It has most definitely been quite a long time since the Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal has enthralled Indians with his signature protest performance. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the AAP-led Delhi government has had its hands full trying to appear doing some constructive work, even while the Ministry of Home Affairs has had to rescue the people of Delhi multiple times over the past one year from having their city experience an uncontrollable virus outbreak. Now, the Modi government has, keeping the ineptitude of the elected AAP government in mind, decided to bring in the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Parliament.
The Bill seeks to redefine the relationship between the elected government and the Lieutenant Governor, reducing the autonomy of the elected government. The Centre has said that the reason behind introducing the Bill is to bring Delhi on par with other Union Territories. Arvind Kejriwal, however, is already up in arms, and is set to lead a protest against the Modi government at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Wednesday. Whenever Kejriwal has felt threatened, he has never shied away from a protest which grabs the national media’s eyes.
For quite some time, the people of India have been deprived of watching Kejriwal’s theatrics, although they will witness the same on Wednesday after a rather long sabbatical. Referring to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021, CM Kejriwal said that the BJP was trying to introduce the Bill because it was rejected by the people in elections. AAP Delhi convenor Gopal Rai said, “The BJP-ruled Central government is once again trying to rob the elected government of Delhi of its powers…wing to the growing popularity of the AAP even in Gujarat and the acknowledgement of its successful governance model by people, the BJP-ruled Centre has conspired to limit an elected government’s powers. It is also attempting to overturn the judgment of a Constitution bench, all to restrict the powers of the Delhi government and to stifle its growth.”
After being rejected by ppl of Del (8 seats in Assembly, 0 in MCD bypolls), BJP seeks to drastically curtail powers of elected govt thro a Bill in LS today. Bill is contrary to Constitution Bench judgement. We strongly condemn BJP’s unconstitutional n anti-democracy move
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 15, 2021
The Government of NCT of Delhi (Amendment) Bill seeks to detail the various powers of the L-G, which so far have been clouded by ambiguity. Of course, a better-defined role of the L-G will get Arvind Kejriwal riled up, as that reduces his authority to interpret the L-G’s role in the Delhi government to his accordance. As such, what Kejriwal is calling the Modi government robbing his government of its powers, is actually the Centre legislatively demarcating already held powers of the L-G and formalising his role in the governance of Delhi.
This is reason enough for compulsive protestor – Arvind Kejriwal to once again take to the streets of Delhi. When the Union Cabinet had in February approved the proposed amendments to the Government of NCT of Delhi Act, the Arvind Kejriwal government had called it a “murder of constitutional democracy”. In the past, Kejriwal has had his MLAs harass and lock up bureaucrats for not toeing the AAP government’s line. In 2018, Kejriwal and his ministers set base at the residence of then L-G Najeeb Jung. He alleged that the Centre, through the L-G, was disrupting the functioning of his government and attempting to curtail its powers.
Notwithstanding the AAP government’s fear of it being rendered incapacitated in the Union Territory, the Modi government is going ahead with the NCT Bill for ensuring the betterment of the National Capital Region in the long run.