AAP, Cong slam BJP over ‘renaming’ Mohalla Clinics

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Delhi Congress launched scathing attacks on the BJP-led Delhi Government on Tuesday, accusing it of falsely claiming credit for establishing new Ayushman Arogya Mandirs by merely repainting and renaming the existing Mohalla Clinics and dispensaries built during previous governments.

AAP’s Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj shared a video of an air-conditioned dispensary in Chirag on social media platform X, alleging that the dispensary, inaugurated by former Health Minister Satyendar Jain in 2017, was being passed off as a newly-built facility by the BJP.

“This is nothing but a repainted Mohalla Clinic constructed by the Kejriwal government. The BJP is misleading Delhiites by calling it a new Ayushman Arogya Mandir,” Bharadwaj claimed.

“Even today, the plaque at the facility bears my name and that of Satyendar Jain. The BJP is breaking records in spreading lies,” he added.

Bharadwaj said the BJP government was falsely claiming to have built 33 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs in just 100 days of governance. “These are not new health centres. These are refurbished facilities built by the AAP government years ago,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president, Devender Yadav, also hit out at the BJP, calling its claims “deceptive and misleading.” He said that Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had launched the Arogya Mandir scheme with great fanfare, but most of the so-called new centres were already functioning as primary health or sub-centres under previous administrations.

“Of the 33 Arogya Mandirs claimed by the BJP, 29 were existing primary health centres and four were sub-centres. They have only applied fresh coats of paint and organised re-inaugurations,” Yadav said.

He added that a dispensary in Tis Hazari was touted as the first Arogya Mandir under the BJP government, but lacked basic infrastructure, staff, medicines and equipment.

“There are no pharmacists, yoga trainers or data entry operators in many of these facilities. Just four employees are expected to run an entire centre. This is a fraud,” he said.

Yadav further alleged that the plan to open 123 new centres with a mere Rs 56.31 crore sanctioned under the National Health Mission is “impractical and a mockery of public health.” He pointed out that with a total proposed budget of Rs 320 crore, only a fraction had been released so far, putting the effectiveness of the project in question.

“The BJP’s claim of opening 1,139 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs is nothing but a numbers game. The Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), under which these centres are to be established, is ending this year. The government’s own documents show that only 123 existing centres are being rebranded — not newly built,” Yadav claimed.

He also blamed the previous AAP government for failing to utilise nearly Rs 2,100 crore earmarked over five years for Ayushman and wellness centres due to “confrontational and inefficient” policies, and warned that these unspent funds may lapse.

Delhi