that the people of Delhi were hopeful that their lives would change once the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed a government in Delhi and stated it is "tragic" how people are being rendered "homeless".
"When the BJP government came to power, Delhi's people had a hope that something good would happen... It is tragic how people (from slums) are getting homeless... If the BJP thinks that people from various states will run away from Delhi, they are wrong..." Rai told ANI.
Earlier, on June 11, Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa defended the Delhi Development Authority's (DDA) action against illegal encroachment, stating that those whose slums have been removed have been provided with separate houses.
"No slum will be demolished. No person will be removed from the slum...Those whose slums have been removed have been given separate houses...They (AAP) are telling lies only to mislead the people of Delhi. Now they (AAP) are out of power. I want to ask them whether they have given a house to even a single slum dweller?... Prime Minister Modi has said 'Jahan jhuggi wahi makaan," Sirsa said earlier.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) president Saurab Bharadwaj on Sunday asked for clarification on the future of all the people whose lives were displaced by the slum demolition exercise of the Chief Minister Rekha Gupta-led Delhi government .
Bharadwaj further asked whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted the people to return to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
"I want to ask the Delhi government, where will these millions of displaced people go?... It is the BJP's responsibility to clarify where these people will go, or do you want these people to return to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar from Delhi?... Today, the crisis in Delhi is not only about slums, but notices are coming for unauthorised colonies... Slums are being demolished without notice. So far, a total of 10,000 slums have been demolished, rendering people homeless..." Bharadwaj told ANI.
He further alleged that while on one hand BJP was uprooting poor Purvanchalis and sending them back to Bihar, on the other hand, they were asking for votes from the people of Bihar.
"This issue is not about AAP. I think every party contesting elections in Bihar should raise this issue that on one hand, BJP governments are uprooting poor Purvanchalis and sending them back to Bihar... and on the other hand, they are asking for votes from the people of Bihar in Bihar..." the AAP leader said.