Sanitation workers, govt school teachers forced to attend PM’s event, claims AAP
While the AAP called the move an “insult to the teaching profession” and “coercion of government staff”, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) rejected the claims, saying that no such orders were issued.
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Addressing a press conference, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia claimed that government school teachers were instructed to gather and clap during the Prime Minister’s event.A fresh political row broke out on Sunday as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed that the BJP government in Delhi forced government school teachers, sanitation workers and other civic employees to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s event in Rohini where he inaugurated two national highways. While the AAP called the move an “insult to the teaching profession” and “coercion of government staff”, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) rejected the claims, saying that no such orders were issued.
AAP Delhi state president Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that MCD teachers, malaria department staff, licencing officials and sanitation workers were compelled to attend the event. “On a holiday when people were supposed to rest or perform puja for Janmashtami, Deputy Commissioners sat in their respective offices across all zones and issued orders to employees of different departments, mobilising them for PM Modi’s rally.” Several AAP leaders and MCD councillors said that they reached some pick-up spots early in the morning and found that staff of various departments were being mobilised in buses. They shared videos, which, according to them, showed sanitation workers being taken to the venue.
In one such note related to the event, the Deputy Commissioner of the Education department of the Central Zone directed that MCD school teachers must report at the pick up spots by 7 am, from where buses would leave at 7:30 am for the Prime Minister’s events. It was further stated that all teachers must attend the rally.
Workers of the anti-malaria department also claimed that detailed instructions were issued to their supervisors to monitor attendance at the PM’s event. According to them, circle in-charges were told to send a photo of the number plate of the buses they board in the morning, take another photograph after sitting inside the bus, and a third on reaching the programme venue. They added that staff were warned against disobeying senior officers’ orders or creating any disturbance.
Commenting on the alleged directions, Leader of Opposition, Atishi said, “It is wrong to be threatened and dragged to the rally in the name of duty…Sanitation workers’ duty is to keep the city clean, not to turn into crowds; By forcing them, BJP is indulging in petty politics.”
Responding to the Opposition’s remarks, MCD Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh said, “These are unnecessary claims, MCD employees are also citizens of Delhi, they went there because they wanted to listen to their PM…after falling out of power, the AAP is jobless so they are unnecessarily making an issue out of everything.”
Addressing a press conference, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia claimed that government school teachers were instructed to gather and clap during the Prime Minister’s event. “PM Modi inaugurated road projects in Delhi on Sunday. It is a good thing. But what is shocking and shameful is that the BJP’s Delhi government issued government orders forcing all teachers to attend the ribbon-cutting event just to clap,” Sisodia said.
He added: “The BJP is unable to find people who will willingly attend their programmes. Since no one is ready to come, they issued a diktat that every principal and teacher of Delhi’s government schools must be present, so that when the Prime Minister cuts the ribbon, there will be applause. This is deeply shameful.”
Arguing that the move went against the respect traditionally accorded to teachers, Sisodia said, “Our country has always said, ‘Guru Govind dou khade, kake lagoon paay. Balihari Guru aapne, Govind diyo bataye.’ But today the situation has been turned upside down. PM Modi and the Guru both are present — PM Modi cuts the ribbon and gives a speech from the stage, while the Guru stands below and claps. Is this the responsibility of teachers? Is it not an insult to the teaching profession when the government issues orders saying that when the Prime Minister inaugurates a road, every teacher must stand there and clap? The BJP must apologise to Delhi’s teachers for this insult.”
“Just a few months ago, when Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP government was in power in Delhi, orders were issued to send principals to IIMs, to Finland, to Singapore, and teachers to Cambridge for training. That was the atmosphere in Delhi. But now the scene is that the Prime Minister is cutting the ribbon of a road, and all the teachers are standing there to clap,” he added.
Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh also addressed the media and claimed that the mobilisation of government employees showed a lack of public enthusiasm for the BJP. “Such a situation has been created that no one is willing to listen to Narendra Modi. That is why they are summoning sanitation workers and teachers to fill their rallies. They may create fake crowds through such artificial means, but this will bring them no benefit.”
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