Kejri ‘Wall’ to Kejri ‘Fall’
Er. P.L. Khushu
AAP has miserably lost the recent assembly elections, making the BJP to replace it with a very good majority. The new government comprising of BJP has taken over the administration of Delhi, under the chief minister Ms. Rekha Gupta a versatile BJP worker and functionary. It was looking that AAP will never give up power in Delhi, as long as its promises of freebies to the people are concerned. The people of Delhi have ultimately listened to the loud massage of Modi Ji that AAP governance has brought “ Apadha” ( Distress and Dejection) to Delhi, and its people , when the development on the key issues of Delhi have been neglected on a major scale, during the last 10 years of rule of AAP. The false claims by AAP led by Kejriwal, on this count have made the majority of the people of Delhi to throw out AAP governance along with its vital leaders which includes Mr. Kejriwal. It has to be taken in to account the Delhi is the capital of this country and its grace and position has been badly defaced, during the last 10 years rule of AAP, when no cogent development has been done to Delhi, to make it a recognized and a glamour’s capital of India, as shining as the other cognizant capitals of the other prominent countries of the world. It is a gospel truth that Kejriwal is a person who never speaks truth and confuses people with his false utterances which have most of the times been beyond the scope of his achievement. Why should a Chief Minister land in jail. Something is wrong somewhere. It is a curse and he puts a brazen face about it. Ultimately he is now disposed off. A big relief to the people of Delhi, apart from his cynical political moorings coupled with his actions of duality and double face imperfections. Who does not know how he cheated Anna Hazare in his movement against corruption, when Kejrial was the key figure in it. But ultimately he deceived him for power, when he had repeatedly said that I will not acquire any power, will not utilize the services of costly vehicles, will not live in palatial residential facilities and the like. He has managed his life as the chief minister of Delhi along with the survival of APP, on the basis of uneconomic monetary sops of different hues and cries to the people of Delhi, which has ultimately ditched the growth and development of Delhi, along with a huge economic break down in the coffers of Delhi administration which ultimately hit Delhi and its people viciously in respect of the development of Delhi on a standard scale as a grand cosmopolitan capital city of India, apart from being the capital of India. APP and its solo head the Kejriwal, had been bragging about sky size achievements of his education policies, mohala clinics and the like, yet, a common man of Delhi now knows his lust to remain in power, when all such policies, have been mostly a fraud on the people of Delhi, when the money spent on such schemes were equally loaded with alleged extreme corruption and red tape. Commenting about his education policy of providing the best education to the wards of Delhi people, one feels shy to say that adding additional accommodation in the already existing schools of Delhi, does not make the educational standards a novel one, unless it is not supplemented and supported with the providing of classic and a very good education to the students, with best teachers and modern scientific gadgets and the like. Nothing such happened other than the constructing of school buildings through contractors, obviously for reasons better known to such situations. Same is true about the mohalla clinics. Did these ever function as a medical facility to the people of Delhi? Same is true about the road communication sector of Delhi. Roads other than coming under national highway categories are bitterly in shambles. So is the case with the other civic facilities like sewage system, lanes and drains and the like. No sufficient flyovers have been constructed during the rule of APP and its mentor Mr. Kejriwal, for the last ten years to provide a standard road connectivity system in Delhi and NCR.
Anna Hazare about Kejriwal
Hours after Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national Convener Arvind Kejriwal announced his decision to resign from the top ministerial position, after being released on bail in the Delhi excise policy case, social worker Anna Hazare reacted to the development. The Gandhian social activist commented that he had advised Mr Kejriwal against entering politics long ago, but he did not heed his advice. Anna Hazare, who had previously led an anti-corruption movement with Mr Kejriwal at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, remarked: I had already advised Kejriwal not to enter politics. I explained multiple times that true fulfillment lies in social service, but he did not listen. I have been saying from the beginning that Arvind Kejriwal should not have ventured into politics. He chose not to heed my advice, Anna Hazare further added. What has happened now was inevitable. I cannot know what is in Arvind Kejriwal’s heart.
Notably, this is not the first instance of Anna Hazare responding to developments involving Arvind Kejriwal. Previously, Mr Hazare had voiced his disappointment over Mr Kejriwal’s arrest in the Delhi excise policy case.
At that time, Hazare expressed his frustration, stating that I am deeply upset that Arvind Kejriwal, who once worked with me and spoke out against liquor, is now involved in formulating liquor policies. His arrest is a consequence of his own actions.
Alleged liquor Scam
The Delhi government brought in a new policy for liquor sellers in the national capital in November 2021. The Kejriwal government as part of the new policy stopped government outlets from selling liquor and allowed private parties to apply for licenses to run stores. The Kejriwal government said the policy would help stop black marketing, increase the Delhi government’s revenue, and benefit customers. The new policy allowed liquor stores to stay open even after midnight and sellers to give any discounts with no limit. Many private liquor stores saw their sales increase and the Delhi government claimed a 27 per cent rise in collections. The opposition BJP in Delhi strongly criticized the new policy and accused the Kejriwal government of promoting “liquor culture”. The BJP said many liquor stores had sprung up in residential areas.
Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar in a report in July 2022 alleged that he found many rule violations in the new liquor policy. Mr. Kumar alleged the Kejriwal government’s liquor policy gave “undue benefits” to sellers. The Chief Secretary pointed out Rs 144 crore rebate in liquor license fee during the Covid pandemic. Following this report, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into the matter. This sharpened the BJP attack on the AAP-led government. The ruling party trashed the allegations. But soon after the Delhi government withdrew the new liquor policy. This caused more than 400 newly opened stores to shut down shutters. Sale of liquor was back under government control till a new policy was put into place. The CBI in August 2022 raided the home of Mr. Sisodia. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also joined the probe to investigate the money trail. The ED case was based on a first information report (FIR) filed by the CBI against Mr Sisodia and 14 others. The probe agencies alleged the involvement of a “South Group”. The ED alleged that the “South Group” and AAP had an arrangement under which the former gave funds to the AAP for its Goa election campaign. The “South Group” was to recover this money through liquor businesses it controls in Delhi, the ED alleged. The AAP was accused of favoring these liquor networks while giving out licensees under the new policy. Why should such an alleged scam about liquor be allowed to occur. There is something fishy in it and the people of Delhi have been watching it with helplessness.
Shesh Mahal
Glowing in the huge public attention he got after the Anna Hazare agitation against corruption, Arvind Kejriwal, had promised before his first Delhi assembly elections that he would live an austere life as a chief minister. He had said a simple home of four-five rooms was enough for him. An old video of Kejriwal making these claims has surfaced on social media when it has come to light that he has spent crores on renovation of his official home. It is alleged that Kejriwal spent a whopping Rs 45 crore on renovation of his official home at 6, Flagstaff Road, Civil Lines in Delhi. According to media sources around Rs 44.78 crore of taxpayer money were spent on renovating Kejriwal’s official residence. The opposition BJP too released documents that claimed Rs 44.78 crore were spent against a sanctioned amount of Rs 43.70 crore on “addition/alteration” at the CM’s government accommodation between September 2020 and June 2022. An amount of Rs 11.30 crore was spent on interior decoration; Rs 6.02 crore on stone and marble flooring. This is his austerity which led to his fall.
Yamuna Factor
The other big factor which ditched the fate of AAP along with its mentor Kejriwal, was that of the decaying and merciful condition of Yamuna which was not attended to by AAP at all during its rule of 10 years. The reasons for that are obvious. There was no money left in the coffers after spending it on sops and the like, when Yamuna and its condition had to suffer badly. The people of Delhi suffered on this count very badly, which was taken seriously by them resulting in his ouster along with the AAP. Its due advantage has been taken by the BJP, which promised in its election manifesto that if returned to power, it will make Yamuna a clean river.
The new government of BJP has started to execute its cleaning immediately after taking over the charge of Delhi. A series of key decisions on cleaning the Yamuna River were taken at the first cabinet meeting of the new formed BJP government in Delhi, aiming to swiftly fulfill its election promise. The government has announced that the Yamuna Riverfront development project, will be on the line of a similar initiative on the Sabarmati River in Gujarat, sewage treatment plants along the riverbanks and measures to improve water flow. It is going to be a wonderful development for the people of Delhi as also for the Yamuna River. This is what is expected of an honest government.
While concluding it boils down to the fact that while Sh. Kejriwal had dreamt of a Big “Wall” for himself as a lifelong Chief Minister of Delhi on false promises, resulted in his own Big “Fall”. Well said “ A Lie has no Legs”
(The author of this article is a chartered consultant civil engineer, who loves his mother land the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir)