‘Read the Constitution Again’ – Amit Shah schools Kejriwal over the ‘state’ of Delhi

Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has a proclivity for being a cry baby. To shroud his administrative failures, he always curses the centre and attempts to run away from the situation. However, the centre, especially its Union Home Minister Amit Shah always administers a befitting reply to Kejriwal and exposes his narrow-mindedness, duplicity, and political opportunism.

Shah did just the same during various Covid waves by bailing Delhiites and Kejriwal out and is doing precisely the same currently by making Delhi a cohesive Union Territory. By cutting down the bureaucratic flab and simultaneously giving civics lessons to Kejriwal, Amit Shah has cut AAP to size.

Reportedly on Wednesday (March 30), the lower house of parliament passed the MCD amendment bill to merge the three municipal corporations into one entity. During the discussion, Home Minister Amit Shah took Kejriwal to the cleaners and advised him to read the constitution again before posing his weak and dumb questions.

Shah said that since Delhi is a Union Territory, “Article 239-AA-3B empowers Parliament to make laws respect the UT or any part thereof on any matter relating thereto.”

He responded to Kejriwal’s allegation by remarking, “People are talking about the rights of states. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also says the same thing…I can’t bring such a bill for Maharashtra, Gujarat, or Bengal. Centre nor I can do it in the states. But if you don’t know the difference between a state and a union territory, then I think Constitution needs to be studied again.”

The Home Minister raised questions on the way MCDs were divided. He said while one MCD had enough resources in hand but lesser work, the other two had a lot of work but lesser resources. Further taking a dig at Kejriwal for his shoddy working style, Shah asserted that the Delhi government did not have the money to pay the MCDs, but his party splurged millions on mindless advertisements.

I will quit politics: Arvind Kejriwal

As reported by TFI, last Wednesday, Kejriwal pronounced that he will quit active politics if the MCD polls were held now and BJP won it. He said, “I challenge the BJP, if you have courage in you, get the MCD polls held immediately. If you win, we will leave politics there and then. The BJP says it is the biggest political party in the world but it got scared by a small party and a small election. I dare the BJP for timely MCD polls.”

Not understanding the rationale behind the postponement of elections, despite being an elected leader, Kejriwal said, “Can the election be postponed because of this? Tomorrow, if they are losing Gujarat, can they avoid saying that they are uniting Gujarat and Maharashtra? Can the Lok Sabha elections be postponed on a similar pretext?”

The unification will mean only one mayor in the capital, instead of the current three

What Kejriwal doesn’t understand is that after the unification of three corporations approved by the Parliament, Delhi will have one mayor in place of the existing three. The MCD was trifurcated in 2012 under the Congress government headed by Sheila Dikshit, with the stated aim of decentralisation of governance.

However, over the years, the division put a financial strain on the North and East civic bodies and led to unequal division of resources between these and the cash-rich South MCD. The presence of three mayors often led to overlapping jurisdictions and bureaucratic tussles. By getting rid of the flab, the government is making sure that governance is simplified in the capital of the country.

Kejriwal and his main-character syndrome

But Kejriwal, true to his raucous rhetoric, tried to present himself as the victim of the situation. The main-character syndrome was truly visible when he unnecessarily dragged Bhagat Singh into the conversation.

Taking to Twitter to post his rant, Kejriwal tweeted, “This situation is extremely painful and distressing to witness. If MCD polls are deferred in this manner, then there will be no point to this democracy. The public will become voiceless. This country will be reduced to a laughing stock. Did Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh give his life for this day?”

He also added, “Did he sacrifice all he had in him to see a country where a government is so distant from its people that it cancels elections? I want to remind BJP that the basic right of electing a government to power rests with people of this country, and no matter what they do, the people will not forgive them,”

Read More: The delay in MCD polls is making Kejriwal jittery and we know the reason why

As remarked by HS Amit Shah, if Kejriwal is so confident about winning the elections now, he should be confident in a similar manner, if the elections are held six months from now. There is no need to create unnecessary chatter. However, the truth is, Kejriwal is afraid that he will face a drubbing in the MCD election and is thus making unwarranted splashes to create sensation and influence the voters.