Centre gets control of Delhi via L-G as Parliament stamps its approval to Bill

The Opposition INDIA alliance had marshalled all its resources – it even brought former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a wheelchair to the House and ensured that the ailing Shibu Soren was present for voting. But it could not prevent passage of the Bill.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh attends proceedings in the Rajya Sabha during the Monsoon session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. (PTI Photo)

Wrapping up a debate that stretched over eight hours with bitter and acrimonious exchanges between the Opposition and the Treasury benches, Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a scathing attack on the Opposition, asserting that the Bill does not violate the judgement of the Supreme Court in any way.

The Bill replaced the ordinance that was promulgated after the Supreme Court ruled that the elected government had control over services in Delhi. The AAP government challenged the constitutional validity of the ordinance and the Supreme Court referred its plea to a Constitution Bench.

Coming down heavily on the Congress and AAP – P Chidambaram and Abhishek Manu Singhvi led the Congress offensive while the AAP fielded Raghav Chadha – Shah said, “We have not brought this Bill to protect the membership of a Prime Minister… We have not changed the Constitution to impose Emergency… The Congress has no right to speak on democracy. More than 3 lakh political workers were put in jail (during Emergency)… There was censorship on all newspapers… The Indian Express had to keep its editorial blank…. and they (Congress) are talking about democracy.” He said the Delhi government had created roadblocks in the development of the NCT. Clearances for various projects were not given, he said, adding that roadblocks had also been created in the rollout of 5G technology in Delhi.

Defending the Bill, Shah said the Opposition had said that officers have been given the power to draft Cabinet notes. “I have been in two governments. It is the officers who send the Cabinet note… I have not signed a single Cabinet note so far… I have signed files,” he said.

He said provisions in the Bill were part of the Transaction of Business of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Rules, 1993 which had been put in place by the Congress.

“We have incorporated those into the Bill. We have not brought anything new. Rules have been made part of the Bill… because there is a government in Delhi which does not follow rules,” he said.

The Centre, he said, was forced to bring in an ordinance as the AAP government had started transferring officers and directed Joint Director-level officers to report to the Minister directly.

“And why was only the vigilance department targeted? Why not the transport department, Jal Board, the road and building department, or the social welfare department? This is because the vigilance department has the files of the excise policy cases and liquor scam,” he said.

Referring to Chidambaram, Shah said the former Home Minister had questioned the urgency behind the promulgation of the ordinance. He said Chidambaram perhaps does not know that preventing the hiding of documents at midnight was the reason.

He said the vigilance department was probing the liquor scam, papers related to illegal construction of a “Sheesh Mahal” for the Chief Minister, documents related to use of Delhi government money for publicity of the AAP, matters relating to the Feedback Unit set up by the Delhi government.

“That is why those files were removed at midnight and that is why the Delhi Police got a complaint… They wanted to get rid of the files related to spending six times more than the officially allocated amount on the Sheesh Mahal… That was the urgency… That is why the ordinance. What is unconstitutional about this?” Shah said.

His reference to the Chief Minister’s residence as Sheesh Mahal created a furore but he stood his ground. He said the charge that the Centre may move to snatch the rights of states was misplaced and argued that the case of Delhi, which is Union Territory, was different. He said rules regarding transfers and postings were always there but no government before 2015 fought with the Centre.

“Because everyone wanted to develop Delhi… They didn’t want to grab powers… No Chief Minister had a problem… But a government, which was born out of an agitation, came to power in 2015 and the problems began. It is said that the Centre wants to grab powers…There is no need for us to grab powers… we have been blessed with it by 130 crore people of the country… In many states, the BJP is in power… We have brought this amendment to prevent encroachment of power,” he said.

Launching a political attack, Shah asked how could the Congress now support the AAP. “But they will support. Because they have to save the alliance. The AAP was born opposing the Congress. They used to give 3 tonnes of abuse to the Congress government… They came to power attacking you… I want to tell you (Mallikarjun) Khargeji… The moment the Bill is passed… Kejriwal palat jayenge… thenga dikhayenge… Nothing will happen. We are not their target. Their target is the Congress party.”

“The TMC and the Communist now share a stage… Where are the principles? The TMC was born opposing the Communists… The Congress and the Communists in Kerala fight against each other under the banner of UDF and LDF… they are hell-bent on taking each other’s lives (ek doosre ki jaan lene pa aamada hai) and here they are saying ILU, ILU. Nitish Kumar’s politics revolved around opposing Lalu and the fodder scam… and now they are together… They have all come together because they know they won’t be able to do anything alone… But I want to tell them… add 5 or 10 more parties, nothing will happen… In 2024, Narendra Modi will become Prime Minister again,” he said.