Aam Aadmi Party MLA Durgesh Pathak at the party office in Delhi on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) making “garbage-free Delhi” its “guarantee” in the upcoming civic polls, the party’s MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak says it’s the most important issue for the residents of the city. In an interview to Today News 24, the Rajinder Nagar MLA says Delhiites are tired of the BJP’s failed promises to clean the Capital and are ready to give AAP a chance in the municipal polls. Excerpts:
Q /
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced that the Delhi civic elections will be fought on “garbage and sanitation”. How did you decide that this is ‘the one issue’ to focus on?
A /
If you go around Delhi, you will find 80% of the city is very dirty. There are three mountains of garbage. There can’t be a bigger issue. Garbage and cleaning of Delhi are the biggest issues that affect the people the most.
Q /
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia recently said Mr. Kejriwal is an engineer and has a “blueprint” to eliminate landfills and make Delhi garbage-free. Could you share some specifics about this blueprint?
A /
Basically the question is, can garbage be treated? Yes, technologically it is possible. It is not rocket science. The problem is MCD has spent ₹1,200 crore, but there is no account of the expenditure or where the money went.
Q /
But do you have specifics of this blueprint?
A /
You have to do solid waste management. Some garbage has to be used to generate electricity; we will use some for making roads; we will make plans and do it easily with a timeline.
Q /
In the 2017 MCD elections too, AAP had focused on the issues of garbage and the three landfills, but the party won only 48 of the 272 wards, while the BJP won 181 seats. How will the results be any different this time when the issues are the same?
A /
Each election is fought on a different narrative. The situation is not the same as five years ago. Even the BJP accepts that it is not in the fight. When you make a promise, people put their trust in you. But you cannot just keep promising them. Last time, they [BJP] said they will clean Delhi, but nothing happened, they couldn’t do it. This time they will get its result.
Q /
Don’t you think the party should have changed the issues it is focussing on since AAP lost last time?
A /
This is the issue of the people. If you do a survey, you will find that this is the main issue.
Q /
Currently, there are a lot of corruption allegations and investigations against AAP. A Minister is in jail and your party is also saying that another Minister, Manish Sisodia, could be arrested any moment. What are you doing to reduce the negative impact on the public?
A /
There is no negative impact. We ask them [BJP government] what is the issue and they can’t say what is the scam in liquor policy. They can’t say a line about why Satyendar Jain is in jail. It is their government [at the Centre] and they have put him [Jain] in jail unnecessarily. But he will be let off [by the court]. The allegations are baseless. While granting Vijay Nair bail, even the court said the allegations were baseless.
Q /
Are you trying to communicate more to the public about this?
A /
We are talking to people and explaining whenever asked about these allegations. But the majority of people know what is happening across the country. Through media and social media and our teams on the ground, we tell people what is the truth.
Q /
In the Delhi Assembly election in 2020, the party started the campaign on work done by its government, but towards the end of the campaign, Mr. Kejriwal sang Hanuman Chalisa and even challenged the BJP to do it. Will we see a similar shift to religion in the MCD election?
A /
It was not like that. In an interview, Mr. Kejriwal was asked if he knows Hanuman Chalisa. He said yes and they asked him to sing it. If you ask me if I know Hanuman Chalisa, I will say yes and if you ask me to sing it, I will sing it. But I did not plan this before coming here.
A /
We didn’t feel there was any shift [in the campaign]. You are telling me that there was a shift. We talk about issues that matter to the people. We ask only one question to BJP: What work did it do in the past 15 years in the MCD? They have not done any work and they are the ones who want to shift the agenda.