Asian Games medal winner Divya Kakran slams Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal who has been facing waning popularity in Delhi due to his incompetence and a barrage of unfulfilled poll promises is in the news again for all the wrong reasons. Wrestler Divya Kakran, the bronze medal winner in recently concluded Asian Games in Indonesia, lambasted Arvind Kejriwal and his government for showing careless attitude towards athletes. Divya Kakran, during the facilitation ceremony, told Kejriwal that she could have won gold medal if the government had extended proper support to her. Divya Kakran said, “I’d won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games (in Gold Coast, Australia, earlier this year) and you had told me that I will receive more help going forward. But not even my phone calls were answered.” She further added, “You’re felicitating us today but please also think of poor kids aspiring to become athletes. You’ve gathered us today to congratulate us but there’s no support provided when we need it most. If we’re given that support at the right time then we can even win gold.”

Divya Kakran said all this fearlessly in front of other medal winners and government officials.

However, Arvind Kejriwal as usual has put the entire blame on the shoulders of higher authorities and offered same old excuses. He said, “You must have read in newspapers how there are obstacles being put in front of the work we try to do. What you’re saying is right. Not just you, many athletes come to us with similar complaints. However, whichever policies we have drafted until now have been shunted for some reason or the other at the higher level. Whatever we’re doing today is only because of the Supreme Court’s recent judgment.”

This is the old habit of Arvind Kejriwal- first he makes big promises and announces compensation of lakhs of rupees for everyone but fails to fulfill any of his promises and then blames the ‘higher level’. Only God and Arvind Kejriwal can tell what kind of higher level politics was not allowing his government to answer the phone calls of Divya Kakran. Arvind Kejriwal himself spends over 1 crore in refreshments but fails to provide good facilities to athletes. Last year as well, AAP had landed in trouble on account of expensive lunch at the chief minister’s residence with per plate cost exceeding  Rs. 16,000 and Rs. 12,000 on February 11 and February 12. As many as 80 plates had been arranged by the Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC).

Earlier, in June, the Delhi Minorities Commission has written a letter to the Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, over the compensation that is still to be paid to the deceased Ankit Saxena’s family. Ankit Saxena was murdered because he fell in love with a Muslim girl. According to the letter written by the DMC chairman Zafarul Islam Khan, the victim’s father, Yashpal Saxena, is now left to fend for his family given that Ankit was the sole breadwinner before his untimely death. To quote his letter, “Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had visited the family and a compensation of Rs 5 lakhs was promised to the affected family. But the promise has not been redeemed so far.”

It’s old habit of Kejriwal to break his promises. He brags about improving healthcare, school system, transportation and every section of society but his claims are often contradicted with facts. Kejriwal instead of doing work on the ground believes more in photo opportunity and is more interested in flaunting his imaginary achievements through expensive ad campaigns. Anyone who exposes his false claims is immediately labeled as ‘Modi agent.’ It would not be surprising if they label Divya Kakran also as Modi’s agent.