Drama has gone stale, does not pull crowds

Even before the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party completes six months in office, the party’s pretensions are out in the open. There is a huge difference between the party’s poll promise and its performance — which is now out onto the streets of the national capital. This puts a question mark on the presumption under which the people of Delhi choose Mr Kejriwal as the Chief Minister with a huge majority. The political kaleidoscope had taken a U-turn with the AAP coming to power. It has now shattered the idea — that a mere conglomeration of self-proclaimed do-gooders can do better than the political parties in meeting people’s aspirations.Within days of coming to power, the AAP splashed the streets of Delhi with huge billboards touting the number of corrupt officials who had been apprehended. But the arrest of its law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar in a fake degree case, has hit the public eye. In what way will Mr Kejriwal defend himselfIJ 

“It’s all a conspiracy of the Central Government and the ruling party to derail our party”, is all Mr Kejriwal could say.For the sake of argument, let us for once concede that there has been a conspiracy against the AAP. But the allegation that the ruling party in Delhi had inducted into office, a Minister, who was holding two fake degrees, and that he had purchased those degrees from some agents, is no more in the realm of conjecture.If Mr Kejriwal believes in practising what he had preached, he should have asked Mr Tomar to resign the very moment when the alleged fake degree scandal came to light. The Chief Minister, instead, sought to defend Mr Tomar. He downplayed the allegation and sought to give it a political colour.Does this not contrast with the same AAP chief, who had asked his officers to register a case against industrial houses, Government functionaries and political persons merely on the basis of what he calls ‘corrupt’IJ

Yet another issue that concerns not just the capital but also the entire nation is that of women’s safety — not only within the confines of their homes but also in public space. The AAP has been in the forefront and had claimed that it would ensure the safety of women and end all types of discrimination against them.

However, recently AAP leader Somnath Bharati was accused by his wife of domestic violence and mental torture. She alleged to the Delhi Commission for Women that her husband had once set his dog on her when she was seven months’ pregnant. This time too, the AAP Government’s response was the same as in the arrest of Mr Tomar.  The immediate question that the public would like to ask, is: Why does not Mr Kejriwal rush to get these allegations examined by a judicial body or any other civil society bodyIJ A party that claims to stand high on moral grounds on the issue of women’s safety, has a top leader who is accused by his wife of continuous physical and mental abuse and financial deprivation. 

With claims that were punctured, the AAP Government is making a hash of the governance that was entrusted to it by the people of Delhi. It wouldn’t be wrong to assume that the main purpose of Mr Kejriwal was to not govern but to pretend that others have been preventing him from governing. History confirms this accusation. When the AAP was in power for 49 days the last time, it staged a similar drama. Ultimately it had to resign after its failure to get the Jan lokpal Bill passed in the Delhi Assembly. Mr Kejriwal later said publicly that it was wrong on his part to have quit.After coming to power for the second time, Mr Kejriwal had a public spat with lt Governor Najeeb Jung. He told his senior officials that there was a Chief Secretary he did not trust. Clearly, Mr Kejriwal has his favourites in the bureaucracy.Needless to say that the Chief Secretary, who is appointed by the statutory authority — the lt Governor, should assume that he has to work under a Chief Minister who calls him untrustworthy, and an agent of the Centre. 

The normal civility that must exist within the Government system too was broken when the lt Governor asked Mr Kejriwal to send his Deputy Chief Minister to meet him as Mr Jung could not stand the Chief Minister’s shouting while addressing the head of the State. What a shame!With the AAP Government embroiled in controversies, Delhi is in a state of governance paralysis. With the Ministers on one side and the statutory authority — the lt Governor — on the other, the secretariat is caught between two  confronting authorities.The power situation in Delhi is a good example of how governance paralysis is severely harming public interest. Mr Kejriwal had promised 50 per cent subsidy on monthly power consumption of up to 400 units. Now is finding himself in a trap. 

The Kejriwal Government does not have a sound monetary back-up. Private companies that distribute power have to be paid as per the statutory requirement — that is the rate fixed by an independent power sector regulator. 

The Chief Minister claims that the private sector discoms are overcharging the consumers and are making false claims regarding the costs of distribution. He wants the power sector regulator to wait for the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s investigation into the discom accounts to conclude before deciding on the power charges. The distribution companies are already facing huge losses. They pay higher rates for power as the generating companies have to pay a higher price to import coal. The regulator has, therefore, accepted the discoms’ claims and has ordered a six per cent rise in power charges. However, Mr Kejriwal is refusing to read the writing on the wall. He must realise that the private sector discoms are not in the business of charity. If the power  rates have to go down, then either the Government subsidises, the distribution costs or power generators have to cut their costs. 

The AAP chief is trying to be true to his electoral promise, but the harsh reality is that the people of Delhi are mocking at him. His inability to subsidise power is self-evident and there is no money to subsidise power any more. The power discoms are  threatening long power cuts as they can no longer delay paying to power generating companies.Many Chief Ministers before Mr Kejriwal had functioned under a Centre ruled by a rival party. They had demonstrated how contest and compromise what makes a democracy work. Mr Kejriwal, as some of his erstwhile senior-most colleagues say, wants to be a dictator. His behaviour over the last three months has proved them right.