New Delhi: Citing a reply to an RTI query, BJP has claimed that ‘Dr Ambedkar Samman Scholarship Yojana‘ was an old scheme. It was launched in 2020-21 and only five students belonging to scheduled castes had received the scholar-ship amount of Rs 5 lakh since then.
Calling it a “classic case of old wine in a new bottle”, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva alleged Kejriwal was a “political weather scientist skilled at repackaging old schemes” in keeping with the prevailing political climate.
“Arvind Kejriwal had announced a similar scheme for higher education scholarships for SC students before the 2020 elections. That scheme has remained stagnant. He has now reintroduced it with a new name,” Sachdeva alleged.
“Kejriwal should explain why only Rs 25 lakh worth of scholarships have been distributed till date while govt spent nearly Rs 5 crore on its promotion in 2020-21,” the Delhi BJP chief added.
Delhi BJP functionary Harish Khurana, who got the RTI reply in Aug this year, said one scholarship each was awarded in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 financial years while the number increased to two in 2023-24.
“As per Delhi govt’s own report on welfare schemes being implemented for weaker sections, which was published in Dec 2021, a Rs 20 lakh scholarship was fixed for the PhD course for a duration of four years while Rs 10 lakh was fixed for the two year’s master course. The applicant would get Rs 5 lakh each year. The govt also fixed the eligibility criteria which is mentioned in the report,” Khurana said. “But govt could disburse only Rs 25 lakh in four years,” he added.
Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav said that Kejriwal was getting desperate to influence voters with freebies and his latest promise of Dr Ambedkar scholarship scheme was one such gimmick. “Kejriwal has totally neglected the Dalits all these years after getting their votes to come to power. His anti-Dalit attitude was exposed in 2014 when AAP govt reduced the number of state scholarships for SC, ST and OBC students by more than 75,000,” Yadav alleged.
“The voters of Delhi now look at Kejriwal with suspicion and distrust in wake of his long track record of corruption and unfulfilled promises,” he charged.