Hashtag Politics | AAP, BJP squabble over PM Modi’s classroom visit in Gujarat

Soon, pictures of Modi in a classroom were being circulated online. Reacting to one such image, Kejriwal said he was “very happy” that “all the parties and leaders of the country have to talk about education and schools”. The Delhi chief minister went on to say that this was the AAP’s “biggest achievement”. He added, ‘I hope that education is not missed only during elections. All governments together can make all government schools great in just 5 years.”

His deputy Manish Sisodia, who had a dramatic evening Monday when he was questioned by the CBI for nine hours in connection with alleged irregularities in Delhi’s now-junked liquor policy, joined the conversation a little later. Also sharing the picture, he said that “for the first time today, Modi ji sat with the children of Gujarat after going to school”.

Sisodia added, ‘Had it started 27 years ago, today every child of Gujarat, from city to village, would have been getting excellent education.”

PM सर, हमने दिल्ली में शिक्षा में शानदार काम किया है। 5 साल में दिल्ली के सारे सरकारी स्कूल शानदार बना दिये। पूरे देश के स्कूल 5 साल में ठीक हो सकते हैं

हमें अनुभव है। आप हमें पूरी तरह इसके लिए इस्तेमाल कीजिए प्लीज़। मिलके करते हैं ना। देश के लिए। https://t.co/kFVHyC8K6K

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 19, 2022

In another tweet, Sisodia claimed that under the BJP’s rule “32,000 out of 48,000 schools are in a dilapidated condition”. He added, “18,000 of them do not even have rooms. There is no teacher. Most of the 10 million children have a dark future in these schools.”

Sometime later, Kejriwal tweeted, “PM ji, In 5 years all the government schools of Delhi were made brilliant. Schools across the country can recover in 5 years. We have experience. Please use us completely for this. Let’s do it together for the country.”

Later in the day, Sisodia tweeted, “They will send us to jail. We will send them to school.”

मोदी जी आज पहली बार गुजरात के बच्चों के साथ स्कूल जाकर बैठे. 27 साल पहले ये शुरू कर दिया होता तो आज गुजरात के हरेक बच्चे को, शहर से लेकर गाँव तक के हर बच्चे को, शानदार शिक्षा मिल रही होती. दिल्ली में 5 साल में हो सकता है तो गुजरात में तो भाजपा 27 साल से सरकार में है, लेकिन….1/N https://t.co/kfbzohw8bN

— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) October 19, 2022

The party also alleged Modi was in the school for a photo opportunity. Sharing a few pictures of the classrooms, Delhi AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged, “This school class is not visible, it is a fake classroom made for shooting. There is no window but a painting. There is only one row of desks in the class. The walls are fake. Children’s dresses and shoes are looking new.”

Replying to one of Kejriwal’s tweets, BJP leader and Delhi’s Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said, “Kejriwal! Is this your education model? Of the 950 sanctioned posts of principals in 1027 government schools in Delhi, 796 are lying vacant. Out of total 1,670 posts of Vice Principal, 565 are lying vacant. About 22 thousand posts of teachers are lying vacant.”

ये स्कूल की क्लास नहीं दिख रही ,शूटिंग के लिए बनाया नक़ली क्लास रूम है।

खिड़की नहीं है पेंटिंग है।
क्लास में डेस्क की एक ही क़तार है । दीवारें नक़ली हैं ।
बच्चों की ड्रेस और जूते नए दिख रहे है । pic.twitter.com/vHYFuAozYK

— Saurabh Bharadwaj (@Saurabh_MLAgk) October 19, 2022

Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said, “When you (Kejriwal) did not even know the ‘Ra’ of politics @narendramodi ji was working to improve the education system. Even before you were born in politics, Modi ji, being the CM of Gujarat, made the education there better.” He added, “Tell me how many new schools did you build in Delhi for education?”

West Delhi MP Parvesh Saheb Singh Verma wrote on Twitter that in Delhi “500 schools were not built in seven years”. He added, “Science is not taught in 70% of the schools; No principal or vice principal in most schools; The results of board examinations of government schools are falling continuously for 7 years; Children fail in NAS survey.”

Education is one of the major planks of the AAP in Gujarat where it is looking to emerge as the main challenger to the BJP in the coming Assembly elections. Sisodia on Tuesday announced in the western state that the AAP would build a government school every four kilometres in eight cities within a year. “The people of Gujarat are determined to get schools made for their children and will elect a party that builds schools. They do not put into jail those who build schools by misusing the ED and CBI,” he said at a press conference.