Not against capitalism, only against crony capitalism, says Arvind Kejriwal: highlights

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, who quit as Delhi Chief Minister last week, today addressed the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)  in the capital.

Here are the highlights:

• We have possibly the best economist leading the country today. But are people happy?
  
• The best of economic policies simply remained on paper. They never got implemented. There was no honesty.
  
• The government claims they've brought about development. Development is done by people, not by governments
• The government has to provide a safe and secure environment for development to take place. A clean, honest environment.
  
• How can development take place amidst rampant corruption?
• I also come from a business family. We had a kirana store. My uncle had a small cotton mill
• Businessmen always live in fear
• They're constantly under the threat of being harassed and persecuted by the police
• Anybody can threaten them. Businessmen are always viewed with suspicion, as if they've committed theft
• We need to create an environment which encourages businessmen, not discourage them
• License and inspector raj has to end. This extortion business has to end
• My experience with Delhi's traders while I was Chief Minister was that they always lived in the fear of VAT
• We called meetings, took steps. They were so happy
• Businessmen are being driven away. Such are the policies of the government
  
• Very small section of industrialists are looting the country
  
• I am not against Capitalism, only crony capitalism
• We are first class citizens with a third class government 
• 'Chori' has to end. It's a wrong perception that AAP is against business. Of course we need businesses
• Unnecessary litigation has to end
• We want to create a new India. Please join us, help us
• Come inside the inner circle. I invite you all. Become a part of the revolution. Don't just criticise us from outside
  
• It is often said we don't know anything about governance. The steps we've taken, nobody has done as much
• We ordered an audit, corruption has come down by 20-30 per cent. These guys couldn't do it for decades
• We have done in 49 days what others couldn't do in years
• Medicines are now available at government hospitals. And they say we don't know about governance? I don't understand what governance is
• We in the IIT community are very proud of you. But like IITians, you're changing your job 
• (On gas prices) Why should we get gas at market price? From our wells, we should get it ot the basis at cost plus some profits
  
• Governance isn't rocket science, we've turned the politics of this country on its head
• If we fix politics, all other things  will fall in place  
• Agriculture needs to be deregulated. It's a very important sector
• (On election funding) Yes, that's the root cause of all corruption
• But it's very complicated. State funding may not be the answer. Parties could take money from the state and corporates, both
• Transparency is very important. We have everything on our website. List of donors all there. Payments should be made by cheques
• BJP, Congress claim their funds are all less than 20 K from each person. It's all black money
• We face this problem. Some businessmen say we agree with you, we want to give you money, but don't put up our name on your website. BJP, Congress will make life difficult for us
• (On Prashant Bhushan's statement on nationalisation of industry) The party totally disagrees with Bhushan
• (On privatisation) Sarkar is corruption. No two ways about it. Take the case of coal pricing. Allocation of coal blocks. Height of corruption and nepotism
• Whether it's the government or private sector, we need to root out corruption
• Some sectors need to be privatised. But we cannot allow monopolies. That breeds corruption
• We're not against privatisation of power companies. But we need to evolve the right model
• (On salaries) It can be need based. It can be greed based
  In greed breeds corruption, salaries don't matter
• Some ministers make crores on every deal. No matter what salary they draw, they will continue to be greed
• Government cannot create jobs. The government has to create the right environment that would facilitate job creation
• Why can't we have incubation centres at colleges? Our youth should be job creators rather than job seekers. Need to work on the education system
• Pollution in Delhi is a huge problem - Air and water pollution
• The amount of money they've spent on cleaning up the Yamuna, we could've created a new Yamuna with that money. It's corruption
  (On decentralisation) You've confused decentralisation with the panchayat system
  We are moving from representative democracy to direct democracy
  But it's only possible at the local level. Not at the national level
  This exists in the US. The townhall system