Newly sworn-in Chief Minister of Delhi, Atishi, will work in her office in the presence of a symbolically ‘empty chair’, which will serve as a reminder of her allegiance to Arvind Kejriwal. She has promised to be ‘Bharat’ to his ‘Ram’, while Manish Sisodia has projected himself as ‘Laxman’. Soon, other members of the cabinet will take on appropriate roles and Delhi will have a running ‘Ramlila’ that will have its people as engrossed as they were with the Doordarshan serial.
In the meanwhile, ‘Ram’ Arvind Kejriwal will serve out his ‘vanvas’ in election-bound states till the time of his homecoming for the Delhi elections. The Aam Aadmi Party expects that it will continue with its run of successes in the assembly contest whenever it is held, and ‘Ram’ will have been exonerated by the people’s vote. In the case of Delhi, it is largely a matter of how much the freebies can be enhanced, and whether the main contender, BJP, will choose to go down that road. The people are clear in their minds that, at the assembly level, they are happy with the ‘Robin Hood’ model, with distribution of state funds in exchange for political power. The fact that such a model erodes development and almost always ends up in bankruptcy is ignored for immediate gratification. And, after all, is not the Union Government taking care of the long-term goals? Delhi is unique in that it can adopt such a model, being the country’s capital and not having full statehood.
All would be well were it not for the fact that corruption has raised its ugly head, and the people are being asked to endorse its normalisation. Bringing AAP back to power would make the people complicit in the crimes, which have undoubtedly been committed. It must not be forgotten that Ravan had come in disguise to deceive Sita. This time it is the turn of the voters, who are facing the choice of crossing the Laxman Rekha at the exhortation of a self-declared Ram.
The people do have the choice, if they prefer the AAP model of governance, to consider the new CM for a longer stint. She has, after all, held thirteen portfolios even in Kejriwal’s Cabinet and much of the ‘progress’ in Delhi’s fortunes are attributed to her. She may do a good job in the time given to her. It would be easy then to ensure that she is ‘forced’ to remain in office because Kejriwal was not exonerated at the hustings. It is a possibility worth considering!
