Arvind Kejriwal tweets after Washington DC makes public transport free

After Washington DC announced to make public transport free, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in his latest tweet asked, ‘Should it be ridiculed as muft ki revadi?’ After Washington DC announced to make public transport free, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal in his latest tweet, took a jibe at the BJP, asked, ‘Should it be ridiculed as muft ki revadi?’

“Washington DC makes public transport free. Shud it be ridiculed as “muft ki revadi”? No. Providing public services free to its citizens without burdening them wid extra taxes reflects honest and sensitive govt, which saves money and provides facilities to its people,” he tweeted.Washington DC will permanently offer free bus rides on all routes from next summer and other big cities like Boston and Denver may follow suit, the Daily Mail reported.

The city has decided to expand its transport services under a plan was unanimously agreed by Washington DC’s council last week. It also decided to waive $2 fares for riders boarding metrobuses within city limits from around July 1.The war of words between the AAP and BJP over the freebie culture started after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while inaugurating the Bundelkhand Expressway in Uttar Pradesh in July, had cautioned people against the ‘revadi culture’ under which votes were sought by promising free electoral freebies.

PM Modi had said this could be ‘very dangerous’ for the development of the country.“This Revdi culture is very dangerous for the development of the country. Those with Revdi culture will never build new expressways, new airports or defense corridors for you. Together we have to defeat this thinking, remove Revdi culture from the politics of the country,” PM had said.

In the same-day rebuttal to the PM, Arvind Kejriwal said giving free and quality services to the public was not free revdi. In fact, he said, free revdi included giving undue benefits to certain corporates and ministers.The Aam Aadmi Party chief noted that calling such things free ‘revdi’ is an insult to the common man. A month later, he asserted that free education and healthcare are not freebies and access to these two can eliminate the country’s poverty in one generation.

The BJP, in a letter to the Election Commission of India (ECI), highlighted that freebies are meant to allure voters, whereas welfarism is a policy intervention that ensures inclusive growth.