Why it's time to call out both BJP and Congress over denial of statehood to Delhi
Full statehood for Delhi is one of the longest pending issues in post-Independence India and the only other issues it can be compared with in terms of pendency are the elusive reservation of one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures.
The demand of statehood for Delhi has been in public discourse for so long that the residents of the national capital have almost stopped believing that this could ever become a reality.
What is really surprising is that India's ruling party, the BJP, whose founding fathers and tallest leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani for decades promised statehood for Delhi, has in a sudden U-turn decided to oppose this demand.
The other major national party, the Congress, which actually shares direct and major blame for denying statehood to Delhi in its nearly six-decade tenure at the Centre, made a promise in 2015, but like the BJP, it is opposing statehood again.
The reason for both the BJP and Congress to oppose statehood at this juncture appears to be that both these established parties have a common goal in ensuring that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government fails in Delhi so that these two could bounce back, given the fact that all Delhi-based leaders of these two parties have been rendered unemployed since February 2015.
The political opportunism, however, of the BJP and Congress will not go unchallenged this time since the AAP government elected with the biggest ever mandate in India's electoral history, is determined to take the issue to every household of Delhi.
The reason is simple — the Narendra Modi-led BJP's central government has pushed the Arvind Kejriwal government to the wall and through its appointed lieutenant governor, the Centre is ensuring that the Delhi government remains paralysed.
Shiela Dikshit, who was chief minister for 15 years, is either ill-informed or is deliberately misleading the public by saying that she ran the affairs of Delhi with the same powers and Kejriwal should not complain.
Dikshit's party was in power in Delhi and at the Centre for 10 years. Also, she could have the L-Gs of her choice and most importantly either she has not read the May 21, 2015, notification issued by the Union ministry of home affairs, barely three months after the AAP won 67 of 70 seats in Delhi Assembly.
This MHA notification took away services and the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) from Delhi government — meaning all transfers and postings and the ACB were placed under the direct control of the L-G (meaning the central government).
On August 4, 2016, the Delhi High Court interpreted this notification to rule that the L-G is the administrator of Delhi and the aid and advice of council of ministers is not binding on him.
Could those who amended the Constitution to pave the way for an elected Vidhan Sabha through the 69th amendment in 1991 ever imagined such a state of affairs?
This matter will finally be settled by the Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, where the arguments concluded on December 6, 2017, and the judgment has been reserved.
However, can a politically appointed L-G of the central government sit in judgment over decisions taken by an elected government in matters in which the Constitution has empowered the council of ministers to decide?
This precisely is the reason for providing a fresh momentum to the demand for statehood of Delhi.
Delhi being the national capital can be divided into two parts. What is commonly known as Lutyens' Delhi and is administratively governed by the NDMC Act should be under the direct control of the central government, given the sensitivities involved and the experience of national capitals world over.
The rest of Delhi can no longer be denied its full statehood right. The bill introduced by then deputy prime minister and home minister, LK Advani, in the Lok Sabha on August 18, 2003, and fully endorsed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, then headed by Pranab Mukherjee, has to be the guiding document.
What has been denied from 1956 can no longer be brushed under the carpet, and the value of the vote of voters of Delhi cannot be undermined. BJP promised statehood ahead of the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections and a few months later in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, so did Rahul Gandhi during 2015 Delhi Assembly elections.
It is time to hold these leaders accountable for their election promises and move to end the stalemate in Delhi.
(The writer is media adviser to Delhi chief minister.)