AAP comfortable in Delhi, doesn''t need ally; INDIA a national imperative: Jasmine Shah
Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal’s close aide Jasmine Shah said on Wednesday that being part of the opposition INDIA alliance was a national imperative but alliances for state elections depended on the strength of individual parties.
In an interview to The Tribune following the launch of his maiden book "The Delhi Model", which chronicles ten years of AAP governance in the Capital, Shah said in Delhi AAP was comfortably placed and did not need any ally.
He was answering a question on the AAP’s on-off relationship with the Congress.
On the INDIA bloc, Shah said it was a national imperative.
"It was a national imperative for the country that we chose to be part of the INDIA coalition. INDIA alliance is an important idea because under the BJP, across states, we see this tendency to completely demolish opposition ruled governments. So to save the soul of the country we allied with this coalition of 26 parties," Shah said.
He said the INDIA coalition played a major role in showing the mirror to BJP which was talking 400 paar in the Lok Sabha polls but could not even muster a full majority.
"As far as alliances in states go, it is a tactical decision. In a place like Delhi where we are very comfortably placed we do not want any ally," Shah said on why the Congress did not have a pre-poll tie up with the Congress for the February 2025 Delhi polls.
Former vice chairman of the now disbanded Dialogue and Development Commission, a Delhi government think tank and Kejriwal’s brain child, Shah said the BJP, despite being a large party ruling several states, "treated AAP as its enemy number 1".
He dismissed charges of the AAP being the BJP’s B team and said this was the approach and perception fuelled by traditional parties.
"We are a multi-party system. In Delhi, any party can come and contest. Parties should be able to test their electoral mettle on the basis of their work like the AAP has done in Delhi as the book documents. Had we been the BJP’s B team, would our entire top leadership be jailed in the excise scam?" asked Shah who has been associated with the AAP since 2015 when he became adviser to then deputy CM and education minister Manish Sisodia helping AAP run its Delhi governance model through massive investments in health and education.
On the issue of being a party that mastered freebies, Shah said 92 per cent of Delhi’s budget was spent on education and health and only 8 per cent on the so-called freebies which were important to aid the poor.
Known for his closeness to Kejriwal, who graced the Penguin publication launch on Sunday here, Shah said various agencies like ED, CBI, Delhi police had slapped 200 cases against AAP leaders.
"Arvind Kejriwal alone faces 52 cases," he said, accusing the BJP-ruled Centre of preventing AAP from running Delhi through the LG and citing laws passed by the Parliament to overturn the Supreme Court’s orders giving powers to the CM.
On the issue of stubble burning in AAP-ruled Punjab, Shah said there had been a 50 per cent reduction in such incidents since February 2022 when the party stormed to power in the state.
Regarding the overall pollution in Delhi, Shah said NCR and adjoining states needed a joint action plan with the Centre’s active intervention.
Shah’s book "The Delhi Model" talks about the air pollution challenge as it unpacks reforms undertaken by former CM Kejriwal-led party across health, education, power, transport and water.
