New Delhi: AAP’s manifesto is here.
The Delhi government is planning to adopt a new political agenda in the wake of a major public backlash against the party, which saw the party’s vice president Manish Sisodia resign over his alleged links to a controversial RSS organisation.
The party’s manifesto, published on Monday, has a raft of controversial proposals, including scrapping the existing income tax system, the scrapping of the mandatory retirement age, scrapping education, and a new social security system to help lower-income workers.
Among its major proposals, the manifesto says: “There is no need for the Centre to pay for our education; the state government should ensure it is given a higher priority.
There is no excuse for the Congress to remain in power.”
Sisodie, who had denied wrongdoing, is the son of a Congress leader and had reportedly been receiving a salary from the state for years.
The BJP, the party in power since 2006, has criticised the AAP’s plans.
“If the Congress and its allies have the guts to call this a manifesto, we have got to give them the benefit of the doubt,” said a senior BJP leader.
“This is the first time in the party history that the party has written its own manifesto.”
The manifesto says the BJP will be the sole party to form the government in 2019, after the next general elections.
It also says the government would be headed by a new prime minister and the party would be the only party with the majority in Parliament.
“It is a party that is going to form a government in the 2019 Assembly elections,” said BJP state president Anil Sharma.
“But we have to do it quickly.
This is a major challenge for the government.
This manifesto will be a setback for the BJP, it will be an embarrassment to the government, and will hurt the people.”
Sri Ravi Shankar, an economist who worked for the US Federal Reserve, has described the AAP manifesto as “disastrous”.
“This manifesto is not in any way compatible with the constitution and the constitution itself.
This has been a long-standing policy of the Congress, which is not only in contempt of the constitution, but also a threat to democracy and the rule of law,” said Shankar.
“The fact that it has been written in a language that can be easily misinterpreted by people is alarming.”
The government’s plan to implement the manifesto was announced on Monday at a rally by the state’s BJP leader in the city, ManishSisodi, in which he claimed that the BJP would be “the sole party in the country” to form government in 2020.
Sisadiya, the Delhi chief minister, is expected to be sworn in on February 14.