New Delhi: Launching a scathing attack against BJP MLAs for disrupting L-G Anil Baijal's address to the Assembly and seeking tax concessions for the film "The Kashmir Files", Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday asked the MLAs why they were promoting a film and asking for concessions, saying that the filmmakers should instead be asked to put the film up on YouTube for the public to watch it for free.
"If BJP is so keen on making 'The Kashmir Files' tax-free, why doesn't it ask Vivek Agnihotri to upload the movie on YouTube and make it free? The man is minting crores in the name of the agony of Kashmiri Pandits and has reduced the BJP to the job of putting up posters of his film," the CM said in the Assembly.
Further slamming the BJP for interrupting the L-Gs address on Wednesday, Kejriwal called the Opposition MLAs' behaviour appalling and said, "They were acting like hooligans without a brain." He said that half of them were seeking tax concessions for the film and the other half was trying to talk about the liquor policy. "They didn't even know what their issue was. All thsey knew was that the high-command had ordered them to cause a stir," he added.
He went on to ask the BJP MLAs, "Don't you feel ashamed? Every single one of you has been reduced to the job of putting up posters of some movie so it gets publicity."
Further attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for purportedly using the film for "political gains", Kejriwal said, "If the Prime Minister of this country has to seek refuge in the mercy of someone like Vivek Agnihotri, it means that the PM has not done anything worth his seat in eight years."
Asking BJP MLAs to "reflect on their conduct", the AAP national convener said, "Think of the nation." He said that even authoritarian tyrants like Hitler had given their followers jobs but BJP leaders had been reduced to pasting film posters.
"I have an earnest request to all BJP MLAs as a fellow member of this house. Do whatever you want to do, but for the sake of god, stop wasting your time and position to promote this movie. It doesn't look good on the position you command. Don't act like children on the internet, please," he said, adding, "If you want, come and join the AAP. You will be given utmost respect, freedom and no one will make you put some movie's posters on the streets. You will get to contribute to nation-building."
Hitting back at him, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta said that Kejriwal, by his remarks over the issue, has crossed all limits of political decency and purportedly shown his "insensitivity" to the plight of Kashmiri Pandits.
'BJP wants to eradicate polls'
The chief minister also took this opportunity to attack the BJP and the Union government for allegedly engineering the delay of the municipal polls scheduled for this year, saying, "No democracy in the world must have experienced an incident where a sitting PM writes to the Election Commissioner to defer constitutional elections. "
Claiming that a "senior BJP leader" had met with him on Wednesday and plainly stated that the MCD should follow the same system as the NDMC, i.e. nominations from the Union government, Kejriwal said, "This clearly tells us that if the BJP was given free reign, it would eradicate the process of elections throughout the country and snatch our democratic values away from us."
Asking why the BJP had never tried to reunify the MCDs in the last seven years, Kejriwal questioned the
timing of the move and said that it was merely an excuse to "avoid elections, and hence avoid defeat".
"Triumphs and defeats are all a part of politics – the BJP loses or wins sometimes, so does AAP, and so does the Congress party. But our country
and our democracy is above all, and it is my humble request to you to think of the nation as a whole, to think of its progress and development," the CM said.
Questioning the BJP's commitment to free and fair elections in the country, Kejriwal said, "This is why they cannot stomach our celebration of Babasaheb's life and teachings, because Babasaheb introduced the idea of free and fair election and wrote it down in our constitution."