Kejriwal is right: Delhi deserves statehood

The tale of unceasing confrontation between Delhi and central government is about to see the opening of a new chapter that promises to be nothing if not ugly.

Arvind Kejriwal has promised to bring in a bill to demand statehood for Delhi. This demand for statehood the capital is nearly as old as the Indian democracy and has seen many ups and down. Still, one can safely foretell that none of the past noise and show on the issue was anywhere remotely close to what lies in store.

In this din, the merit of the demand may be sacrificed to raised political tempers and positions convenient for the party one has an affinity to. But before that happens, it is important that we at least make an effort to understand why Delhi indeed deserves statehood.

For efficiency

As of today, Delhi is a maze of overlapping authorities. There are so many authorities - central, state and municipal - that it is not an insignificant feat to even name them all.

Every one of them has the perfect reason to pass on the buck to the authority at the other level, at the cost of efficiency.

Since Delhi doesn’t have statehood, the elected government of Delhi, which should ordinarily have the power to resolve most of the day-to-day concerns, is helplessly dependent on other levels of the government. Also its decisions are liable to be declared null and void by the Centre-appointed L-G.

So, if the Delhi government wants to build a school, it has to rely on the Centre’s DDA for land and on the municipal authorities for connecting road, sewage, et al. Or, when there is a dysfunctional municipality as was seen during the crisis of the MCD strike and the resulting unattended waste dumps, the Delhi government is powerless and cannot take over the situation, as municipal bodies in Delhi are independent of the NCT government, unlike other states.

Also, the constant struggle that one witnesses in Delhi between the AAP government and central government is a result of the hazy demarcation of power and the overlapping jurisdiction in the prevalent structure.

If Delhi gets statehood, it will ensure that its government has power and responsibility to address almost all issues that are specific to the capital. This will ensure that the maze of authorities is curbed and governance becomes more simple and efficient. Also, as Delhi’s elected government will then have the final and decisive say over affairs, it will ensure decisions are taken in a speedier manner and without the ugly confrontation that has become a regular sight.

For an accountable government alive to Delhi’s aspiration

Today, a peculiar situation persists in Delhi - the central government has the ultimate control (through the LG) over all matters pertaining to Delhi and direct control over essential local matters such as the police and land. The central government is not chosen by the people of Delhi alone and so it is not accountable to the Delhi’s population. So it is enjoying power over Delhi without the corresponding accountability.

Thus, the important organs of state in Delhi are deaf to the concerns of the ordinary Delhiite. The DDA is more interested in providing land for building fancy entertainment parks than providing for schools, hospitals and bus depots. The Delhi police, meanwhile, remains focused on Lutyens' residents.

This situation, of an unresponsive state institution aloof from people’s concerns, is a direct result of the Delhi citizen having no direct authority over bodies such as the police and the DDA. Even though the people of Delhi are the best judge of performance of the bodies as they directly and exclusively affect them, they have little say in their functioning.

If Delhi has to be a world class capital representative of an aspirational India, it can never happen as long as it does not have an empowered and accountable government. By granting statehood, we can ensure that the residents of India’s capital have the ability to elect a government that has the power to solve their problems. Its many problems of pollution, clogged roads, broken healthcare, et al can only be best dealt with if Delhi with full statehood and a government that has sufficient power to solve Delhi’s problems, without being heckled by the Centre.

For the central government

When central government is tasked with the burden of looking after chores which state government can easily manage, it is left with less time, energy and focus to carry out its prime responsibilities. India’s home ministry and urban development ministry, which should be looking after national issues and the big picture, are currently saddled by the onerous task of managing Delhi’s police and land. This prevents their optimum functioning.

By devolving power over local matters to Delhi’s state government, the central government can be excused from the unnecessary burden of managing the local affairs. Instead, it can carry out its essential duties in a better way - it could achieve minimum government, maximum governance.

India’s democratic credential

India’s democracy is its biggest trump card. It is an important element of India’s soft power. But the otherwise rich Indian democracy is blemished when, in our very capital, a distorted version of democracy prevails.

Democracy is famously said to be democracy of the people, by the people and for the people. In absence of the power to chose an empowered government for itself, Delhi is robbed of this due right to have a responsible government.

When an unelected L-G or police chief stares down our capital’s CM, it is not the CM alone who is insulted, it is Indian democracy whose power is diminished. Democracy is the rule of the elected (elected only by those being directly affected by the exercise of power, otherwise even the British Raj was accountable to the British electorate). So when the unelected L-G calls the shots in our capital, a case for Indian democracy looks a little less convincing in the world's eyes.

If statehood is provided, the incoherence between India being democratic while having semi-democratic governance in its own capital will be amicably resolved. India’s democracy will stand a taller that day.

Promises to keep - political class should keep up its promises

Parties across the spectrum from - BJP to Congress to AAP - have all vigorously made promises of striving for full statehood for Delhi and granting it if they are given power. As late as the 2013 Delhi Assembly election and the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP top brass made promises of a full statehood to Delhi. AAP also made this promise in the 2015 Assembly election.

The reason why they have all made election promises of granting statehood is because when they are forced to ask for votes during election, they become aware of the pulse of people - their issues, their aspirations. Thus, Delhi people’s need of seeking full statehood for the capital was sensed correctly by all parties and reflected in their promises.

But as elections became history, promises turned into forgotten history. The ruling dispensation at the Centre has been loathe to hand over power to the Delhi government. Whenever the parties are in opposition, they make all the noise and show about devolving power, but when they have the chance to do so, they beat a retreat.

This betrayal of their promises perpetuates a dangerous cynicism about our political class and government. It creates a trust deficit between the ruled and the ruling. Democracy thrives when there is trust in the the political class, and when the people ruled and the ruling don’t doubt each other's intention. Thus, it is essential that persistently made promises like statehood are kept.

As Delhi is the cynosure of all eyes, it is important that a wrong example is not set by the political class in Delhi.

The Delhi statehood is an issue which, for once, should be settled rising above narrow short-term political gains and loses of particular parties. A place with over two crore population would have been a mid-sized country (Australia has 2 crore population) in its own right, the least it should have is its own state government.