Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Arvind Kejriwal Versus The Centre' that was published in Newsband

Arvind Kejriwal Versus The Centre

Is it right for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to sit on a dharna at the residence of the Lt. Governor? Is this because of a run-in with the bureaucracy? The crisis is rooted in the understanding (or misunderstanding) of the constitutional limits of the powers of the elected government.  

The Aam Aadmi Party government has a history of confrontation with the Centre. The party had come to power in 2015. Since then there was a demand for Delhi to be given the status of a full-fledged State. The AAP is nursing a grouse that the bureaucratic cadre came directly under the Centre.

What happened was Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was assaulted during a late-night meeting in Mr. Kejriwal’s presence. Since then, officials have been in a non-cooperative mode. Kejriwal and his Cabinet colleagues decided on the dharna in protest. This precipitated a crisis. Members of the BJP responded with a dharna at the Chief Minister’s residence.

The government at the Centre should understand that the way to fight the AAP cannot be by placing handcuffs on the Delhi government. As for the AAP, it should learn to make the best of the system before demanding more autonomy. Wanting to acquire more meaningful powers is fine. But first do whatever is possible within the current framework.

Delhi has become a Centre of attraction after Aam Aadmi Party came to power with Arvind Kejriwal as Chief Minister and NDA government at centre. As union territory, capital of the country, it could not be treated as equivalent state government in India. Constitution has given certainly more powers to governor as part of union territory. Here the tussle between the governor and CM seems to be political vendetta more than wanting the people to benefit.

Allegations of attacking on the Chief Secretary should be done which is the prime reason of the standoff between two power organs of constitution. It is somewhat not understood why Police Department is taking too long to investigate.

The Delhi citizens not only expect 'welfare' measures from the AAP govt; they have given a bigger mandate to the Kejriwal party. We need to recall here that (1) the Delhi Assembly poll was held in the wake of the BJP victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha election & (2) Modi, as PM, campaigned heavily in this state contest. And yet the Delhi voters overwhelmingly rejected Modi & his party. The Delhi citizens' political awareness is raised to such a pitch that they want a non-BJP, non-Congress third alternative to emerge at the all-India level.

Four non-BJP,non-Congress Chief Ministers are now openly supporting AAP's "bigger fight on a bigger stage. Together, they are rejecting PM Modi's style of politics and his resource-rich poll campaigns. We could be misreading the political situation if we think that Kejriwal is merely pursuing his own personal agenda.

If Delhi is not given the statehood for security reasons, let there be no election for Delhi and whichever party comes to power at the centre run it with its appointed Lt. Governor. Let Delhi be a bonus to the party winning the election.