Arvind Kejriwal Giving Perverse Twist To Freebies On Health And Education: Sitharaman

Sitharaman's latest remark came after Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday launched an attack on the BJP government.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal (Source: File photo/AFP)

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday demanded a debate on the freebies announced by political parties to induce voters ahead of elections, as reported by news agency ANI. "Arvind Kejriwal is giving a perverse twist to freebies on Health and Education. This is to scare the public. We want a debate and discussion on freebies," Sitharaman said. "No Indian government has ever denied them since Independence. So, by classifying education and health as freebies, Kejriwal is trying to bring in a sense of worry and fear in minds of poor," she said.

Arvind Kejriwal is giving a perverse twist to freebies on Health and Education. This is to scare the public. We want a debate and discussion on freebies: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

(File Pic) pic.twitter.com/pFglmWZA84

— ANI (@ANI) August 11, 2022

Sitharaman's latest remark came after Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday launched an attack on the BJP government and said, "Where did all money of the centre go? They're forgiving loans of their friends with this govt money. They've even forgiven taxes of their billionaire friends."

Referring to the Agnipath defence recruitment scheme, decrease in states' share in focal charges from 42% to 29 percent, Goods and Services Tax (GST) imposed on food items and 25 percent cut in MNREGA fund, Kejriwal asked where was all the cash going.

"Centre has time & again repeated that they don't have money, have decreased money that was given to states. Tax being collected is much higher as compared to 2014 but they have no money. Where is the money going?" Kejriwal added.

Earlier in the day, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla hit out at the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) saying that the culture of ‘revdis’ being promoted by the outfit was more focused on advertising but weak on governance, as reported by the news agency ANI.

“I am here to expose the free education model of Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal’s mantra is Vigyapan par zor, Vyavastha me kamjor (Focus on advertisements, weak on governance). Kejriwal’s revdi model means that of the 500 schools and 20 colleges promised, none have been delivered. This is the revdi culture we caution against,” said BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla addressing a press conference.

He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken about the perils of populism and its pitfalls. “As we can observe the trend in various countries, those who practised the policy of providing freebies were embroiled in several corrupt practices. Kejriwal chose to take this comment personally. Is this the case of Chor ki darhi me tinka?” he asked.