(Ashutosh joined the Aam Aadmi Party in January. The former journalist took on former Union minister Kapil Sibal and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in the national election from Chandni Chowk in Delhi.)How long can the people of a state be denied an elected government? How long can an assembly be in suspended animation? These questions became pertinent in the context of the Supreme Court hearing the case of whether new elections should be held urgently in Delhi.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court made scathing remarks against the centre and its representative in Delhi, Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung. The Supreme Court asked why a decision has not been taken for the last five months on the issue of government formation. Judges asked angrily can President's Rule continue for eternity in a democracy?
The central government had no answers and cut a sorry figure. The BJP, which has been taunting AAP for relinquishing office in February, was left shame-faced and AAP stands vindicated. AAP has all along been saying that the BJP has been running away from elections as it does not have the courage to face people and seek a fresh mandate despite its massive victory in the parliamentary elections and more recently in the state elections in Maharashtra and Haryana.
AAP has also been insisting that the constitutional post of Lt. Governor in Delhi has been severely compromised and Najeeb Jung has been acting as facilitator for the BJP in the party's attempt to install its government in Delhi through the back door.
Grave injustice has been done to the people of Delhi and also to the constitution. When Arvind Kejriwal resigned as Chief Minister, his was a majority government, because of external support from the Congress. It had not lost a trust vote. Upon his resignation, Arvind had recommended the dissolution of the assembly. This was what the cabinet had decided and the Lt Governor was constitutionally bound to honour it, but he didn't.
AAP has gone to the Supreme Court to challenge the Lt Governor's Order and seek dissolution of the assembly.
At that time, there was a UPA government at the centre and Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister. AAP had expected that Delhi elections would be held along with parliamentary elections but the Congress was rattled by AAP's strong performance in December last year in Delhi and obviously had different ideas. It did not allow assembly elections to happen. The Congress's apprehension were proven right during the parliamentary elections when a majority of its candidates lost their deposits in Delhi - that's how badly the party performed.
In May, the BJP government led by Narendra Modi took office. The general feeling was that he would go for elections in Delhi, because in December, after the Delhi election, the BJP had refused to form the government though it was the single-largest party. Their Chief Ministerial candidate Harshwardhan had written a letter refusing the offer to form the government because the party had not got a clear majority. In February, when Arvind resigned, the very same Harshwardhan had yet again announced that the BJP was absolutely open to elections. But after the national elections, the BJP changed its mind.
It suddenly developed cold feet and tried to add to its kitty by poaching MLAs from AAP and Congress. It made four serious attempts to form the government through the back door but it failed every time. It had no answer as to why it had changed its stance. I also don't want to delve in the reasons for this but it does seem logical to assume that if the BJP was confident of winning in Delhi, they wouldn't have waited for so long and would have favoured elections. Delhi has proved beyond doubt that there is no difference between the Congress and the BJP when it comes to serving their political interests. The people of India wanted change and that is why in the parliamentary elections they rejected Congress and reposed faith in the BJP, but unfortunately the BJP is no different.
The conduct of both the national parties smacks of the same manipulative politics of which people are fed up. Today the people of Delhi are feeling cheated. I don't want to sound alarmist but if political parties don't change their Machiavellian politics then people will lose faith in political institutions which will weaken Indian democracy. The BJP should learn lessons from the Congress. Congress was once a colossus and was so dominant in Indian politics that the thought that it could be dislodged from the centre was beyond anyone's imagination, but today the Congress is so weak that it can't even claim the status of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. This happened because the Congress wanted to grab power by all means and in its pursuit of power it trampled on every institution. Democracy flourishes when people's will is trusted, there is mutual respect among institutions and the constitution is regarded as supreme.
If the BJP wants to copy the Congress, it is most welcome to, but it should remember that apolitical institutions like the Supreme Court, the Election Commission, CAG, Press etc are not functioning to serve political masters. The Supreme Court's remarks yesterday prove that the union government is in the wrong.
In one day, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the BJP government on two issues - first, the formation of government in Delhi and second, on black money. If the BJP refuses to learn lessons from history, then the beginning of its weakening should be its leaders' real concern.
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