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Why Kejriwal's first year as Delhi CM was a flop show

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Kumar Shakti Shekhar
Kumar Shakti ShekharFeb 01, 2016 | 21:44

Why Kejriwal's first year as Delhi CM was a flop show

Five failed promises:

1. No Wi-Fi in public zones.

2. 55,000 vacancies in government departments not filled.

3. 10-15 lakh CCTV cameras not installed.

4. Swaraj Bill not legislated on.

5. No headway in building 500 new schools and 20 new colleges.

These were some of the promises which were made by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) before the February 2015 assembly elections in Delhi. With the AAP government under Arvind Kejriwal set to complete one year in power on February 14, it is time to reflect upon its governance.

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During this period, the high points of the state government have been its continuous run-ins with the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the odd-even formula. In the past one year, Kejriwal was seen indulging in political gimmicks to put a lid over the misgovernance of his government.

The AAP government has been clashing with the Centre and lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung demanding full statehood for Delhi, powers to transfer and post Central officers and control over the Delhi Police. As is his wont, he also levelled personal allegations against Union finance minister Arun Jaitley without backing them with any concrete proof or documents.

The Delhi chief minister will also be remembered for stooping to a new low by calling Modi a "coward and a psychopath" after CBI raids on his principal secretary Rajendra Kumar's premises. In the past, as an activist who had launched a movement for Jan Lokpal Bill along with Anna Hazare, he had made the wildest of allegations against several politicians, including the then ministers of the UPA government.

While a privilege motion was brought against him in Parliament, he was jailed following the defamation case filed by Union roads, transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari.

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However, instead of learning any lesson, Kejriwal has made these misadventures his potent tool to hog limelight. Now, Jaitley has dragged him to court for defamation in the alleged Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) scam and it will not be a surprise if he is jailed again and is forced to opt for an out-of-court settlement.

To come under media arc-lights at the expense of others has been an important trait of Kejriwal. No wonder, he implemented the odd-even formula when the Delhi High Court took an exception to alarming levels of pollution in the capital.

By resorting to a as a short-cut measure, Kejriwal instantly shot to international fame - Delhi had joined a selected club of cities worldwide - such as Beijing, Mexico City, Santiago, Chile, Sao Paulo, Costa Rica, Honduras, Bolivia and recently Paris - which had implemented the odd-even formula, with many failing to bring about a change in the absence of a long-term solution.

Moreover, there is doubt whether the odd-even formula even succeeded in serving its purpose. The scheme may have led to some decongestion on Delhi roads for 15 days but pollution levels on these days hardly came down. Hence, the formula failed to fulfil its basic objective even though Kejriwal may have indulged in chest-thumping over its "success".

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Kejriwal had formed the AAP on the issue of corruption and legislation of the Jan Lokpal Bill. However, his record on both these counts is far from satisfactory. His ministers were forced to resign or were sacked after their involvement in corruption came to light.

Kejriwal himself was seen supporting corruption when he supported the mahagathbandhan of RJD's Lalu Prasad, JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar and the Congress in the Bihar assembly elections. Lalu is a convict in the fodder scam and has been banned from contesting elections. Kejriwal, who would earlier call him corrupt, not only shared the dais with Lalu during Nitish's swearing-in ceremony but also hugged him.

During the movement for Jan Lokpal Bill in 2011, Kejriwal had accused the then Delhi chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, of indulging in massive corruption in Commonwealth Games (CWG)-related projects. During his first stint as chief minister, he had claimed to have prepared a 370-page report on the CWG scam. However, he has forgotten his allegations and has given Dikshit a clean chit.

Even on the issue of the Jan Lokpal Bill, it was on the last day of his 49-day rule that Kejriwal had introduced it and allowed his government to fall. This time, he finally got it passed in the first week of December, 2015 despite having a brute majority of 67 MLAs in a house of 70.

Moreover, the Bill is a much diluted version of what Kejriwal had fought for. It does not have independent powers to the Lokpal which Kejriwal had throughout advocated.

The AAP government may have taken some positive steps in the health and education sectors. However, it is yet to fulfil most of the promises it had in its election manifesto.

"We will make Wi-Fi freely available all over Delhi… The Wi-Fi will be provided in public zones of Delhi. The internet and telecom companies have been approached and a high-level feasibility study has been done in consultation with them," reads AAP manifesto.

After coming to power, the AAP government announced that it would take a year to implement it. While Kolkata on February 6, 2015 became India's first fully Wi-Fi enabled city, Delhi is likely to miss the one-year deadline too.

Also, the government does not seem to have made any headway in filling 55,000 vacancies in government departments "immediately" as promised in AAP's manifesto.

Similarly, other promises like installation of 10-15 lakh CCTV cameras throughout the capital, legislation of Swaraj Bill, transformation of Delhi into a solar city, building 500 new schools and 20 new colleges, making the capital a drug-free city and regularisation of fees of private schools are also far from sight.

Instead of focusing on governance and spending more time in the capital, Kejriwal is busy politicking in other parts of the country in a bid to expand his party's base (as in Punjab) and also for cheap gimmicks (as visiting Hyderabad to drive political mileage from Rohith Vemula's suicide), forgetting Gajendra Singh's suicide in his rally at Jantar Mantar in the heart of the capital last year.

Last updated: February 02, 2016 | 11:54
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