Recent tragedies, such as the flooding of a coaching institute basement that claimed three young lives, highlight Delhi's mismanagement

Historical writings many times create a perspective of adulation for some of the most undeserving characters. Take the instance of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last of the Mughal dynasty, whose rule started in Shahjahanabad and ended at Palam.

He was extended by the British for his connivance with the rebellious soldiers and died in Myanmar.His ‘tragedy’ is best known by the lines which he penned himself before he died. He wrote, ‘kitna hai badnasib zafar dafn ke lie do gaz zamin bhi na mili ku-e-yar m?’ (How unfortunate is Zafar! For his burial; Not even two yards of land were to be had, in the land of his beloved.). In the popular culture, it’s seldom recalled that he was a worthless leader, incapable of administering, always cribbing and too preoccupied with palace conspiracies.Nearly 150 years later, we in Delhi have a government which is as Zafaresque in its bearing as the Mughal rule in 1857.

The day leaders from INDIA block converged in the national Capital in the support of incarcerated chief minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, the same evening his party ruled Delhi government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) presided over a catastrophe in the flooded basement of a coaching institute in the heart of the national Capital.Nobody among those supposed to be in charge of the city administration seems to be mourning the loss of three young lives.

They in typical Zafaresque style are busy blaming one and all possible. Kejriwal’s regents in the Delhi government have done their bit. Minister Atishi Marlena has said that she has ordered a magisterial enquiry, which you can bet would have no clear finding to present. Her colleague Saurabh Bhardwaj has claimed that though he holds meetings with the officials nobody listens to him. Not to leave behind, city’s Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena too has joined the charade blaming the city government and the MCD for not taking the necessary initiative to prevent such a tragedy.

In the midst of all this, our modern-day Zafar aka Arvind Kejriwal would be busy penning another sob story in his prison cell about his persecution and alleged continuous loss of weight.How do you expect the MCD to be functional when you have a Mayor who is unauthorisedly occupying the chair much beyond her term expired? Shelly Oberoi is a beneficiary of the political crisis engulfing Delhi. The Lieutenant Governor scuttled the election of the new Mayor because the file did not have a noted by the Chief Minister, who could not put his pen on the file as he was in jail.

That was the technical reason but the political reason was that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not want to have an embarrassment ahead of the Lok Sabha elections losing the Mayoral polls. Now that the polls are over and the BJP has won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national Capital, the Lieutenant Governor could have gathered sufficient wisdom to allow an election and have somebody head the municipal body who was authorised to do so.The Municipal Corporation of Delhi works through various committees, including the one responsible for keeping the drains in the city clean.

Ever since the AAP came to power in MCD in 2022 with a thin majority, the slugfest between AAP and BJP has ensured that most of these powerful committees have remained non-functional. When such a stalemate has swamped the Civic Centre, the headquarters of the MCD, how does one expect the city to have civic governance? During the last Lok Sabha polls earlier this year, the campaign in the city was cantankerous focusing mostly on mudslinging. It was a campaign where the issues about Delhi were all lost in the bitter cacophony. No wonder even after the polls issues of Delhi remain unaddressed.

There is no indication that it will be addressed anytime soon. While Kejriwal continues to play a Zafar albeit his rule does not extend beyond his cell in Tihar Jail, the Centre through its representative is in the role of Nero, the Roman emperor who once famously said, “I have only to appear and sing to have peace once more in Gaul.”Delhi has been sans governance for several years and will take several years to bring it back on the rails.

The Centre should realise that it cannot continue to play Nero but intervene and save it from the kind of destruction that Rome faced.

(The writer is an author and president, the Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice; views are personal)