Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) main poll plank in its manifesto for the General Elections-2019 is to get "Poorna Rajya" (Full statehood) to Delhi. National Convener of AAP Arvind Kejriwal has been a trenchant critic of the Congress and Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) for not fighting for the aspirations of the people of Delhi.
Political watched for of the National Capital's ever evolving politics recall, how the unresolved issue of the "Full statehood" dates back to 1952 when the first Government in Delhi was formed with the help of the Congress.
Chaudhary Brahm Prakash, the first Chief Minister of Delhi had to demit office as he felt that then Chief Commissioner Anand Dattaya Pandit was not granting him more autonomy.
The political history of Delhi post independence is replete with instances of Congress and BJP doing somersaults vis-Ã -vis the dull statehood to the union territory. Both parties promised moon to win the elections but once the results were out, the issue was consigned to the dustbin.
"The unwritten rule of the political parties remained to remain tight lipped when in power and then go hammer and tongs while in the opposition. The demand was kept alive by the leaders of the Congress and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (predecessor of present-day BJP) in different metropolitan councils formed by the Centre to pacify the agitators," said a political analyst who does not wished to be named.
However in 1987, a crucial turn came in the politics of Delhi with the setting up of the "Balakrishnan Committee" for Delhi's re-organisation. Following this, Delhi was again granted an Assembly, but yet again the key powers were withheld.
"The period was also marked with agitation by the late BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana for conducting assembly elections. The struggle fructified for the saffron party when it won elections in 1993. But it could not hold its ground and lost to the Congress in 1998," said Dharam Raj Panwar, an expert on Delhi politics.
"Then BJP went back to statehood demand. Even then Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani tabled statehood with maximum autonomy in Parliament on the eve of the Delhi elections hoping it would yield results. Although it again lost elections," said he added.
In 2019 general election this year, the central theme of AAP's campaign song is 'Poorna Rajya' or full statehood.
"AAP has used the issue of statehood on and off, ever since 2015, as a safety valve to gloss over anti-incumbency. Having failed to get any relief from the courts on the issue of Centre's supremacy in governance of Delhi, AAP is now talking of taking the matter to the people's court," said Panwar. Delhi's annual state budget today is over Rs 60 thousand crore. In addition, the budget does not include the expenditure on Delhi Police, which is part of the Union Budget. Even the responsibility for pension liabilities of former Delhi government employees lies with the Centre.
Moreover, the Delhi government's budget only includes part funding of the three municipal corporations; the remaining amount comes through their own revenue models and funding from the Centre.
As experts have pointed out, if the Delhi government lives within its means, it has unlimited fiscal autonomy, like any other state.
However, this state of affairs is dependent on its positive cash balance.
Once the city government spends beyond its means, it loses that autonomy and becomes a subordinate office of the Home Ministry, like other Union Territories.
While in an interview with an agency, Senior Congress leader and party candidate from the New Delhi constituency, Ajay Maken, said that full statehood will be a disaster for the national capital and the law and order in the city will become "as bad as Uttar Pradesh or Bihar".
Maken said Delhi being the national capital is "fully" funded by the Union government and that the tax burden on its people will increase if it becomes a state.
"The salary of the Delhi Police alone is Rs 8,000 crore per year. The Union government spends more than Rs 3,000 crore a year on five-six super specialty hospitals in the city. The local administration doesn't have to pay a single penny," said Maken.
Recently, a report "A Tale of Betrayal-AAP's Manifesto Review" released by senior BJP leader Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said that the Kejriwal-led outfit is only "trying its best to create a narrative around the full statehood of Delhi."
"AAP is befooling the people with the promise of full statehood, which is nothing but a farce, as AAP is not even fighting the 10 per cent of the seats which are required to pass a bill in Parliament," said the report released by Sahasrabuddhe.