new delhi: A bill that seeks to make it clear that the "government" in Delhi means the "Lieutenant Governor" was passed through a voice vote by Lok Sabha on Monday amidst strong opposition from the Aam Aadmi Party — which is running the Delhi government — and the Congress, both of whom said the legislation is "unconstitutional".
As the House took up the Bill for discussions, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said it had become necessary as there "has been ambiguity in certain issues related to the functioning of the Delhi government and several cases were also filed in courts", adding that this legislation was aimed at bringing more transparency.
According to the bill, the "government" in Delhi means the "Lieutenant Governor" and it also makes it mandatory for the Delhi government to take the opinion of the L-G before any executive action. "Please do not say that it is a political bill," he said.
Reddy also stressed that by bringing the bill "there has been no murder of democracy".
The Union Minister's remarks defending the Bill came after both the Congress and the AAP publicly alleged that the BjP was trying to find a backdoor to govern the Capital by affording far-reaching executive authority to the L-G's office.
Reddy said the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) is an administrator so he has the right to know the day-to-day affairs. "We have not snatched any power from the Delhi government nor we have given any additional power to the L-G," he said.
But after the Bill was passed by the Lower House, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, "The passage of the GNCTD (Amendment) Bill in Lok Sabha today is an insult to the people of Delhi. The Bill effectively takes away powers from those who were voted by people and gives powers to run Delhi to those who were defeated. BJP has cheated the people."
The MoS Home also took a subtle shot at AAP, saying the Centre had resolved all issues with the Delhi government through discussions since 1996 but problems have started appearing since 2015.
During the discussions on the Bill, AAP member Bhagwant Mann alleged that the central government is a "specialist in abusing" the rights of states and wants to rule Delhi through "soul of Viceroy".
While vehemently opposing the bill, Mann, AAP's only Lok Sabha member, wondered whether the Centre wants to turn the national capital into a Union Territory like Jammu and Kashmir where there is an assembly, but it is non-functional since election has not been held ever since it was made a UT. He said when the chief minister of Delhi cannot take any decision, then what is the point in conducting assembly polls.
Significantly, when the Centre downgraded Jammu and Kashmir to a UT in 2019, CM Kejriwal had tweeted his support for the move in favour of peace in the region.
Congress MP Manish Tewari said the bill is "unconstitutional" and it takes away certain rights of the city government which were given under a constitutional amendment, a charge rejected by the BJP.
BJP member Meenakashi Lekhi maintained that the Constitution is not federal but quasi-federal in nature where the Centre's say cannot be
ignored.