The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has hailed it as a people of Delhi’s victory after Delhi’s BJP government was forced to withdraw the ‘Tughlaqi Farmaan’ of a vehicle ban following public outcry. AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj has lauded the people of Delhi for their united and forceful resistance against the BJP-led Delhi government’s arbitrary and anti-people vehicle ban, calling it a “Tughlaqi diktat” that was only rolled back because of widespread public outcry.
In a video message, AAP Delhi Unit Chief Saurabh Bharadwaj hailed the people of Delhi and stated, “I would like to congratulate all the people of Delhi for raising their voices against a Tughlaqi diktat by the BJP’s Delhi government on social media, on X, on Facebook, in the streets and in the neighbourhoods. Because of that voice, the government of the BJP had to take back its Tughlaqi diktat. A few days ago, the ministers of the BJP were almost threatening people that if any car is 10 years old and 15 years old petrol car, then they will not let it stay in Delhi. They will do this, they will do that. Special teams will be installed at petrol pumps. Cameras will be installed.”
The AAP Delhi State President noted, “This matter was about 61 lakh vehicles—61 lakh families—including 18 lakh cars and about 41 lakh bikes. Nearly 60 lakh families lived in terror for two days. If you seize our car, how will we buy a new one? Not everyone has the opportunity to buy a new car. Many are retired. They own one car after retirement and use it only to go to the nearby market. A car runs 20–25 km in a month, sometimes. Now if you seize that car, how will they buy a new one?”
Exposing the deeper collusion behind the move, he added, “It was clear that the benefit of this Tughlaqi decree was only going to be for the big capitalists. They had to sell their cars and bikes to car manufacturers and automobile companies. 61 lakh vehicles had to be sold. And Ola and Uber would have benefitted the most. Because a few days ago, the central government said that now Ola and Uber can increase their prices to double and suck their poor customers.”
Saurabh Bharadwaj pointed out that in every way, a plan was ready to strangle the middle class in which big businesspersons would benefit, and the middle class and poor lower-middle class would be screwed. And it was being lied to that we have no choice. The court ordered us, what can we do? But because of the voice of the people, the people raised their voices together, today this government had to withdraw its decision.
“I would like to congratulate all the people of Delhi because of their voice and pressure, the BJP government had to back down, and now they have withdrawn their decision,” he asserted.
Saurabh Bharadwaj also questioned the BJP’s duplicity in hiding behind the courts. “Now I want to ask, isn’t the court’s decision now? What happened now? Is there no problem now? I want to tell you that the court’s decision is only made as an excuse. The government does what the government has to do. The bench of five judges of the Supreme Court had decided that the officers, bureaucracy, services and vigilance in Delhi should be with the elected government of Delhi. Within 10 days, the central government brought an ordinance and overturned the Supreme Court’s decision. When the decisions have to be overturned, they bring an ordinance and overturn the decisions.”
Citing another incident, the senior AAP leader noted, “It was a matter of electing the Election Commission. The Supreme Court decided that there will be three people in the committee to elect the Election Commission. They will be the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The BJP government brought an ordinance, removed the Chief Justice and brought a minister from the central government so that the central government can make whoever it wants the Chief Election Commissioner.”
“When have you followed the Supreme Court’s decision? Whenever you feel like it. Wherever you feel comfortable, you bring an ordinance to overturn that decision. And wherever you feel comfortable, to follow that decision, you make an excuse and mislead people. Stop misleading people,” he asserted.
Sending a strong message to the ruling party, Saurabh Bharadwaj concluded, “The opposition party, AAP, sitting against you—if you do anything wrong—they are educated people. They will do their job to expose you. We are not afraid. You think you can scare us. We are not afraid.”
AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj took to ‘X’ and wrote: “Congratulations people of Delhi for forcing BJP’s Delhi Govt to take back its ‘Tughlaqi Farmaan’. In few months, it’s clear that this Govt is working like a “Phulera ki Panchayat” Few questions for BJP Govt:
First the over enthusiastic Minister of BJP wanted to enforce this Vehicle ban from 31 March. He publicly made the announcement too. Then, he wanted to enforce it so strictly that everyone is forced to get their vehicles scrapped. It would have affected 61 lac families. Obviously, it would have led to record level sales of new automobiles leading to astronomical profits.
“Why was the Delhi Govt so keen to enforce this ban? If the ban was because of the Supreme Court order, how can the Govt now bypass the Supreme Court? If they had this option of bypassing the so-called order, why did they not do it in the first place? CAQM for that matter is not a Court, it’s a body headed by Babu, appointed by Central Govt. When CAQM gave an absurd order, why was Delhi Govt so keen to implement it? Why was only Delhi Govt keen while the order was for other states as well, like Haryana , UP etc?”
Senior AAP leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Delhi Assembly, Atishi, on Thursday stated that the BJP’s Delhi Government is functioning like Phulera’s Gram Panchayat instead of a responsible administration. “One day they decide to seize and scrap vehicles, the next day they admit the decision was wrong, and by the third day they are busy writing letters,” Atishi said. “But even now, there is no official order withdrawing the ban on petrol and diesel vehicles older than 10 and 15 years,” she pointed out.
Calling the BJP a “government of U-turns,” Atishi said, “Now that they have been forced to take a U-turn due to public pressure, the least they can do is issue a proper order.”
She further pointed out to a deep nexus between the BJP and automobile companies, noting that the BJP is acting in collusion with those who manufacture, sell, and scrap cars. “The decision to remove 62 lakh two-wheelers and four-wheelers from Delhi’s roads was taken solely to benefit these vested interests,” she charged.
“Even today, we are asking the same question—how much donation has the BJP received from car manufacturers, dealers, and scrap dealers? They must answer the people of Delhi,” Atishi demanded.
