Suffering from the main-character syndrome, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is back to his pretentious best. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, looking jittery at the prospect of an impending defeat has resorted to the dire tactics that catapulted him into mainstream politics nine years ago. On Wednesday, Kejriwal claimed that he will quit active politics if the MCD polls were held now and BJP won it. His remarks came after the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a bill to unify the three civic bodies – North, East, and South – in Delhi.
Kejriwal told the reporters at the Vidhan Sabha on the first day of Budget session 2022-23, “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.
Over the years, however, 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.
However, 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.
Kejriwal and his main-character syndrome
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,”
भाजपा का दिल्ली नगर निगम के चुनाव टालना शहीदों का अपमान है जिन्होंने अंग्रेजों को देश से भगाकर देश में जनतंत्र स्थापित करने के लिए कुरबानियाँ दीं थीं। आज ये हार के डर से दिल्ली नगर निगम के चुनाव टाल रहे हैं, कल ये राज्यों और देश के चुनाव टाल देंगे। https://t.co/QHhAE1nV4Y
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 23, 2022
Kejriwal was overconfident, forgetting the 2017 results
While Kejriwal is overconfident by the success of Punjab, which came at the self-detonation of Congress, rather than AAP’s brilliance, it is forgetting one crucial aspect. In 2017, BJP won elections to all three civic bodies in Delhi with a thumping two-thirds majority while Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP and an already relegated Congress faced humiliating defeats.
Moreover, the 2017 Delhi civic election results came on the heels of the 2015 assembly polls where AAP had won 67 out of the 70 seats. Despite having popularity and momentum by its side, AAP could not defeat BJP in the elections. And yet, AAP believes that it can remove BJP, just because it won Punjab.
Kejriwal had left Delhites to fend for themselves during the Covid waves
Kejriwal appears to have forgotten that he and his government were caught with their pants down, only a year ago. The lacklustre performance of AAP during the various COVID waves has not sat well with the Delhiites.
During the time of need, the AAP government, rather than extending a helping hand, had preferred to print advertisements in newspapers. It was only after Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the centre took charge that the Covid situation improved in the national capital.
BJP and its municipality played a big role in helping the people
The Municipal corporation’s played a big part in arresting the slide. While AAP was busy trying to calculate the work area of its ministers, the BJP corporators worked overtime to serve the ordinary folks of Delhi.
And yet, AAP believes that it has done enough through its freebie politics to earn the favour of voters. Kejriwal is simply applying reverse psychology to influence the voters. He understands the ground reality that BJP has its noses ahead once again.
Barring Punjab, AAP had a disappointing outing in Goa, where it had been campaigning for what seemed like an eternity. Only if the Congress had held its end of the bargain, AAP would have trumped second-best in Punjab as well. Kejriwal is wary that a defeat in Civic polls may put a big blot on his re-election trail in the assembly polls and thus he is going all out to milk the situation.
