Don't elect 12th pass PM in 2019: Kejriwal attacks PM Modi at Opposition rally

New Delhi, Feb 14: In an all-out attack on Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday that people made a Class 12-pass the prime minister of the country but they should not repeat the mistake in 2019.

The Aam Aadmi Party supremo also charged Modi with being involved in corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal.

"Last time you made a Class 12-pass the prime minister of the country. Do not commit the mistake this time and find someone who is educated because a Class 12 pass (person) has not the understanding where he is putting his signs," Kejriwal said, referring to questions raised on Modi's educational qualification.

Addressing the "Tanashahi Hatao, Loktantra Bachao" rally in presence of opposition leaders including Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar and Chandrababu Naidu, Kejriwal asserted their protest-rally will uproot the Modi government.

"This dharna will uproot the Modi government just as it removed the then government (of Congress-led UPA) in the country after the historic anti-corruption movement gathering at Jantar Mantar on April 4, 2011," he said.

Alleging that the Modi government purchased Rafale fighter jets at an increased price, Kejriwal accused the prime minister of directly responsible for price escalation.

"Narendra Modi himself negotiated with the company of Rafale," he said, waving a purported paper from a Defence Ministry file.

He said if the truth behind Rafale deal were to be uncovered, the prime minister will have to resign.

"Does it behove the prime minister of the country to negotiate price of an aircraft with a company. It has now proved that Modi is involved in corruption in the Rafale deal," he charged.

Kejriwal lauded Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banejree for the way she tackled the recent issue of CBI officials bid to question Kolkata police commissioner in an under-investigation case, saying it was an attack by Modi on the elected government in West Bengal.

"The West Bengal government is an elected government. It's not a paternal right (bapauti) of Modi. If the commissioner was arrested, the message would have been conveyed across the country that one needed to fear the Modi government, not a state government," he said.

The Delhi chief minister hit out at the prime minister, accusing him of "tearing apart" Dr Ambedkar's Constitution that provides federal structure in the country.

The Modi government snatched away Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB), which had registered cases against high-profile people in the country, from Delhi government, with the help of paramilitary force, charged Kejriwal.

"I want to tell the prime minister that Delhi is the capital of the country and he is not prime minister of Pakistan. Only Pakistan prime minister dreams of attacking Delhi and Congress.

"If Pakistan PM had occupied ACB building, we would show him that blood is hot in our body. But we respect you being the Prime Minister of India," he asserted.

He also accused Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah of "spoiling" harmony in the country in the past five years.

PTI