Labelling the Centre’s ordinance on control of services as “a brazen power grab”, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said it “won’t stand” in the Supreme Court while asserting that a united opposition will defeat it in Rajya Sabha.
Addressing a press conference here following his meeting with CPI General Secretary D Raja, he alleged that the central government has “practically taken over the entire Delhi government”.
Extending support to the AAP, Raja said CPI has been demanding complete statehood for Delhi as well as Puducherry.
“What the Union Government has done with regard to the Delhi government is atrocious, and it violates all principles of federal governance in our country. It is in a way undermining the fundamentals of our Constitution. We oppose the ordinance with all might we have at our command. Whenever it comes in Parliament our party will oppose the ordinance,” Raja said.
According to the AAP government, after JD(U), RJD, TMC, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP, BRS, DMK, SP, JMM and CPI(M), the CPI has extended its support to Kejriwal’s campaign against the Centre’s “draconian anti-Delhi ordinance”.
Kejriwal has been meeting opposition leaders to ensure that the related bill is not passed in the Rajya Sabha.
The chief minister termed the ordinance a “brazen power grab that has wreaked havoc in Delhi”.
The ordinance not only reverses the Constitution Bench judgment of the Supreme Court but goes much beyond that, he claimed.
“If we were to sum up this ordinance in one line, it would be, ‘from now on, Arvind Kejriwal will no longer be the CM of Delhi; the new CM of Delhi will be Narendra Modi and he shall take all decisions regarding Delhi government’,” he said. Kejriwal said the ordinance is “very dangerous for the whole country and not just Delhi”.
“The more one reads into it, the more fatal outcomes of its provisions come out,” he said.
He talked about how the “BJP has faced crushing defeats in Delhi three times in a row, resulting in the party trying to “stifle the governance system through the backdoor”.
Kejriwal thanked all the opposition parties who have extended support to his campaign against the ordinance. He expressed hope that the ordinance “will not stand” in the Supreme Court and the Rajya Sabha and the people of Delhi will get justice very soon. Reiterating his views, he said the ordinance can be replicated by the Centre in any other state.
“Tomorrow it might be Rajasthan, the day after, it might be Punjab, Tamil Nadu or Kerala. The Centre can easily use it to steal authority over all the subjects in the concurrent list,” he said. The AAP national convener also cautioned all non-BJP state governments to not be under any misconception that this step would not be taken against them.
“Delhi is only their (BJP’s) pilot test. If this ordinance is not defeated at the stage of Delhi itself, then it will be replicated in every state where a non-BJP government is elected.
“All 140 crore citizens of this country, all political parties must forget their differences and oppose this draconian ordinance,” he said.
The CM elaborated on one of the provisions in the ordinance that empowers the central government to control the appointments of chairpersons and members of various commissions, boards, corporations, and statutory authorities in the Delhi government. The democratic rights of the people of Delhi are being trampled upon, he alleged, adding that people of Delhi deserve to have the right to empower their elected leaders to govern the state without any interference from the Centre. The CM said through these bodies, the central government will effectively run all sectors of Delhi even though they fall under the jurisdiction of the state government.
“For instance, transport sector in Delhi is run by the Delhi Transport Corporation, water sector is run by the Delhi Jal Board, industry sector is administered by the Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation, tourism sector by the Delhi Transport and Tourism Development Corporation, women safety is overseen by the Delhi Women Commission, Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights protects child rights,” he said.