AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal expressed concerns over the tense situation that prevailed in Delhi throughout Sunday when Jamia University students clashed with Delhi Police personnel and they barged into the university later.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has questioned the need to pass a law such as the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that has brought many states to a standstill and saw Delhi erupt in violent protests on Sunday.

Speaking at Agenda AajTak 2019, Arvind Kejriwal said, “I want to ask what was the need of such a bill at this time. There is such widespread unemployment and inflation in the country, people are crying over jobs and goods getting costlier. The nation needs to look at these bigger problems instead of such an issue.”

“The country and its leaders, political parties need to come together to discuss the economic slowdown instead of fighting over this issue. There was no need to discuss the Citizenship Act,” said Arvind Kejriwal.

ON JAMIA VIOLENCE

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief then expressed concerns over the tense situation that prevailed in Delhi throughout Sunday when Jamia University students clashed with Delhi Police personnel and they barged into the university later.

“I am very worried about the situation in Delhi. I spoke to the L-G and also sought time from Amit Shah to discuss the measures all of us need to take to bring peace back in Delhi,” said Kejriwal.

“We as a nation must take not of why are our students are out on the streets. Students from 22 universities are protesting. Our future generation is out there fighting. We need to listen to them. They are the future,” he added.

Speaking about the incidents of buses being vandalised and burnt by protesters, Arvind Kejriwal said, “I condemn the violence. We should look at CCTV footage to know who burnt the buses and then take action against the guilty.”

ON DELHI ELECTIONS

Ahead of the assembly elections in Delhi where the AAP government will face its first test after 5 years, Kejriwal sounded very confident about coming back to power with greater mandate.

Asked if AAP is bothered by BJP’s accusations that the ruling party had done no work in 4 years and is piling up everything in the last year, Kejriwal said, “People in Delhi are happy and it doesn’t matter what the BJP says.”

“There is not a single resident in Delhi who the AAP government has not touched in some way. Be it with electricity, government schools or water supply, we have managed to touch even the opposition,” he said.

“Even BJP, Congress supporters come to our nukkar meetings to tell us about the work we have done. We have earned their blessings too,” said Kejriwal.

Asked why he has stopped talking about PM Modi over the last one year, Kejriwal quipped, “Mujhe kya karna hai, woh bohot bade log hai, main chhota aadmi hoon (They are stalwarts, have bigger issues at hand. I am a small man). I was given a mandate to work for Delhi. I would stick to doing that.”