‘Aim now Viksit Dilli': CM sets tone for governance in Delhi
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is rooted in action — since coming to power in February, it has worked on and resolved issues related to air pollution, public healthcare, education, infrastructure development, and welfare works, chief minister Rekha Gupta said at an event held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, a day after her government completed 100 days of being in power.
During a nearly hour-long conversation with actor Anupam Kher, the CM elaborated on the works undertaken in these sectors. A day ago, she and her cabinet ministers unveiled a 22-page workbook defining her government's early imprint on the Capital.
At the event, attended by all the six Cabinet Ministers, Members of Parliament, party legislators, and many senior officials, the CM highlighted what the BJP administration counts as its accomplishments so far — works undertaken to clean the Yamuna, and implementation of the long-delayed Ayushman Bharat scheme, among others — and made announcements of their upcoming plans. This, she said, includes an ordinance to regulate fees of private schools, distributing monthly financial aid to women, and improving the condition of slum areas.
During the discussion, Gupta, who is only the fourth woman CM of Delhi, also spoke about her personal experience of becoming the head of the government, the shortcomings of the previous Aam Aadmi Party government, and Operation Sindoor of the Indian Army.
'Ours is a 24x7 government, and our next goal is — Viksit Dilli,' Gupta said.
Cleaning the Yamuna
The CM highlighted her government's works in contrast with the previous AAP government: Gupta said the Arvind Kejriwal-led party merely put up a show in the name of cleaning the river, while untreated sewage continued to be discharged into it.
On the other hand, her government made the river's rejuvenation their top priority from day one. A ₹9,000 crore allocation to the Delhi Jal Board budget to strengthen sewerage system and water supply infrastructure, installation of seven new Sewage Treatment Plants, rehabilitation of eight more STPs, and launching of Decentralized STPs, were some the measures undertaken.
'In the last 100 days, several metric tons of waste have been removed from drains, and officials directed to complete drain cleaning before the monsoon. Sewer and water pipeline work has also been initiated in about 1,700 unauthorized colonies. Additionally, a modern command-and-control centre has been established, 1,167 GPS-enabled tankers deployed, and the DJB Water Tanker App launched for water supply monitoring. In south Delhi, 70 new tube wells have been installed...' the CM said.
Air pollution
CM Gupta said the previous government turned Delhi into a gas chamber, but her government has prioritised pollution control through water sprinklers, anti-smog guns, and rolling out of electric buses.
'We have deployed 1,000 sprinklers and approved 70 advanced mechanical road sweeping machines. Installation of smog guns in all high-rise buildings has also been made mandatory. Additionally, under the Delhi Electric Vehicle Interconnector initiative, 460 electric buses have been introduced for last-mile connectivity, and 2,000 more electric buses will be added by the end of the year. Our goal is clear – to make Delhi a clean, healthy and safe capital,' Gupta said.
The CM emphasised the need for adoption of solar energy. 'Under the PM Suryaghar: Muft Bijli Yojana an additional subsidy of up to ₹30,000 is being provided. The government aims to install 230,000 rooftop solar panels over the next three years,' said CM Gupta.
Development of slums
In response to a question, CM Gupta dismissed what she said were 'rumours' being spread by the Opposition regarding slum demolitions.
'The Congress and the AAP used slum residents as vote banks and did not give them even basic facilities. No slum will be demolished in Delhi. Instead, ₹700 crore has been allocated for the development of slum areas. Until every slum dweller receives a permanent home, they will continue to live in their current shelters— but with improved facilities and dignity,' said CM Gupta.
Mahila Samridhi Yojana
On the rollout of the much-awaited Mahila Samridhi Yojana -- a key election promise as part of which eligible women have been promised ₹2,500 a month — the CM reiterated the scheme will be implemented successfully.
'I will fulfil all aspirations of the women of Delhi. A total of ₹5,100 crore has been allocated for this scheme in the budget. We have so far held six meetings to discuss eligibility and the finer details. We do not want the scheme to fail the way it did in Himachal and Punjab. We will implement the scheme in a way that it does not fail after starting. All eligible women will get the benefits, for sure,' said the CM Gupta.
Other works undertaken for women welfare include construction of 500 day-care centres for children, and strengthening of Anganwadi services. Two new 'Sakhi Nivas' hostels will be constructed for working women. For women's safety, CCTV cameras are being installed and one-stop centres are being established in every district to provide emergency support to women in distress.
Taking a dig at the previous AAP government, CM Gupta said: 'They sat in their Sheeshmahal with lavish curtains, tuning into only the news they liked. While they decorated their halls with corruption, we have rebuilt Delhi with honesty.'
On a question regarding changes in her personal life after becoming the CM, Gupta said: ''I found a lot of love and blessings from people..I have lost the carefree nature. Now I feel that since I am holding this position, I need to think before I speak.'
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said that the public welfare schemes, improvement in infrastructure, and ground-level decisions have helped in moving towards making Delhi a developed Capital.
South Delhi MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said every promise made by the BJP during the assembly elections will be fulfilled before 2030, while BJP MP Manoj Tiwari said that in the last 100 days, the Rekha Gupta government has made remarkable progress across all sectors.
Later in a post on X, the CM said that the changes being seen in the Capital are 'a reflection of result-oriented governance'. 'In 100 days, we have proved that if the intention is clear, change is not only possible but certain.'
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New Delhi [India], July 1 (ANI): Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday wrote to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and requested him to rename the Old Delhi Railway Station as Maharaja Agrasen Railway Station. CM Gupta wrote, 'I am writing to respectfully request your kind consideration for renaming the Old Delhi Railway Station in honour of Maharaja Agrasen, a revered historical figure whose legacy has had a profound impact on the socio-economic development of India, particularly in Delhi.' She mentioned that Maharaja Agrasen is regarded as a symbol of social justice and welfare, and has played a pivotal role in shaping Delhi. 'Maharaja Agrasen is widely regarded as a symbol of social justice, economic foresight, and community welfare. His countless followers and descendants continue to play a pivotal role in shaping Delhi's economic and cultural landscape,' she wrote. Calling it a fitting tribute to the Maharaja Agrasen, she added, 'Renaming the Old Delhi Railway Station as Maharaja Agrasen Railway Station would serve as a fitting tribute to his enduring contributions and would deeply resonate with the sentiments of millions of Delhi residents who hold him in the highest esteem. I would be truly grateful for your personal intervention in facilitating favourable and expeditious consideration of this proposal by your esteemed Ministry.' According to the website of the Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation, the Old Delhi Railway Station in Delhi, that is, the Delhi Junction Railway Station, was built like a fort, with two opposite sides, namely Kashmere Gate and Chandni Chowk. The two localities are linked by an elevated pedestrian bridge called Kodiya Pul. Meanwhile, the Delhi Jal Board, under the leadership of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, has rolled out a 45-point action plan aimed at enhancing the capital's water infrastructure, upgrading sewerage networks, increasing transparency in tanker services, and rejuvenating the heavily polluted Yamuna River. The comprehensive plan, backed by a budget of Rs 9,000 crore, is targeted for completion by next year, a senior official confirmed. (ANI)
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'Villain Indira' vs 'hero RSS' binary is Sangh Parivar myth. Truth is more complicated
The BJP and Sangh Parivar's eagerness to mark this day is not surprising. The Emergency and its aftermath were turning points in the RSS-led Sangh Parivar's political trajectory that led to it being catapulted to power in New Delhi. Nothing suits the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) better than positioning Indira Gandhi as the dictatorial 'villain' against whom it waged a 'heroic' battle. The BJP-led government has announced 25 June, the date when the Emergency came into effect in 1975, as 'Samvidhan Hatya Diwas'. The BJP has held a series of programmes denouncing Indira Gandhi. A book, The Emergency Diaries, which propagates how Prime Minister Narendra Modi was affected by the Emergency, has been launched. Modi has divested himself of self-righteous statements about democracy being 'arrested' in 1975. Fifty years after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency, the ruling BJP is piously declaring how it fought a valiant battle for 'democracy' against 'great dictator' Indira Gandhi. But so called 'villainous Indira' vs so-called 'heroic RSS' is a cunningly crafted binary, a fictional morality play, a mythification of history, a fairy tale that is not borne out by a careful analysis of how the Emergency came about and what role the RSS played in the events before 25 June 1975. The 'Indira-Hatao' plank As Indira Gandhi's biographer—my book Indira: India's Most Powerful Prime Minister was published in 2017—I had the opportunity to closely research the events leading up to 25 June 1975. The assiduously orchestrated and zealously propagated Sangh Parivar version of a power-hungry Indira Gandhi clamping down on democracy protestors to keep herself in power is part of a much more complicated story. In the run-up to the Emergency, there was a concerted attempt by the RSS and its allies to bring down an elected government through street power, mass agitations, threats of sabotage, paralysing essential services, and even inciting the armed forces to mutiny. True, Indira Gandhi was no beacon of democracy after 1971. Hailed as a 'goddess' after India's victory in the Bangladesh war, she had developed an overweening personality cult and a deeply narcissistic sense of her own power. She tended to see any challenge to her leadership as somehow illegitimate. She had gone from the darling of the masses in the 1971 'Garibi Hatao' election campaign to a monarchical figure who viewed the people as subjects and had turned the entire Congress party into a personalised instrument at her command. But nor was the role played by the then Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( the political front of the RSS and precursor to the BJP) and the RSS, either constitutional or democratic. In fact the Jana Sangh-RSS role needs to be assessed objectively. The Jana Sangh-RSS played a highly Machiavellian, destructive, and anarchist role and attempted to bring down the extremely popular Indira Gandhi (elected by a massive majority) through decidedly unconstitutional and undemocratic means. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh, founded in 1951 by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and backed and run by the RSS, was a political flop throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Tainted by its 'Hindutva' ideological association with the assassins of Mahatma Gandhi (Nathuram Godse, a member of RSS), the Jana Sangh-RSS were regarded as politically 'untouchable'. It was consigned to the margins of the national mainstream for decades. The most prominent figure of the Jana Sangh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was a star in Parliament. He made blistering speeches from 1957 onwards, but the Jana Sangh remained marooned in the political wilderness, trapped in an acute image crisis it could not shake off. The RSS had stayed aloof from the Gandhian freedom struggle; it had no 'freedom fighter' credentials. Vajpayee himself was saddled with reports that he had once sided with the British during the Quit India movement. In the general elections of 1952, 1957, and 1962, the Jana Sangh was wiped out. The 'Hindu' party was able to win only 3, 4, and 14 seats, respectively. In these years, the Jana Sangh was buried by Jawaharlal Nehru's colossal presence. The breakthrough for the Jana Sangh came in the elections of 1967, the thunderclap election in which, after Nehru died in 1964, the once-towering Nehruvian Congress slumped to a wafer-thin majority of only 283 seats. In 1967, the Jana Sangh won 35 seats. This election came to be described as one that saw the disappearance of the 'Congress system'. The Jana Sangh was ecstatic with its 1967 result. But its hopes of expansion were rapidly dashed in 1971 when the Indira Gandhi-led Congress swept to a massive 352-seat win, once again crushing the Jana Sangh to 22 seats. It was a defeat that led to Vajpayee stepping down as party president. The anti-Congress 'Indira Hatao' plank, which the Jana Sangh-RSS had deployed in the 1971 elections, crumbled. In assembly polls of 1972, the Jana Sangh was pummeled, losing state after state. The 'Hindu' party was reduced to a dwarf, buried by the second generation of Nehru-Gandhis. To make matters worse, Deendayal Upadhyaya, the moving force behind the Jana Sangh's organisation, died in 1968, leaving the RSS-backed party with a leadership void as it lurched from defeat to defeat. The early 1970s thus saw the Jana Sangh-RSS frustrated and panic-stricken. It was chafing at its defeats, agitated that once again, Nehru's daughter Indira, would consign it to oblivion. Unsettled by the magnitude of Indira Gandhi's win, the Jana Sangh-RSS restlessly looked for ways to claw its way back to some relevance. When the monsoon failed for three consecutive years—1972, 1973 and 1974—the first 'oil shock' or massive four-fold rise in petrol prices hit in 1973, food shortages and price rise rampaged through the country. India was plunged into a full-blown economic crisis, and public discontent began to grow. A desperate-for-power Jana Sangh-RSS sensed an opportunity. In 1973, MS Golwalkar, the somewhat mystical, non-political RSS sarsanghchalak, died and was replaced by MD 'Balasaheb' Deoras. The hard-nosed Deoras was a more politically attuned figure keen to push the RSS and Sangh Parivar into a more populist, political and activist role. In 1974, the RSS student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Jana Sangh-RSS led violent 'Nav Nirman' protests in Gujarat. The Jana Sangh, along with socialists and the anti-Indira Congress (O), pushed to oust the chief minister of Gujarat and get the Gujarat assembly dissolved, and succeeded. The anti-Indira movement then spread to Bihar. The ABVP also played a leading role in the Bihar student protests, which began at this time. The Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti, a forum created for the Bihar students' agitation, was dominated by ABVP activists. In Bihar, the Jana Sangh and allies pushed to dissolve the Vidhan Sabha through coercive tactics. The RSS had already reached out to the veteran socialist Jayaprakash Narayan, or 'JP', through RSS men like Nanaji Deshmukh. JP allied with the Jana Sangh-RSS in his quest for 'total revolution.' This enabled the RSS, for the first time, to find space in national politics. In JP, the RSS found a 'respectable' leader who could be its bridge to joining the political mainstream. In 1974, the Jana Sangh was already giving open calls for widespread street action. 'Our response cannot be confined to a parliamentary level,' Vajpayee said in 1974 at a Jana Sangh conference in Hyderabad. 'The war has to be fought in the streets, in the chambers and legislatures, in the corridors of power, in all sensitive power centres of the establishment.' 'Anti-Congress parties are obstructing development…their aim is to paralyse the government,' Indira Gandhi said at the time. N. Govindacharya, an RSS pracharak who would later go on to become a key figure in the BJP, was based in Patna in these years. He played a central role in organising mass protests in Bihar through the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti and mobilising RSS cadres. The anti-Indira movement coalesced around the figure of JP, but the bulk of the foot soldiers were made up of the ABVP and RSS. Socialists and Congress (O) were also part of the agitation, but their numbers were nowhere near equal to the huge organisational breadth of the massive RSS network. The anti-Indira groups caused so much violence, so many bandhs and protests across Bihar, that The Hindu wrote in an editorial in 1974: 'Should Mr Narayan usher in what is disorder and disrespect for law and order and the democratic set up as a whole?' Between 1972 and 1975, mayhem reigned across north India. There were strikes, gheraos, bandhs, violence, processions and student agitations. In all these movements, RSS and ABVP activists played a crucial role. The 1974 railway strike, involving two million workers, was led by a socialist, the fire-breathing trade unionist George Fernandes. But even he made his intentions clear when he openly declared that he aimed to organise a strike that would 'bring down Indira Gandhi's government.' The strike brought the railways to a standstill. George Fernandes would later go on to ally with the BJP. Then West Bengal Chief Minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray, an old friend of Indira Gandhi, wrote her a letter in early 1975 asking that lists of RSS workers be compiled, as he suspected they were the main force behind the disturbances. 'A secret telex message should go to every chief minister to prepare a list of all prominent Ananda Marga and RSS members in his state,' Ray wrote to Gandhi. So intense were the disturbances that on 2 January 1975, then railway minister LN Mishra was killed in a bomb blast in Samastipur railway station. Allegations were made against the secretive Ananda Marga group. There was an attempt on the life of the then Chief Justice, AN Ray, when hand grenades were thrown into his car. After these incidents, Indira Gandhi became convinced that there was a conspiracy against her government and that her life was in danger from the protestors. Her anxieties grew that India faced mass violence. In a scathing line, which reveals her views on the Jana Sangh-RSS, Indira Gandhi had said: 'If the Jana Sangh comes to power, it will not need any Emergency. They will chop off heads.' The methods used by the anti-government protestors in the early 1970s, 'are frankly coercive and undemocratic,' wrote The Pioneer. 'Trying to oust the (Bihar) Ministry, gherao the legislature, spreading disaffection among the police…and attempting to start a 'no tax' campaign may trigger off violence on an epochal scale,' the paper wrote in an editorial. 'The anti-Indira Gandhi movement used extra-constitutional and disruptive methods of protest, based on a rejection of democratic procedures,' writes PN Dhar in his detailed book Indira Gandhi, The 'Emergency', and Indian Democracy. The hardcore of this violent, undemocratic movement was the Jana Sangh-RSS. The number of RSS members arrested bears this out: 1,05,000 RSS activists were detained by the RSS's own admission. Also read: India deserves better than M-O-D-I: Misinformation, Opacity, Distractions, Incompetence Flattering the 'dictator' The declaration of the Emergency and the torments of those years have been justifiably pilloried. Indira Gandhi converted India into a spooky, stalled democracy, bullied the judiciary, and dragooned institutions into subordination. But those who led turbulent movements against her, who pushed India into strikes, civil unrest, killings, and mass protests, were not exactly democracy's angels. The Jana Sangh-RSS was intent on overthrowing an elected government and seizing power in any way they could from an immensely popular leader they could not defeat in elections. After being jailed by Indira Gandhi, the RSS suddenly changed tack completely and began to eat humble pie. Deoras, imprisoned in Yerawada Central Jail, wrote several letters praising Indira Gandhi and promising cooperation with government programmes. These letters do not show him as Gandhi's implacable ideological opponent. Rather, Deoras comes across as an admirer—fawning, obsequious, and eager to offer the RSS' services to the Indira Gandhi government. There is no mention in these letters about democratic rights. On 22 August 1975, Deoras writes to Gandhi: 'From the jail I listened with rapt attention to your broadcast message relayed from AIR and addressed to the nation on August 15, 1975. Your speech was suitable for the occasion and well balanced.' This is my humble prayer to you that you shall kindly keep the above in view and shall lift the ban on RSS. If you think it proper, my meeting with you will be a source of pleasure to me.' On 10 November, in another letter, Deoras writes that if RSS workers are set free, lakhs of volunteers will be utilised for 'national upliftment.' The RSS's view of Indira Gandhi was shot through with both admiration and wariness, what the historian Christophe Jafrelot calls 'both stigmatisation and emulation'. While the RSS strained every nerve to oust her from office in the 1970s, it became an admirer of the 'strong state' post-1975. Deoras even tried to meet Gandhi when he was released after 18 months, but she refused. Interestingly, after Indira Gandhi returned as Prime Minister in 1980, she herself flirted with Hindu politics, visiting dozens of temples and shrines and performing yagnas and Lakshachandi paath. In the Moradabad riots of 1980, she was accused of pandering to Hindu sentiments, and in 1983, she attended the inauguration of the Bharat Mata Mandir in Haridwar. In the Jammu & Kashmir assembly polls of 1983, she (by now under tremendous pressure from pro-Khalistan Sikh militancy in Punjab) played the 'Hindu nationalism' card by accusing her opponents of being secessionists. Indira Gandhi saw the RSS as her prime opponent, but in her later years, with the growing profile of the RSS, she recognised the importance of the Hindu vote bank. Sangh Parivar mythmaking The Jana Sangh-RSS opposition to Indira Gandhi in the run-up to the Emergency was not exactly a 'principled' struggle. It was a brazen quest for power and using street agitations and chaos to somehow force her out of office. However, once she cracked down on RSS, it showed a ready eagerness for compromise. Anarchist, unconstitutional methods were used. JP even called on the people to 'de-recognise' the Indira government, not pay tax and called on the armed forces not to obey government orders they considered wrong. The Jana Sangh-RSS and allies pushed the country to the brink, yet once the Emergency was declared and opposition leaders imprisoned, the movement quickly fizzled out precisely because it lacked strong convictions. Today, the BJP is propagating that a noble-minded RSS fought for 'democracy' against a 'dictator.' Not really. The RSS simply wanted to overthrow an elected Prime Minister using whatever means it could, and later had no moral compunctions in compromising, flattering, and pleading with the same 'dictator' who imprisoned them. The 'Indira the Emergency dictator' vs 'RSS-democrats' binary is Sangh Parivar mythmaking. The truth is more complicated. Indira Gandhi was an authoritarian leader who suspended the Constitution, but the RSS-led Sangh Parivar was not and has never been a crusader for democratic values. By leading and participating in an unconstitutional violent movement that tried to pull down a democratically elected government, the RSS was a wholehearted participant in 'Samvidhan-Hatya'. Sagarika Ghose is a Rajya Sabha MP, All India Trinamool Congress. She tweets @sagarikaghose. Views are personal. (Edited by Ratan Priya)
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22 minutes ago
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Punjab minister alleges 'drugs reached every house' during SAD-BJP tenure
Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], July 1 (ANI): Punjab Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond alleged that 'drugs reached every house' in Punjab during the ten years of the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance government. He further alleged that the Aam Admi Party (AAP)-led government in Punjab has 'proof' of their link with the drug smugglers. On action taken against Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia in a money laundering case linked to drugs, Sond told ANI a day earlier, 'Everyone knows in Punjab that before the formation of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) government in Punjab in 2007, no one had heard the name of heroin in the SAD-BJP government was in power in Punjab for 10 years, and during that tenure, drugs reached every house in the government has proof of their involvement with drug smugglers, and action is being taken accordingly'. Meanwhile, on Saturday, former Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Siddharth Chattopadhyaya said that irrefutable evidence is present against Bikram Singh Majithia linking him to drug traffickers. Chattopadhyaya alleged that crucial evidence against Majithia has existed since 2012. 'These are young and new officers who have shown the courage to work. I had gone there to guide them that the evidence has been in the file since 2012. So, use it and present it before the court. This is irrefutable and on-record evidence, legally acceptable in court as evidence. But with his influence, he had suppressed it,' the former DGP told ANI. Majithia was sent to seven days of police custody by a Mohali court on Thursday in connection with a money laundering case linked to drugs. He will be produced before the court again on July 2. Earlier, the Public Prosecutor Advocate Ferry Sofat told ANI, 'Bikram Singh Majithia's income of Rs 540 crore remains undisclosed, and he could not mention any details about it.' He informed the court that there were large and unexplained cash deposits made by Saraya Industries, a company operated by Majithia's family since the 1950s. The court was also informed that Majithia had allegedly threatened the investigating officers during his arrest, and the incident was captured on video. (ANI)
