Delhi Chief Minister Atishi is confident that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will return to power in the capital. In an interview, he talked about his efforts to bring governance back on track after Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest last year, his learnings in the last four months as a CM and the state government versus LG standoff. Edited excerpts:
Aam Aadmi Party has been in power for 10 years. Is he not facing anti-incumbency wave in Delhi?
Ten years is certainly a long time, but there is a very large section of people in the society whose lives have been fundamentally changed by the AAP government in Delhi.
To understand the popularity of Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party, you have to understand how deeply divided Delhi has always been. There are some parts of Delhi where there have always been good amenities, but this was not the case for people in unauthorized colonies and JJ clusters. Earlier the government budget was not spent on these areas.
DDA has completely failed. There is no planned housing, no low-cost housing available for migrants coming to Delhi. Since Delhi is the national capital and a metropolitan city, migration is natural and has increased in the last few decades. But there is neither any accommodation nor any plan. Therefore, many migrants live in JJ clusters or unauthorized colonies. There was neither proper supply of water, nor sewerage system nor roads. A large number of people in Delhi were living life in hell. Building these colonies, providing proper water supply, building roads and drains was the job of DDA, but in the last 10 years this work has been done by the Kejriwal government.
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A decade ago, a slum woman used to spend a large part of her day waiting for a water tanker. Now, water is coming from the pipeline at his doorstep. This is not something that she is going to forget in two years or five years or 10 years. Consider a lower middle class family that did not have the money to send all its children to private schools. He has seen change. There was a time when there used to be “tent wala schools” (schools in tents) in Delhi. Recently, I asked a Grade 8 student what school he went to, and he said, “The school with buildings,” and then he added, “All schools have buildings now.”
It is not a section of society; This is 75% of Delhi. Delhi gets 24×7 electricity. Everyone has friends and relatives in expensive apartments in Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad or Gurugram. Everyone knows that Delhi is the only state where you get 24×7 electricity. Even the life experience of people coming from the upper strata of the society is better now.
Another thing that makes AAP MLAs different from others is their availability and even the upper section of the society appreciates it.
Then why did you change so many sitting MLAs?
The biggest reason for some MLAs being replaced is that they did not make themselves available in their constituency, or had no grassroots connect. Overall, there is no anti-incumbency wave against the party. People appreciate our work. If there is any anti-incumbency, it is particularly against certain candidates.
You were a first-time MLA who was made the Chief Minister four months ago amid much turmoil. What challenges did you face?
The six months before these four were much more challenging. We all know that Arvind Kejriwal was arrested for stopping the work that the Delhi government was doing. It is true that work had come to a halt at that time and many things like road repair and maintenance and water supply were deeply affected at that time. In the last four months we have been successful in bringing governance back on track.
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For example, we repaired roads on a war footing… not 100%, because winter came and GREP (measures against pollution) were imposed. But in a month till Diwali, all 1,400 km of PWD roads across Delhi were repaired. The second problem in Delhi was that the pension was stopped for months but we were successful in getting it restarted. Water and sewage had also become a really big issue, but the situation has improved a lot in the last few months.
Ever since AAP was formed, we have seen tumultuous times, especially in the last two years when our leaders were being arrested one after the other. I became a minister in one of our most turbulent times, right after the arrest of (then Deputy CM) Manish Sisodia and during that time we knew that Kejriwal would also be arrested sooner or later.
My main learning has been that the feedback we get from the ground is the real litmus test of whether your governance is working or not. When you are sitting in the secretariat and reviewing, everything is fine. If you want to do good governance, you have to get out of your office, you have to talk to the people of Delhi, and you have to see how the work is progressing. This is the only way to find out whether the decisions you are taking while sitting in the CM office are actually reaching the ground or not.
Do you think that the arrest of top AAP leaders has made it difficult for the party to contest elections?
No election is ever easy because the amount of money and muscle power that BJP puts into any election is unbelievable. We will always have to fight it, and will also have to fight WhatsApp University through which they spread propaganda at a fast pace.
I think the way our leaders were arrested has aroused sympathy for us. People can see that Kejriwal and AAP are fighting for the people of Delhi, and they can also see that nothing has been found in the CBI and ED raids. No property documents or cash have been found with any AAP leader.
AAP, BJP and Congress have all announced welfare schemes one after the other. Is this election being fought on welfare schemes?
BJP can give whatever it wants, but the people of Delhi are not fools. BJP has governments in 20 states, so people will ask them questions – do they provide 24×7 electricity in any state? Are government schools performing better than private schools in any state? Are mohalla clinics providing 100% free treatment? The amazing thing about Delhi is that people come here from all parts of the country, so people do not have to put much effort into knowing the reality of BJP ruled states.
BJP claims that due to the conditions of the Supreme Court, Kejriwal cannot become CM even after Aam Aadmi Party wins the elections.
In the last 10 years, the Aam Aadmi Party has always run its government under some or the other condition imposed on itself. We came to power in Delhi in February 2015. In May 2015, the Home Ministry issued a notification illegally taking away all the powers of the Delhi government. We fought in court for eight years and were proved right. Within eight days, they got an ordinance which again took away all our powers. Despite all these conditions, AAP and Kejriwal have run a successful pro-people government. Therefore, imposing conditions is nothing new.
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Legally it is absolutely clear that anyone who can contest elections is eligible to become CM. So, its validity is quite clear.
In the last two years, especially, the standoff between the state government and the LG office has affected the city, services and people. How will the issues be resolved if AAP returns to power?
What we want is to work together. We never started any conflict. But the GNCTD Amendment Ordinance is a perfect example of this. SC declared that the elected government has the power. Why did the Center feel the need to take away the powers of the government by bringing an ordinance after eight days? So, we are not starting the conflict, it is the Center which is doing so. We are ready to work with the central government. As soon as I became the CM, I went and met the PM, and I have been going to meet the LG regularly. When Kejriwal was the CM, he regularly met the LG once a week. We would like to work together with the Centre.
Your rival in Kalkaji, BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri, has commented on your parents, your background and has made remarks against you. What impact did this have on your constituency?
People are very clear that they do not want this kind of politics. I believe that many people who are traditionally BJP voters will also vote against Ramesh Bidhuri because of the kind of derogatory, sexist language he is using. This is being discussed a lot in Kalkaji – in a meeting a woman asked others whether they would allow such a man into their house, everyone said no. The feeling is that if you can abuse the sitting Chief Minister like this, how will you behave with the ordinary women of the constituency? It doesn’t matter what BJP says, what matters is what people think. The people of this city are interested in our work. He is not interested in what BJP says about my parents.
What role will you play if Aam Aadmi Party comes to power?
First let us win the elections.
BJP calls you “temporary chief minister”. Does this reduce your authority?
BJP should first tell us whether it is possible in their party that an ordinary volunteer who joined in 2013, who comes from no political background or money or vote bank, can become CM in 2024? This cannot happen and this is their problem because when someone like me becomes the CM of Delhi, their leaders also question him.
