Delhi’s Deputy CM and Education Minister Manish Sisodia was stopped from visiting a government school in Lucknow on Tuesday, 22 December. Responding to an open challenge for debate on ‘Delhi Model vs Yogi Model of Education’ by UP minister Sidharth N Singh, Sisodia said he had reached Lucknow for a debate on the same, reported PTI.
Sisodia’s convoy was blocked by the UP police. Sisodia posted a video where the police commissioner is denying Sisodia entry saying he needs prior permission to visit. The AAP MP then tweeted asking Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath if he will be arrested for visiting a school in Lucknow despite his Cabinet MP’s open invitation asking him to visit.
Sisodia’s UP counterpart, Basic Education Minister Satish Dwivedi, had challenged him to visit schools in UP saying ‘it will open their eyes’.
After being denied entry into the public school, Sisodia tweeted: “Education minister Satish Dwivedi ji you are using police force for stopping me on the way to school. You had said, see our schools. You got scared that reality of Lucknow schools will be revealed, and the police stopped us on the way.”
The two ministers have been in a war of words about the education system in the state of UP vs the national capital. Manish Sisodia reached Lucknow along with AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and held an open debate at Gandhi Bhawan in Kaiserbagh where he kept a vacant chair with Siddharth Singh’s name and photograph, according to PTI.
At Gandhi Bhavan, Sisodia also asserted that the AAP-led Kejriwal government has improved the condition of schools in Delhi, and it is superior to that of UP public schools. He also showed an 18-month-old video of Delhi public schools and said that their condition has improved since, according to PTI.
Challenging BJP’s Adityanath-led government in his tweet, Sisodia said, “Yogi ji, I will show you the truth of your schools. You can also see the school in Lucknow, from which I was kept from visiting under siege of police. Just 8 km from your office,” he tweeted.
AAP to Contest UP Assembly Elections in 2022
Sisodia’s statements come soon after Kejriwal’s 15 December announcement that AAP will contest the Assembly elections in UP in 2022 where education and health infrastructure might be significant polling issues.
Sisodia also raised other issues related to the state of UP’s schools saying, "The condition of UP has gone from bad to worse while the condition of Delhi has improved in five years and it is because the people of Delhi have chosen an honest government," reported PTI.
Sisodia drew parallels between the schools in their respective governments saying the fees of private schools in UP have increased manifold unlike their counterparts in Delhi. He also raised the issue of electricity supply by saying the national capital gets 24/7 supply unlike UP.
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)