From Gujarat to Kerala, several parties and leaders brand their governance record in states as models of development. The “Delhi model”, tomtommed by the Aam Aadmi Party, is among the latest entries to the list.
In the run-up to Delhi assembly elections, AAP leader Jasmine Shah has tried to present an insider’s account of the making of the same model, with his new book The Delhi Model: A Bold New Road Map To Building a Developed India. But what’s the reality of these claims?
In an exclusive conversation with Abhinandan Sekhri, Shah insists it’s not like the Gujarat model, which was “more propaganda than reality” and “excels at only one thing which is the GDP”. “On almost all the other indicators, be it social or be it minimum wages, it is actually one of the worst in the country.”
On the question of freebies and “irresponsible” spending by the AAP government, Shah points to the impact of welfare schemes. “Today if you ask me which is our biggest vote bank, it is the parents of the 18 lakh government school students.”
Shah claims the “real scale of the work done by AAP is submerged” because of the “political noise around the existence of AAP”. He is then asked about the party’s extravagant advertising campaigns, including an initiative where the actual amount spent on the scheme was much less than the public money spent advertising it.
Watch.
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