Delhi Aam Aadmi wins confidence vote: CM Kejriwal promises corruption-free government

-DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL 

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The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government today won the trust vote in the Delhi Assembly, with 38 votes (2 votes more than the required half way mark)  being cast in the government's favor.

After fulfilling its two main electoral promises on water and electricity bill, the Aam Aadmi Party government faced a crucial test in the assembly on 02 December when it must prove it has the support of the majority in the 70-member house. With Congress, which has eight MLAs, maintaining it would provide "outside support" to the government, and JD(U) MLA Shoaib Iqbal also declaring his support, AAP was expected to easily sail through comfortably with its 28 MLAs.

Addressing the Delhi Assembly before seeking the trust vote, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made it clear that his intention was to work for the common people and the motion of confidence if passed favorably will help the ordinary citizen living in the national capital. AAP believes that all people who need an honest system are common man no matter wherever they stay -- Greater Kailash or Sangan Vihar.  “I haven't stood here to save the government or make a government. I never thought that I will form a political party and fight elections. I am just a common man with no standing”.

A common man in India wants that his children get good education, safety for his family and a good judiciary. Crores and crores have been spent for development but where is the development and where is the money? A common man wants to know that. The quality of education is really bad in the government schools in Delhi. The system of donation in the private schools must stop and the number of government schools must be increased.

The country's common man just wanted that the corrupt should face the law and go behind bars. But the political leaders by dint of muscle and money power challenged and forced the common man to get themselves elected and make their own law. “Our fight is to end corruption and we are here today. Our fight looked impossible and victory was a distant dream. For us 28 in the Delhi assembly, God in whatever form he is, is with us. Today's question is who are the members who are with the aam aadmi. "Is a common man's time not valuable like a minister's? I have waited in red signals and lost no time in the last five-six days”.

Why a political leader does need security? The day God decides that you should not get any more security, no amount of bodyguards will be able to save you. Delhi has a Lokayukta law. But that is very weak. We need to have a stronger one. What is the point in laying and relaying footpaths? There is no dearth of money in India, in Delhi. People should rather have streetlights for the safety of women.

Delhi should be a full-fledged state and I believe the Congress and BJP also have it in their manifesto.

There are complaints that the electric meters run really fast. This should be checked into. There should also be an audit of the distribution firms and we all must sit together and fix the power tariff. "We need to look into unauthorised colonies as these are devoid of basic facilities. These facilities should be given until a permanent solution is found. Same stands for illegal shanties. "The contractors are also a tormented lot as their PFs are cut but not deposited into their accounts. This must stop. We oppose FDI in retail. 99 percent of the business people are honest and they are ready to pay tax. Why should the government keep chasing them always and not allow them to commit themselves into their business? "

 "There should be a special team for the safety of women. Our legal system should be such that the perpetrators who commit crimes against women are behind bars within six months.

After winning the confidence vote, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, in his trademark style, congratulated Delhi's common man. "It is not our victory. It is your victory. This is the victory of honesty and truth," he said. He then went on to renew his oath-taking pitch, saying that there is a big challenge ahead - a challenge that the government with its seven ministers alone, or 70 MLAs in the Parliament can't face. "It is a challenge that we have to undertake together. We have to make sure that there is no corruption in the city. I assure you that be it the MCD, be it the former Delhi government, be it our government, no minister guilty of corruption will be spared."

Inclusive society

"We are not here to make or save this government," he said before winning a trust vote. "This is about a war against corruption."  It was Kejriwal's uncompromising emphasis on expunging graft and what he describes as "VIP culture" from politics that enabled his less than one-year-old Aam Aadmi Party or AAP to land an improbable second place in last month's election.

AAP MLAs had gone and met several pavement dwellers and heard their woes. "These people have nothing. They are not even vote banks - they don't have the right to vote, denied basics of life. . So, we announced porta cabins for them. Immediately after, some NGOs, rotary clubs called up and said that they wanted to pay for the setting up of some porta cabins. This is how we want to include the society for its own good," said Kejriwal.

In his speech in the Delhi Assembly yesterday, Arvind Kejriwal, the 45-year-old chief minister of Delhi, deftly displayed the political vocabulary that powered his outsized victory in the recent elections. 

Now on

The Congress is no longer the BJP’s biggest problem, Arvind Kejriwal is. Narendra Modi should now start seriously worrying about Arvind Kejriwal. For the past few months, Modi has been raging against the Congress and its leaders.: The Congress is dead for now. Modi’s mission has been accomplished. He needs to stop, think and take note of the new challenge. The Aam Aadmi Party’s success in Delhi and the public reaction to it has established Kejriwal as the new hope of India, the spot Modi was occupying just a few weeks ago.

Politics of anger has given way now to politics of hope. After the Delhi elections, it has become clear to voters that the Congress is no longer the force it was. Its demise is certain. So, people have already started looking beyond the Congress now. 

But the right wing BJP has become another Congress, corrupt party. In fact, BJP is more dangerous than Congress. Very dangerous for the country! Imagine the combo of Nitin Gadkari, Amit Shah, Yeddyrappa and Modi ruling with the blessings of ASSaram Bapu..which of our women folk will be safe!  Congress is corrupt (a bit communal because RSS elements have infiltrated the party) but BJP is both corrupt and communal.

Modi’s other problem is that he is unacceptable to a significant portion of the electorate. There are people who would never vote for Modi even if he gets clean chits from every possible court or expresses his anguish over 2002 in a million words. Kejriwal, on the other hand, has no such problem. Unlike Modi, he is not seen as a divisive leader and doesn’t evoke strong likes and dislikes

Kejriwal said  AAP leaders are here not here for power but to serve the masses who were deprived of  their dignity in the country.  

Kejriwal has a lot going for him. He is not just a politician or a chief minister any more. Kejriwal has attained the status of the moral and intellectual leader of a huge section of India. Modi may be a mass leader, a proven administrator, a master tactician and a great orator, but when it comes to being the country’s guiding light, he can’t compete with Kejriwal. The problem with Modi is that he can’t be Kejriwal. Kejriwal. . Kejriwal’s past record is now his biggest strength. Notice the irony: Kejriwal is getting ready to live up to his legend.

Kejriwal is now setting the agenda with his ideals, ideas, promises and symbolism. Others are just playing catch-up. The focus has suddenly shifted from Modi. People are now watching Kejriwal with great curiosity and expectations.

Of course, having lost their faces in Delhi, both the BJP and the Congress are hoping that Kejriwal would fail and AAP would fall,. After some  “fun”.  But he is going to succeed. If Kejriwal delivers on some of his promises and creates a difference, he would suddenly emerge as competition for Modi and his biggest poll planks: Development and good governance.

If and when the AAP decides to expand outside Delhi, the BJP will have to face a new heavy headache. In most of the north Indian states, Kejriwal’s party can emerge as an alternative to the Congress, throwing it out even before the election. When that happens, the contest would be between the BJP and the AAP, a scenario Modi may have not considered yet while focusing all his energy on the Congress. A large section of voters rooting for Modi is from among people who are angry with the Congress. Till recently they had no choice but to vote for the BJP to defeat the Congress.

But now Aam Aadmi Party has come to the fore to  represent  common men.

BJP MLAs objected to the use of AAP caps, however the secretariat pointed out the caps were harmless and merely said "mein aam admi hoon"( I am also a common man). Most senior officers were in no mood to go against the party that has seized the imagination of the common man for now.

After the confidence vote , AAP will now face a tougher task when the House elects a new speaker and deputy speaker. While AAP has chosen MS Dhir as its candidate for the speaker's post, the BJP appears all set to field its candidate. Congress has not yet decided its stand on the matter, adding to the uncertainty.

However, as Congress leaders remained huddled over countering AAP's claims on fulfilling its major poll promises quickly enough, their support is likely to come with some stinging rhetoric.

Meanwhile,  obviously unable to stand the growing popularity of the Common-man’s party (AAP), a public interest litigation was filed in the Delhi High Court on 02^nd December soon after the AAP government won the confidence vote in the Assembly, seeking directions to the CBI to register a case of cheating and corruption against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for misleading citizens by making "false promises in election manifesto". The PIL  alleged that they misled Delhi citizens by making false promises in the AAP election manifesto in their bid to enjoy power and benefits. It also questioned the AAP government's statement on reducing electricity charge by 50 percent from Jan 1.

It said the AAP government failed to set up the Jan Lokpal by Dec 29 as promised in the poll manifesto. The plea said the court needs to decide the issue of false declaration by "misusing chief minister's office for political gain amounted to corruption". The PIL asked the court to decide as to whether making false declarations in the election manifesto to secure votes of the public amounted to cheating and criminal breach of trust.

 Social crusader Anna Hazare congratulated Arvind Kejriwal on being sworn in as the chief minister of Delhi. Hazare said, "We have worked together for several years and I know him well. I am confident that he will do a good job as the chief minister."  He also asked Kejriwal to pass on his best wishes to all the ministers in his cabinet.  Kejriwal, who was a key member of Hazare's erstwhile Team Anna, had telephoned the Gandhian on Friday morning to invite him to his swearing-in ceremony. An official invitation was also e mailed to Hazare. Hazare is unwell. 

Future

December 02 is a big day for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal proved the majority of his government today in the Delhi Assembly. His party is surging ahead in implementing  all poll promises, one by one.

Right now, outside the national capital, Kejriwal and his team do not even have a presence. They have very little time to start and build up a team before May. In Delhi, the AAP got almost a year to become a viable option. It has just three months to register its presence in the other states. But it isn’t impossible either.

If the AAP can do it in Delhi, replicating the story in other parts of India would not be impossible. If his government and its populist agenda succeed in Delhi, if Kejriwal implements some of his promises, if he retains his position on the podium of morality, ethics and honesty and if his party manages to mount a challenge outside Delhi, Kejriwal would become difficult to stop.

AAP would become a strong national party with regional bases.

The Aam Aadmi Party emerged with flying colors in the Delhi elections with 28 seats, sweeping out the Congress and even Sheila Dikshit from the opposition benches. While the exit polls had said that AAP won't get majority votes, none of the exit poll of polls had really given so many seats to AAP.

All these years after the India obtained independence in 1947, Indian politicians have been helping themselves and their friends and families in the name of serving the nation.

The AAP has shown that if there is a will, strong enough, it is easy to help the common people, removing their miseries one by one. 

Sadly, owing to  dirty politics of major national parties, politics has been corpotarised in India today and Indian  capital Delhi displayed demoralized corruption and money power all these years.  .

Till the Delhi polls, the AAP was just a subject of curiosity. Except for those who voted for it, nobody believed it could form the government in Delhi. Now that it has happened, people have suspended their disbelief. They now believe that if Delhi can, India can too.

The AAP's next most important agenda will be to pass the Janlokpal Bill for Delhi. 

Unfortunately a few news portals are not happy that their favorite parties like Congress and BJP have los power in Delhi what looks like on a permanent basis.

Some of them used to send me links until recent about their headlines but now after AAP assumed power, they seem to have stopped the “link” forever since I don’t use the news material  in their favor.