New Delhi, Feb 18 (IANS): Defending her post Delhi assembly polls statement -- "It is not my defeat, it is a defeat of the BJP" -- former chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi Wednesday clarified that she said so because she had not failed herself in person.
"There are two parameters of measuring success. One is the outer success and another inner success. So given my circumstances and capacity with which I approached people and the campaign, I asked myself one question - Had I given my best shot," the former IPS officer asked while launching her co-authored book at the ongoing Delhi World Book Fair.
"And I knew I had and that is why I said that I didn't lose. I lose when I fail myself and I win when I win for myself," she added.
Bedi lost BJP's bastion of Krishna Nagar in east Delhi by 2,277 votes to the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) leader S.K. Bagga, an advocate, who polled 65,919 votes to her 63,642 votes.
The Bharatiya Janta Party(BJP) won only three seats in the 70-member Delhi assembly, barely surviving a complete rout from AAP who registered a landslide victory with winning 67 seats in the assembly.
Following this, many blamed BJP for making Bedi their chief ministerial candidate, ignoring its senior party leaders.
Bedi, however, chose to stay away from further making any political statement and focused on promoting her book which she has co-authored with Pavan Choudary.
The book "Swachh Bharat Checklist" is aimed at taking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's project "Swachh Bharat" to every household by encouraging people to take more responsibilities.
"In India, cleanliness is still treated as an unskilled labour. Something that we can't do on our own. In such a scenario, we can't even think of having training centres to teach people how to indulge in cleanliness campaign and be an active participant," she said.
"So the prime minister has done whatever he can. Promoted it and earmarked funds from it. Now we(the people) have to take responsibility on our shoulders and ensure that we take the mission forward," she added.
Bedi also said that during her campaign in the national capital she was saddened to see filthy roads and pan-stained walls.
"When I saw Delhi like that, I was wondering is this New Delhi or a gandi Dilli'( New Delhi or a dirty Delhi). And, unfortunately, we have a large chunk of dirty Delhi to deal with," she said.
"If this is the state of national capital what would be happening in other Indian cities," she wondered.