Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Arvind Kejriwal versus the Centre' that was published in Newsband

Arvind Kejriwal versus the Centre

There is another confrontation between the Delhi government of Arvind Kejriwal and the Centre. The Union Home Ministry returned 14 Bills passed by the Delhi Legislative Assembly in the course of one year. The Delhi government has cited Section 26 of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, that says no Act can be held invalid for the sole reason that it did not have the previous sanction or recommendation required by the Act.

The frequency with which confrontation arises between the Centre and the Kejriwal regime raises the question: is the problem with the law or with the personalities involved? Kejriwal believes that if full statehood is given to Delhi and if BJP accepts sportingly Aam Aadmi Party’s resounding victory in last year’s Delhi election, such confrontation can be avoided. The Bharatiya Janata Party on the other hand wants Kejriwal to focus on governance and not to be in permanent confrontation mode.

Both sides are making their own best efforts to dominate but at the wrong place. They are indulging in political fight. They should rather prove their superiority by doing something that might help them to regain their position in the next poll. If the bills are in favour of Public why Centre is too dogmatic to oppose that? It is clear that BJP is not able to digest the decision of the Delhi people to vote overwhelmingly for the AAP and the fact that Kejriwal has demonstrated honesty in public life and resorted to honest rule.

Kejriwal’s critics say that when Sheila Dixit was the CM of Delhi she never had any confrontation with the Centre. But these critics should remember that Sheila Dixit reigned for 6 years under Vajpayee's rule and that she was a politician in the true sense who realised that being confrontational wasn't going to yield anything substantial despite Vajpayee being a more accommodative leader. Also there were many skeletons in her closet that she did not want to see tumble down which could also be the reason why she chose to adopt a dovish stance. Kejriwal on the other hand is fresh from a resounding victory in the Delhi polls rallying people behind his slogan of anti-corruption and hasn't belied people's hopes in the sense that within the limits of statute he has done appreciable work. His grievance that the centre is trying to undermine his effort invoking some or the other clause of trivial importance is justified.

If Sheila Dixit had done all right, would her party have lost so badly in the last elections – just imagine not a single seat to the grand old Congress Party that led the Independence movement? Can you imagine the disgrace associated with such a defeat? Every interested party, individual or political, was hand in glove in corruption in her regime, hence, everything was appearing to be running smooth outwardly.

Whenever opposing parties rule on each side, such confrontation is inevitable as each seeks the boundaries of laws in favour of itself. There is need from both sides to stop this nuisance and respect the will of people.