New Delhi (India), February 24 : Arvind Kejriwal, National Convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on Monday alleged that the new BJP-led government in Delhi had hurt millions of followers of Dr. BR Ambedkar by removing his photograph from the office of the Delhi Chief Minister.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Kejriwal wrote, “The new BJP government of Delhi removed Babasaheb’s photo and put up the photo of Prime Minister Modi. This is not right. This has hurt millions of followers of Babasaheb.”
Kejriwal made a public request to the BJP, urging them not to remove Ambedkar’s photograph. “You can put the photo of the Prime Minister but do not remove the photo of Babasaheb. Let his photo remain there,” Kejriwal added.
Atishi, the Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly and former Delhi Chief Minister, also voiced strong concerns. In a post on X, she accused the BJP of showing its “true anti-Dalit and anti-Sikh face” by removing the photographs of Dr. Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from the Chief Minister’s office. She shared an image that contrasted her own photo as CM, with Ambedkar’s image visible on the wall behind, and a new image of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, which featured photographs of President Droupadi Murmu, Mahatma Gandhi, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but no image of Ambedkar.
“The Anti-Dalit mentality of the Bharatiya Janata Party is well known,” Atishi said in the post. She went on to claim, “Arvind Kejriwal had put up photos of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh in every office of the Delhi government. Since BJP has come to power, both these photos have been removed from the Chief Minister’s office. This shows that the BJP is an anti-Dalit, anti-Sikh party.”
Atishi also raised concerns about the delay in the implementation of the Mahila Samman Yojana (Women’s Welfare Scheme), which was promised by Prime Minister Modi. She said, “We had asked for time from the Chief Minister for the last two days, but we did not get time for two days. Today we went to meet Chief Minister Rekha Gupta ji during the session.”
Atishi accused the BJP of not fulfilling the promises made to the people, particularly the guarantee given by the Prime Minister regarding the Mahila Samman Yojana, which she claimed had not been implemented. “The promise made in the first cabinet meeting by Modi regarding the Mahila Samman Yojana has been broken. The guarantee given by the Prime Minister is false,” she added, urging the Delhi government to follow through on its commitments to women in Delhi.