Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign at Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium with the ‘Make India Number 1’ calling card — a timely announcement that comes just two days after the country celebrated 75 years of Independence.
Speaking at the Talkatora Stadium, the AAP convenor took off from his Independence Day address where he forcefully pitched for free and quality education and health services for 130 crore Indians as a pre-requisite for the country becoming “rich and developed”.
Kejriwal on Wednesday added that while employment for youth should be top most priority, respect, safety and equal opportunities for women, and fair and remunerative prices for farmers would be the building blocks for India to be a developed nation. “I will travel across the country and ensure the participation of people. We will build an alliance of 130 crore Indians,” he said.
Meanwhile, sources have indicated that the AAP convenor will be the prime ministerial face of the party for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, though the highest decision-making body of the AAP is yet to announce it formally.
In talks with anyone within the AAP — from foot soldiers, office-bearers to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann or Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha — all have spoken about ‘AK for PM’. When asked whether Kejriwal would be the PM face of the party, AAP MLA Madan Lal said the Delhi CM has the confidence of the people and the party. “Log unko chaahtein hain, unme hi ummeed dekhte hain (People want him, they see hope only in him).”
With an eye on the opposition strategy to take on the BJP in 2024, Kejriwal said AAP does not have anything to do with any other party in this national mission of taking the country forward. Trying to rise above political lines, Kejriwal called upon political adversaries, including the Congress and BJP, and patriots in the country to join the “national mission”.
Steering clear of divisions of caste, religion and parties, Kejriwal said 75 years have already been wasted in fights and now the time has come to give the quarrels a quiet burial and behave as a family. “Nafrat khatam, pyaar aur mohabbat ke saath raheinge, mutthi band kar ke rahenge, tabhi Bharat duniya ka number one desh ban sakta hai (Time to end hostilities and live together with love. Only if we stay united can India become the world’s number 1 country),” he said.
The party is looking keenly at Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka among other states to bolster its numbers in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Acutely aware that the Lok Sabha battle has completely different challenges compared to the assembly elections, AAP is attempting to build one narrative — Make India Number 1 — to draw people.
It must be noted that despite its stunning wins in the national capital, the AAP failed to win a single Lok Sabha seat from here. In the 2014 general elections, AAP won four seats, all from Punjab, and in the 2019 general elections, AAP won just one Lok Sabha seat, again from Punjab. Currently, the party does not have any seats in the Lok Sabha, while it has 10 in the Rajya Sabha. It must also be recalled that Kejriwal had resigned as chief minister of Delhi in 2014 to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi, a battle which he lost but stood at number 2.
At the Talkatora Stadium, Kejriwal said though the country has gained a lot in 75 years of Independence, people are angry and questioning why many countries, which are much smaller than India and gained Independence much later, have progressed better.
The chief minister argued that if the country’s affairs are left to these parties and their leaders, it will remain backward for another 75 years. Targeting ‘nepotism’ and ‘crony capitalism’ of the Congress and the BJP, Kejriwal said some of these parties are concerned with their families while others are concerned about friends; “one indulges in corruption, others strip the country of its resources”.
Recalling the mood during the anti-corruption campaign, Kejriwal said India can lead the world only on the condition that her 130 crore citizens take charge of the country’s affairs and not leave that to politicians alone.
The AAP chief said 75 years ago, when the citizens of the country came together, they threw the British out and “if 130 crore citizens unite today, think as one family, India will become unstoppable”.
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