By Sidharth Mishra

In William Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet, there is a discussion on sanity and insanity. Given the ‘insane’ events during the special session of Delhi assembly, convened Friday last, the question arises whether it was a deliberate act to drown the controversy around Excise Policy scam or finding a way out of the cesspool of corruption has become difficult.

To somebody who has followed career graph of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for two decades now, given the current situation, he is making the most ‘rational’ move to defend his party and the government. He has to ensure that the drama of absurd goes on. No wonder there would be a vote of confidence on Monday despite no such demand being made by the Opposition or a direction coming from Raj Niwas.

Delhi government is now functioning with the sole purpose of creating perception that its leader Arvind Kejriwal was an alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Logical construction and argument have given way to irrational and illogical speech.

A government which fails in its legislative duty to table the annual report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for four consecutive years, rushes to the same House whenever it feels politically cornered. If the utility of the assembly has been reduced to it being a platform for bad-mouthing opponents, one may agree to the demand to dissolve the house, made by leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri.

One has to ponder whether a state assembly and a state government in Delhi is required as their bags have almost been emptied of all the agendas of governance with the unification of the municipal corporation of Delhi. Even in the case of the departments left to be governed by Delhi government, the Lieutenant Governor has an overarching role. The constitutional arrangement is that in matters involving heavy finances, the state has to take a budgetary approval from the Centre through the Lieutenant Governor.

Bidhuri, on the house being summoned for special session, told Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena that rules should be followed for convening the session of the Assembly and if the AAP government does not follow the rules, then the Assembly should be dissolved.  Despite the caution, the government went ahead with the sitting and got the BJP MLAs marshalled out of the House in no time.

With Opposition benches empty on Friday last, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, facing serious charges of corruption, took to the floor and claimed that the controversial Excise Policy 2021-22 did not cause any burden on the consumers and that it increased revenue. He did not, however, clarify, why his government rescind the policy, if it was so good, soon after CBI probe was ordered?

Articulating his views, Bidhuri wrote, “Whenever the AAP needs to talk on any subject of its choice, it calls a day-long session of the Assembly. Surprisingly, neither questions nor answers are asked in the session and even members are not allowed to raise short-duration discussions. Before convening the session, 15 days’ notice should be given, and the members should be allowed to express their views. If AAP is determined to kill democracy like this, then Delhi Assembly should be dissolved.”

In the midst of acts of insanity and actions of absurdity, what’s suffering is the governance of the national Capital. That taking the onus of governance had never been a priority with Kejriwal is evident from the fact that the files sent by his office to the Lieutenant Governor even do not carry his regulation signatures. The Lieutenant Governor has made the right move to send the unsigned files back. Let Kejriwal for once own his government’s decisions.  

(The writer is Author and President, Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice)