Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta on Monday accused the Arvind Kejriwal government of being against Dalits and the poor, stating that the government has deprived thousands of poor families by withholding ration and the state BJP MLAs will meet the Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena to demand their intervention in the matter.

Addressing the press conference, Gupta said, “The Kejriwal government has conspired against the poor, denied them their rightful entitlements, and revealed its anti-Dalit and anti-poor stance by halting the distribution of ration. The BJP legislative group will soon meet with Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor to demand his intervention in this matter.”

The LoP said that during the tenure of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the 'Antyodaya Anna Yojana' was launched under the 'National Food Security Act' to provide ration to the poorest families. He added that as per the 2011 census, 1,56,800 extremely poor families in Delhi were entitled to 35 kilograms of ration per month.

Attacking the AAP government, he claimed, “Ten years ago, in 2015, when the AAP came to power, 76,458 poor families were receiving ration under this scheme. However, after nearly 10 years, the number has decreased to 66,532.”

“This means around 10,000 fewer people are being served, despite the fact that the number should have increased over the past decade. As per the original plan, ration cards could have been issued to the remaining 90 thousand poor families from the total of 1,56,800, but the anti-Dalit and anti-poor Kejriwal government did not do so,” Kejriwal alleged.

Gupta alleged that after the BJP raised demands for issuing ration cards to these families, on July 31, 2019, the Delhi government's 'Food and Civil Supplies Department' prepared a list of these poor families, organized by assembly constituencies, and sent it for approval to the concerned minister, Imran Hussain.