‘L-G is not our headmaster’
New Delhi: L-G VK Saxena should not “behave like a headmaster” checking students’ homework, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday as AAP MLAs led by him marched to the lieutenant governor’s office here against alleged interferences in the elected government’s functioning.
The remark came on a day the ruling party MLAs staged the march from the Delhi assembly, claiming that the city government’s proposal to send school teachers to Finland for training was rejected by Saxena, a charge refuted by the L-G’s office.
Delhi will not tolerate “dictatorship”, Kejriwal further said in the latest flashpoint between the Lt Governor’s office and his government.
The chief minister later also claimed that his government would send the teachers for the training at any cost.
The first day of the Delhi Assembly session was adjourned for the entire day as AAP MLAs repeatedly entered the Well of the House, raising slogans against the LG.
Holding placards saying “L-G sahab, let teachers go to Finland” in Hindi and raising slogans against Saxena, Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and AAP legislators reached near the Lt Governor Secretariat to meet with him after the house was adjourned.
They walked around three kilometres from the Delhi Assembly towards the L-G Secretariat but were stopped by the police a few metres away from the Raj Niwas.
For nearly an hour, Kejriwal, Sisodia and the MLAs stood on the road, demanding a meeting with the lieutenant governor.
The LG’s office asked Kejriwal and Sisodia to meet with Saxena, but the chief minister turned down the offer, saying all AAP MLAs should be allowed to attend as well.
“It is unfortunate that the L-G has denied meeting the chief minister, deputy chief minister, ministers and the MLAs. We are very small people, but we represent two crore people of Delhi. In a way, the L-G has dishonoured the people of Delhi,” Kejriwal told reporters.
The opposition BJP said the behaviour of Kejriwal and his MLAs was one of “ultimate anarchists”.
“The behaviour of Kejriwal and his MLAs inside the assembly and outside the LG’s office clearly shows they are ultimate anarchists with no respect for the constitutional post or a democratic body like the assembly House,” Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said.
Later in a statement, the L-G’s office said that the proposal for sending teachers to Finland for training has not been rejected, rather it has advised the government to evaluate it
in totality.
Kejriwal, however, claimed that the proposal was rejected twice by the LG, and said Saxena should not behave like a headmaster.
“We are not children nor is he (L-G) our headmaster to check our homework, who has to say yes or no to our proposal. He should not behave like a headmaster.
“The L-G has rejected the Delhi government’s proposal twice. If he says that the proposal was not rejected, then he should give it in writing,” the chief minister said while waiting on the read near the Raj Niwas.
Kejriwal asserted that the people of Delhi would not tolerate dictatorship. The national capital will run through democracy and the L-G will have to obey the Constitution and the orders of the Supreme Court, he added.
