Aam Aadmi Party manifesto a major letdown for disabled community

The Aam Aadmi Party-AAP has released its manifesto for the 2019 elections last week.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal released the manifesto that promises to bring full statehood for Delhi and a lot of benefits for people after that.

The document has however, failed to mention anything about lakhs of people with disabilities living in the capital. This has come as a major disappointed to the disabled community and activists working in the sector.

Nipun Malhotra, Founder of Wheels for Life and CEO Nipman Foundation took to social media and shared his disappointment about the manifesto.

“As a citizen with a disability, I was looking forward to the @AamAadmiParty manifesto. Extremely disappointed that there’s next to no mention of disability or in fact of even the LGBT community. Where went liberalism?

The latest manifesto of AAP has come as a surprise for the disabled community and activists as the party’s 2015 manifesto had a lot to offer to people with disabilities.

The party had promised schemes for better education of children with disabilities, reservation, and financial support to institutions working in the sector.

In fact the 2015 document had claimed that when it came to welfare of the disabled community, AAP will set an example for the rest of India.

However, the current manifesto offers nothing to people with disabilities and has completely omitted them. Disability right activist Dr Satendra Singh thinks the manifesto is a disaster.

AAP manifesto is a huge let down for disability sector & LGBTQIA+ community. Never saw someone taking such a big u-turn. 2014 had four point agenda but this one is a complete disaster. Not a single word.

The BJP manifesto for 2019 also did not meet the expectation of the disabled community and activists as it had very little to offer in terms of employment and education opportunities and also mental health.

Disability right activists in other states have also been shocked by the AAP manifesto.

Disability right activist from West Bengal, Shampa Sengupta expressed her disappointment on twitter. She wrote, I must say as a disability & gender rights activist, I am extremely disappointed with AAP manifesto. I had no expectations from TMC, so was not disappointed.

The Congress party manifesto for the 2019 elections came with promises to improve the lives of people with disabilities in the country through various measures. It also mentions that the party if voted to power will amend Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution to prohibit discrimination on the ground of ‘disability’ or ‘impairment’.