Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on February 2 (Sunday) dared the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal to drink the stinking water provided to the people of Delhi and accused him of making false promises like Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing a public meeting at Hauz Qazi Chowk in old Delhi in support of the Congress' Ballimaran candidate Haroon Yusuf, he said only he and his party supported those facing violence during the 2020 Delhi riots and would continue to stand with anyone facing oppression.
He also said people of the country had to choose between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)/Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideology of spreading hatred and violence and the Congress' love and brotherhood.
"A battle was going on between Narendra Modi and the Congress. While this battle was going on, Arvind Kejriwal came and climbed an electric pole, claiming he would bring new politics, eradicate corruption, clean the water of the Yamuna and Delhi, spread brotherhood," he said.
Kejriwal claimed to clean the Yamuna, Gandhi said while holding up a bottle of water supplied in the national capital. He dared the AAP chief to drink a glass of the water supplied in Delhi and asserted "we will see you (Kejriwal) in hospital".
Taking a whiff of the water in the bottle, the opposition leader in the Lok Sabha said it was "stinking".
Gandhi also said Kejriwal claimed his politics was for the poor but Team Kejriwal did not have a single person from backward and Dalit communities or minorities- Muslims, Sikhs.
'Should take sip of Yamuna, will meet him in hospital after': Rahul Gandhi
In a no-holds-bar attack at Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi pointed to the previous promise of the former Delhi Chief Minister to clean Yamuna River, challenging him to take a dip in the river.
"Arvind Kejriwal said that he will bring a new political system, will finish corruption...He also promised that he would clean the Yamuna water within 5 years, and would take a dip in it but it is still dirty...I would ask him to drink it, we will meet in the hospital after that," Gandhi said while addressing a public meeting in Hauz Qazi Chowk.
Criticising the core team of 9 people of AAP, including Manish Sisodia, Atishi, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chaddha, Satyendra Jain and others, he likened them to being similar to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While holding a pamphlet of AAP with the faces of its leaders, he added, "These 9 people are Kejriwal's core team, I am reading the names, Kejriwal, his partner Sisodia, Atishi, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Satendra Jain, Avadh Ojha, how many of these people are in the 90%? No one from the Dalit OBC, or Muslim community is there...they make their team and when there is a riot anywhere, they disappear."
"There is no difference between Kejriwal and Modi, Modi speaks openly, Kejriwal remains silent, and does not come when needed," he added. Saying that the election fight is actually in reality between just two ideologies, one of unity and one of hatred.
"The fight is between two parties, the two parties have two ideologies, one is BJP RSS which is the ideology of hatred and the other is Congress which is the ideology of unity. Narendra Modi is the PM today but the day he will step down, no one will remember him, there were two people in this country, (Mahatma) Gandhi and Godse, no one remembers Godse," he added.
The Delhi Assembly elections are scheduled to take place on February 5, with the vote counting on February 8.