The Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (ABPMJAY) which is the first of its kind National Health Protection Scheme in India has hit a snag owing to the Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal. The program whose aim was to provide coverage to approximately 50 crore beneficiaries for upto 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization is facing an obstacle due to vested political interests of the AAP. Mr. Honesty from the only honest party in the world has raised a curious demand; he wants the name of the scheme changed to ‘Mukhya Mantri Aam Aadmi Swasthya Bima Yojana-Ayushman Bharat’. This according to Kejriwal is the only acceptable option for the name of the mission, because it has the first two words of his party in the name. According to the report published in India Today, the honest CM of Delhi has refused to budge from his irrational demands for a nationwide plan in order to stall the rollout of the scheme.
The ABPMJAY will be the biggest plan of its kind in the world when it is fully operational in the country. It is either the wickedness of Kejriwal, his greed for hogging the limelight or a combination of both which makes him act like this. There is no other reason for which a project of this magnitude which aims to help the people from the economically weaker section of the Indian society without any distinction to caste, colour or religion could be opposed.
The dharna politician from the national capital has decided to stall the national project with his baseless demands just so that he can go promoting his flagship projects. His flagship project mohalla clinics have been derided many a times in the past from the citizens of Delhi as well as the media. To hide his failures and to feed his ego he has chosen to block the roll-out of the ABPMJAY as well. Arvind Kejriwal has raised one more demand to make the rollout miss the initially planned date of September 25th; the Delhi CM wants to add 50 lakh beneficiaries to the list. The centre which has already made a plan and has added 20 lakh beneficiaries from Delhi is unlikely to heed this demand from a CM who has an excellent reputation for being disruptive. The list made by the central government has been prepared after taking into account the socio-economic caste census of 2011. While the additions to the list by Kejriwal will be made keeping in mind his voter base and votes which he could influence ahead of the approaching election season.
Arvind Kejriwal is playing an ugly game to stop the scheme which has the capacity to provide health benefits for people all around the country. His stupidity in this regard knows no bounds and somebody close to him should immediately make him understand how the people could react to him stalling a welfare project. While other states have already started preparing for the scheme, AAP and Delhi are lagging behind in this initiative which will convert into a loss for the residents of Delhi. The recent exodus of top leaders from AAP could be one of the reasons why Arvind Kejriwal seems to have lost his mind and has chosen to oppose a scheme which aims at benefiting the poor. He has also surpassed Congress in naming projects after their leaders, AAP not just wants its party name added in the list it wants the name installed when it is not even in power. We can expect Kejriwal to sleep on somebody’s sofa or on a highway if his irrational demands are not met with, welcome to the Kejriwal brand of politics.