“They can demolish the slums only over my dead body,” said Somnath Bharti, AAP candidate from New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.
‘Will give up life in front of bulldozer’: AAP leader on demolition threat to slums
AAP leader Somnath Bharti threatened to lie in front of the bulldozer to save the slums at R K Puram in New Delhi from demolition even as his party resisted the DDA notice to vacate the slums.
The AAP candidate from New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency said at a addressing here that the Central government agency had issued a notice to the people living in the slums of RK Puram Sector-12 directing them to vacate the place within seven days’ time. “If these slums are demolished, I will be found lying in front of the bulldozer. They can demolish the slums only over my dead body,” Bharti said.
He said the BJP promises homes to slum dwellers during polls, but once the elections are over, these promises turn out to be false. The BJP wants Delhi slum-free, but the public is going to make the country BJP-free, Bharti asserted.
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He alleged that the saffron party cares only for the wealthy capitalists, not the poor. The demolition activities were carried out even under bitter cold without considering the plight of the poor.
He questioned the notices issued to the slum cluster, saying, “Where does such decree come from? What is the genesis of such notices? Whose authority does it reflect?”
Somnath Bharti further claimed, “They have conducted a meeting of all the land-owning agencies, whether it’s the MCD, DDA, Railways, or PWD, and have directed all these agencies to make Delhi free of all these slum-clusters.”
Referring to those rendered homeless due to the demolition of slums of Kali Bari Mandir Marg, AAP leader said, “I would request the BJP not to rehabilitate them 40 km away in Narela, it would disrupt their lives. They must be relocated within the radius of 5 km so that their lives are not disturbed.”
Meanwhile, the AAP, in a statement, said Delhi Chief Miniser Arvind Kejriwal and party leaders stand firmly with the poor and won’t allow any injustice to the slum dwellers.
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