New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) Reaching out to the migrant population in Delhi ahead of the Dec 4 assembly polls, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Sunday described the national capital as a “city of migrants”.
“Delhi is a city of migrants. It is like a mini India,” Gandhi said at a Congress election rally at Ambedkar Nagar.
“My family migrated from Kashmir to Uttar Pradesh, and (then from) Uttar Pradesh to Delhi. Sheila-ji’s family also migrated from Uttar Pradesh.”
“For us, everyone is the same in Delhi, let it be Hindu or Muslim… People go from Uttar Pradesh to Maharashtra and Shiv Sena chases them out,” he said.
Wooing the migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar has been the focus of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well, which has promised special perks for them.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, however, has in the past blamed the huge influx of migrants for lack of civic amenities as well as for the rise in crimes like rape.
Rahul Gandhi said the Dikshit-led government has changed the face of the city.
“Sheila government has changed Delhi, even the opposition accepts this,” he said.
He listed other achievements of the Delhi government, ranging from a world class international airport to the “improved” power scenario in the city.
“The Delhi international airport is considered to be the second best in the world,” he said.
“More than 20 lakh people travel by the Metro every day… 130 flyovers have been built. We have a modern airport, new hospitals,” he said.
He said no other city in India has the kind of infrastructure Delhi has.
“The focus of Congress is not just on building roads and hospitals. Till the time we don’t empower common man and women, we will not be able to progress. In the last 15 years, Delhi as well as the central government have done this well,” he said.
He said it was the Congress which brought the Right To Information Act.
Around 5,000 people had gathered in Ambedkar Nagar to listen to Gandhi, who also urged people to vote for the Congress and not be misled by the BJP.