Controversy erupts following a high-profile inauguration of a health facility in Tilak Vihar by BJP leaders on Wednesday
NEW DELHI – In a sharp political face-off in the national capital, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of rebranding existing healthcare infrastructure built under the Arvind Kejriwal-led government and passing it off as new development.
The party’s MLA from Tilak Nagar, Jarnail Singh, alleged that a recently inaugurated “Ayushman Arogya Mandir” is nothing but a pre-existing Mohalla Clinic operating for years under the AAP government.
Speaking to the media, Singh said, “Delhi won’t be fooled by new boards on old work. If the BJP wants public support, it must show real results, not repaint Kejriwal’s clinics.” He pointed out that even Google Maps lists the facility as the “Aam Aadmi Polyclinic, Tilak Vihar” — evidence, he said, that the BJP’s claims of inaugurating new healthcare infrastructure are hollow.
The controversy erupted following a high-profile inauguration by BJP leaders earlier in the day, where a health facility in Tilak Vihar was unveiled as part of the Union Government’s Ayushman Bharat scheme. The BJP’s Delhi unit has been showcasing these so-called “Arogya Mandirs” as part of its 100-day report card following its takeover of the Delhi Municipal Corporation and other administrative domains in the capital.
However, according to AAP, these clinics are far from new. “The very Mohalla Clinics that the BJP is now dismissing as nominal have simply been renamed as ‘Ayushman Arogya Mandirs’. Today, the minister inaugurated a building claiming it to be a new Arogya Mandir, but it has long functioned as a Mohalla Clinic under the AAP government,” Singh said, calling the event a “shameless PR stunt.”
He further asserted that the adjoining polyclinic to the site in question had been operational since the AAP came to power in Delhi. “Changing the nameplate doesn’t change the reality. This is the same clinic, the same building, the same doctors. The only difference is the BJP’s banner hanging outside now,” Singh said.
The MLA also alleged that the BJP is attempting to mislead citizens with superficial gestures while simultaneously curtailing healthcare services. “During AAP’s tenure, all diagnostic tests were done without hassle, and medicines were easily available. But now, neither are tests being conducted nor are medicines being distributed, and doctors are often not present,” he claimed.
Singh said that residents in Tilak Vihar are now bearing the brunt of this rebranding exercise. “People are walking around with their slips, unable to get even basic diagnostic tests like ultrasounds done. There is no proper referral mechanism either,” he added. “If the BJP cannot build new clinics, the least they can do is not destroy the facilities that the Kejriwal government provided to Delhiites.”
He also aimed at the BJP’s governance record and its broader approach to public welfare. “They have shut down the ‘Delhi ke Farishte’ scheme, which saved countless lives by offering emergency treatment to accident victims. Other people-centric initiatives have either been discontinued or underfunded,” Singh said.
Referring to the BJP’s tenure in Delhi between 1993 and 1998, Singh warned that the people would not forgive another “era of regression.” “Delhiites remember those dark years. That government was thrown out for 27 years. If the BJP continues like this, it may not return for 100 years,” he remarked.
The AAP has long projected its healthcare model, centred around Mohalla Clinics and free treatment at Delhi government hospitals, as a national benchmark. The party claims that its healthcare facilities have served millions and helped democratize access to medical care, especially in low-income areas. The rebranding, AAP leaders say, is an attempt by the BJP to appropriate this success.
Meanwhile, the BJP is yet to respond formally to the allegations. However, party sources maintain that the Ayushman Arogya Mandir initiative is a union government scheme that aims to expand access to primary healthcare across the country, including in Delhi.
The political wrangling over health infrastructure comes amid increasing tension between AAP and the BJP across multiple governance fronts in the capital, with both parties eyeing an early advantage ahead of the next Delhi Assembly elections.
As the battle over ownership of Delhi’s healthcare model intensifies, one thing is clear: for both AAP and BJP, the stakes are not just about health — they’re about political survival and public perception in a city where optics matter just as much as outcomes.
