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Launching a scathing attack on the Centre and Delhi Government for “failing to deliver” on their promises and accusing them of passing the buck, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Friday sat in a protest with sanitation workers in the city.
The workers were on strike protesting non-payment of salaries for over two months. The workers later called off their strike after the High Court ordered the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to clear their dues.
Taking on the Centre and State Governments, the Nehru scion said the garbage in the city was rotting but the Governments were engaged in war of words.
Expressing solidarity with the workers, he said only the Congress will be able to take care of the economically weaker sections in the society.
As the Municipal Corporation of East Delhi is ruled by the BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party said there was no reason for the sanitation workers to continue with the strike after the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced that around ₹500 crore will be immediately released for payment of their salary arrears. The AAP also said that Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had allocated a sum of ₹2,000 crore for the MCD of which not a single rupee had been released so far.
Rahul Gandhi, however, said the State Government was passing the buck. He said the demands of the workers will only be fulfilled if they showed their strength. “The Delhi government says it is not our responsibility. It is the responsibility of the Centre. The Centre says it is not their responsibility but that of Delhi government. When you go to Delhi government, they say take your wages from the Central government, when you go to the Central government they tell you to get it from the Delhi government. The reality is that both these are mere excuses,” he added.
‘Right way’Rahul urged the workers to show their strength to get the work done “in five minutes”. “You have begun a demonstration here. That is the perfectly right way. This is the thought. Our brothers and sisters, who clean Delhi have this idea in their mind. I want to tell them that give your five-seven minutes here. The day your strength is seen here, have full faith, your demands will be met,” he said, equating the work of sanitation workers with the Army.
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