Opinion No, you can’t

The AAP, though, has never come across an obstruction that it could not paint as a confrontation between itself and the Corrupt Establishment. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written a letter to the LG in which he suggests that the building face-off over the Jan Lokpal Bill between the Delhi government and the letter of the law is on account of corrupt forces banding together to oppose the AAP, which is alone in resisting the corruption and criminalisation of politics. More specifically, he claims that “it is not written anywhere in the Constitution” that the bill needs sanction from the Centre, and that a Union home ministry directive was being passed off as a constitutional requirement. He argues that this directive itself is unconstitutional. Casting the matter also as an assault on Delhi state’s autonomy, he asks, “if all bills need the Centre’s permission, why bother having an election?” Kejriwal misrepresents the points of contention. The demand of more autonomy for Delhi merits a separate, more sober discussion. As far as the Jan Lokpal Bill is concerned, however, it is not the will or whim of a Congress-run home ministry, but the law, enacted within a constitutional framework, that stands in his way. The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 clearly mandates that the LG’s permission is required in such cases.

The AAP has often conveyed a disregard for rules, suggesting that they are empty protocols that exist to serve a corrupt system. All too often, it has ended up showing a dangerous contempt for the rule of law itself, treating warrants as mere niceties, trying to arm organised crowds with sweeping powers over local government bodies. This time, the jan lokpal has simply hit a wall — the law of the land. The AAP would do well to back off.