Amid the ongoing tussle between Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and the Delhi government over several issues including governance, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on Friday, alleged that the Lieutenant Governor was interfering in the day-to-day affairs of the city government.
Hours after Saxena wrote to Kejriwal over several issues, including his demand to discuss sending teachers to Finland for training, the chief minister in a letter to the Lieutenant Governor said, “Constitution has given you three responsibilities – Delhi’s law and order, Delhi Police and DDA. Today, Delhi’s law and order is in the worst condition in the whole country.”
Elaborating his argument, the CM wrote in the letter, “When the world calls Delhi ‘the rape capital’, every Delhiite hangs his head in shame. Crime is continuously increasing in the city. It has become difficult for any woman to get out of the house. Delhi Commission for Women Chairperson Swati Maliwal ji has just been attacked. If the Chairperson of the Women’s Commission is not safe, then what to talk about a common woman?”
The letter pointed out that “the people of Delhi have not seen you doing anything for the law and order of the city till date. The people of Delhi have only seen you interfering in the day-to-day affairs of their elected government. There is a lot of anger among the people on why do you put obstacles in the works of the people every day. If the people of Delhi want to send their teachers abroad for training then why do you stop it? When you stop people’s work every day, then people ask “who is LG Sahib to stop our work?”
“The constitution has given you the task of fixing the law and order situation in Delhi. The constitution has given us the rest of the work, let us do our work. Even if you don’t like our work, you have no right to disturb our work as we don’t disturb your work,” Kejriwal replied to the LG.
The CM, in a letter, also proposed to the LG to meet on Saturday or give a time as per his convenience.
“I received your letter. You have written that a few days ago when all of us MLAs had come to meet you, and you could not meet as we came suddenly without informing you. If the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, entire cabinet and all MLAs of Delhi were standing at your door, then it is obvious that they had come with a big problem for the state. If you would have wanted, you could have come out and met us even for five minutes. The people of Delhi felt insulted that the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi refused to meet the representatives of two crore people,” CM Kejriwal has said in the letter to LG.
The letter reads further, “In your letter, you have now invited all of us ministers and legislators for dinner for talks, thank you very much for this. If it is convenient for you, we will come to your house on Saturday 21st January at 1 PM. If this time is not convenient for you, then tell us the time as per your convenience, we will come to meet you.”
Underlining the LG’s comments about Delhi’s education system, Kejriwal said, “No system is perfect. Tremendous improvements have taken place in the education system as compared to earlier. But much remains to be done. If the Central government and all the LGs had not obstructed the work of the people of Delhi in the past years, much would have been achieved by now.
“On one hand, LG Sahib stops the salaries of Mohalla Clinics, payments for lab tests, rent and electricity bills of all clinics, and then says that Mohalla Clinics are not doing well? On the one hand, LG Sahib orders the officers to stop all the funds of the Delhi Jal Board and then says that the people of Delhi are not getting water? Sir, this type of politics is not good. The Lieutenant Governor should avoid such politics,” reads the letter.
Days after Kejriwal criticised Saxena in the state Assembly over his alleged “interference in the government’s functioning”, asking “Who is LG” and “where did he come from”, the Lt Governor in a letter asked the CM to refer to the Constitution for the answer.
The Delhi LG also reacted to the CM’s allegation that he refused to meet him while protesting outside the Raj Niwas over the issues of sending teachers to Finland for training. “I came to know through media reports that on Monday, you left the Assembly and were protesting with others outside Raj Niwas, demanding to meet me. Thereafter, I invited you and the Dy. Chief Minister to come and see me. I would have, indeed, loved to have you over and served you lunch as well. However, you chose not to come on the pretext of wanting to meet me with all of your MLAs. You would appreciate that, given the short notice and sudden demand on your part, it would not have been possible to at once have a meeting with 70-80 people, nor would have it served any concrete purpose. Unfortunately, you went ahead to make a convenient political posture that, the LG refused to meet me”, said LG in the letter.
Criticising him for staging a protest instead of finding a solution to the issues, the LG said, “I must mention here that I was rather astounded at the fact that even as the city is grappling with several serious developmental issues, you found time to walk for long and stage a protest meant solely for posturing, rather than taking the issue to a logical conclusion by meeting me”.
“As a resident of Delhi for the past 07 years and its Lt. Governor for the past about 07 months, I deem it proper to bring to your attention certain issues pertaining to the above mentioned sectors in the National Capital, so as to help you comprehend the issues at hand in totality and deal with them in a real and comprehensive manner. In doing so, I am not acting as a “Head Master”, as you have been sarcastically referring to me, but as a benign yet conscientious voice of the people that derives its sanctity from the ethical and moral moorings of the Constitution of India”, hit back Saxena on the CM’s remark of “behaving like a class teacher”.
Talking about teachers sending to Finland, Delhi LG has said, “I would also like to dwell upon the issue of sending 52 Primary In-charges, 03 Teacher Educators from SCERT, 01 Vice Principal, 02 Deputy Directors of Education, Director (SCERT) and Secretary (Education) to Finland in two batches of 05 days each”.
“Irrespective of whether a 05 day trip to Finland, will serve any purpose of substantive training to the visitors or would serve as an event to be played up in the media, I did not reject the proposal thereof. I raised a few queries with respect to the impact assessment and cost benefit analysis of such visits which have been going on for past few years, and asked the department, whether such training could be obtained in a more cost effective manner in our own Institutions of Excellence, like the IIMs, reads the letter.