During the second wave, the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi proved to be most inefficient in handling the crisis. Hundreds of people died due to mismanagement of the situation by the Kejriwal government, and the situation is worsening only.
Even during the last wave, the Kejriwal government was unable to handle the situation and the city could come out of the crisis only after the active intervention of Union home minister Amit Shah. It is high time that Delhi is put under the President’s rule so that the management of the crisis could improve.
Given the incompetence of the Kejriwal government, the MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party are themselves asking that the city be put under President’s rule. A few days ago, Shoaib Iqbal, the AAP MLA from the Matia Mahal constituency demanded President’s rule in Delhi.
“I feel embarrassed being an MLA since I cannot be of use to anyone… our government is unable to stand with the people. Despite being a six-time MLA, there is no one to listen to [me] and I cannot contact anyone,” Mr Iqbal said in a video message.
“Delhi is in a very bad situation. I request the Delhi High Court for imposition of President’s Rule in Delhi with immediate effect. Otherwise there will be bodies across the city,” he added.
The AAP MLAs expressed grief over their inability to help friends and loved ones. “I feel like crying, I can’t sleep. People are desperate and unable to find medicines and oxygen. I cannot even help a friend who is in hospital without oxygen and medicines,” he said.
Not just AAP MLAs, the Delhi high court also warned the Kejriwal government that if it is not able to handle the situation, it would hand over the administration to the Union government.
A few days ago, on April 28, the Delhi High Court had come down heavily on the Kejriwal government over its handling of the pandemic as the honourable court stated if the Delhi government is unable to manage, it will ask the Central government to step in and handle the rapidly spreading virus in the country’s capital.
The High Court said, “Set your house in order. If you cannot manage it, we will ask the central government to takeover.” In a worrying observation, the Court observed that the government authorities appeared completely unaware about the ground realities and are just issuing ‘unreasonable orders’
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In order to curb the black marketing of critical medicines, the Court said, “We direct the Delhi government to take record from all pharmacies on supply of Remdesivir, Dexamethasone and Fabiflu and other drugs and conduct random audit to find out if there has been any black marketing.”
It seems that the Kejriwal government is busy with its PR blitzkrieg and its incessant ads which continue to appear on major news channels. Kejriwal would be well advised to focus on containing the virus rather than spending crores on advertisement as the former would go a long way in helping him win Delhi again in 2025.
Given the fact that the Kejriwal government is not ready to change its approach despite repeated warnings from the High Court and its own MLAs, the Union government must impose the President’s rule and takeover of the administration because this is the only way to improve the worsening situation.