The seat of power of both the central government and the Delhi government is Delhi. The former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal thus allowed himself to be deluded: I am as important as the Prime Minister and we must be placed on the same lofty pedestal. Delhi also happens to be where the TV studios of all mainstream electronic media are located, so much so that the news-hungry media thrusts its mic on the chief minister and other bigwigs of the Delhi ruling dispensation at every available opportunity. These two factors together make the Delhi ruling dispensation preen with pride and go on an ego trip in the smug belief they have a larger-than-life image vis-à-vis the leaders of other states. Indeed, it won’t be an exaggeration to say Kejriwal over the years came to have a megalomaniacal persona and strutted about confronting anyone who crossed his path from the central government. Paranoia doesn’t sit well with megalomania. Yet AAP and its supremo have been paranoid: Delhi waters are being poisoned by the Haryana government, and our potential winners are being offered Rs 15 crore each to switch over to the BJP. Be that as it may.
Delhi is a half state with police and land with the central government. While this has been the sore point with the just-ousted AAP government by the people of Delhi and has a grain of truth at first blush, on deeper reflection it would be clear why this clipping of wings of an elected government is a necessity. Washington DC is the capital of the USA. Yet, it is not a state; instead, it is administered by the federal government in a substantial measure. It is home to diplomatic missions and hosts foreign dignitaries. In that light, it ought to be administered by the federal government. Ditto for Delhi. The central government cannot remain vulnerable to the Delhi state government’s hostilities when it comes to land allotment and policing. Whether on matters other than land and police, the Delhi government should be autonomous and not at the tender mercies of the Lieutenant Governor (LG), of course, has some verisimilitude.
Coming to the electorate of Delhi, it is absolutely cosmopolitan. Parochialism simply doesn’t work here. To wit, Mamata Bannerjee and her TMC often whip up regional pride to brand the BJP and Narendra Modi outsiders. And that has been working for her as a large section of the electorate believes while Mamta is the daughter of the soil, Modi and Shah are not. Delhi is populated by people from the neighbouring states as well as by people from other parts of the country, like South Indians, who descended on it in large numbers way back in 1950s in search of employment in the central government. Mumbai, being India’s commercial capital and home to the tinsel world, too, beckons people from across the country, but politicians have brought into it the Marathi pride. So, the Delhi electorate alone is not prone to being moved by parochial considerations. Nor could AAP hope to ride back to power the third consecutive time like a regional satrap often does purely by appealing to the regional pride.
Therefore, all their expectations and aspirations centre around economic issues or Bijli, Sadak, Paani (BSP). AAP and Kejriwal quickly latched on to this and kept the Delhi electorate happy with free electricity up to 200 units per month and free water up to 20,000 litres a day. But soon it transpired to them that what was important was pure water rather than free water. To the slum dwellers, roofs above their heads, promised by the PM, held out greater appeal than free electricity, which in any case is useless for them as they manage with poorly lit abodes.
Freebies don’t grant you success forever because your opponent is sooner or later bound to be one up on you. AAP promised Rs 2100 per month to women, but the BJP stumped it with an offer of Rs 2500 per month. Free electricity up to 200 units can easily be countered with 300 units. Freebies don’t require ingenuity beyond pandering to the human instinct to enjoy things and services at no cost. But in the long run, they prove to be counterproductive by hurting state finances, besides corrupting the moral values of the electorate. At any rate, competitive bidding, as it were, on the freebies’ front robs the freebie counter of its sheen sooner than later.
Shiela Dixit, all said and done, as the chief minister of Delhi, fulfilled the long-standing aspirations of Delhiites by building flyovers that enabled seamless and non-stop driving on its ring road with no traffic signals to halt or slow down their progress to their destinations. She and metro man E. Sridharan made faster and more comfortable travel possible by building the metro rail infrastructure. Metro was such a roaring success. It cut down travel time from 2 hours to less than an hour from West Delhi to NOIDA, much to the delight of the commuters, both the rich and poor alike. People are aspirational and should be provided with aspirational products and services. While a mohalla clinic is a good palliative, a state-of-the-art modern hospital endowed with a modern diagnostic centre, good doctors, and a pharmacy that shares the bulk purchase discount with the patients is what is aspired to by the denizens of Delhi, indeed by the denizens of all other cities and towns. Delhi is a landlocked place. It can do with a river-front which presupposes clean water.
In short, Delhi is a truly cosmopolitan city impervious to parochialism. So, the only counters are BSP. Cluttered and clogged, and open sewer lines are an anathema to the denizens and visitors of the national capital.
S Murlidharan is a freelance columnist and writes on economics, business, legal and taxation issues
