Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister, Delhi, flashing his penchant for agitprop made an announcement that he would go on hunger-strike if the sealing drive in the Capital did not stop by 31 March 2018.
Acting on the directions of the Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee, the Municipal Corporations have been sealing many commercial establishments for their failure to pay the land-use conversion charges and for other violations of the norms as set out in the Delhi Master Plan 2021.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) immediately trashed the announcement as “political drama” since the CM, instead of doing what he was capable of ~ sponsoring a bill for a moratorium on sealing in the Assembly and forwarding it to the Centre for approval ~ was merely trying to score political mileage.
With 20 seats possibly going for polls consequent on the disqualification of AAP MLAs for holding Offices of Profit and the upcoming General and Assembly Elections, the desperation and urgency of refurbishing frayed credentials for the party that disingenuously claims, “it does not know how to do politics”, is no surprise.
While the sealing drive qualified as a very serious issue worthy of a just resolution from a vote-bank perspective, for Kejriwal the utterly reprehensible assault on Anshu Prakash, a senior IAS officer and the Chief Secretary of his Government, around midnight of 19/20 February 2018, in his presence and with perhaps more than his tacit approval, by history-sheeter MLAs Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal, among others (the investigations by Delhi Police are in progress), was actually nothing but a “lie” peddled to discredit him and his colleagues.
In his first public statement after three weeks of studied silence on the incident ~ unprecedented in Independent India, it must be forcefully iterated ~ the Chief Minister twisted it around as part of a larger political conspiracy to facilitate imposition of President’s Rule, stretching all limits of credulity.
This was a crude and a rather stale echo of the spin provided by his party faithful. That it fell smack in the derided category of “fake news “about which there is a resounding contemporary buzz, did not faze him at all.
This stand of the Chief Minister has guaranteed an indelibly black spot in our highly mottled governance annals to the former civil servant-turned-neta, something which he had probably not bargained for and which he ought to rue sooner rather than later.
AAP was supposed to be a party with a difference, having emerged less than a decade ago from a robust people’s movement against corruption, demanding integrity, transparency and accountability from the political executive.
Though riding high on expectations, it was stymied early on by internal problems. The singular inability to function in the unique constitutional, legislative and administrative framework it was placed in ~ unlike the previous Delhi Governments ~ was a sure-shot recipe for it to come apart.
Constantly at loggerheads with civil servants who were unfairly tarnished as stooges of the Central Government, petulantly playing the victim card, trying to pitch its supremo as a match for the Prime Minister and a naïve, overweening ambition for a pan-Indian footprint did not help.
That it is trussed up where it is today, with civil servants demanding an apology from the Chief Minister and non-negotiables of dignity, safety and security in their work environment, is stark testimony of how wrong things have gone.
Both fortunately and unfortunately, the easy option of turning the page and hurtling into the next crisis is not on the table. Those seven minutes ~ reminiscent of a yesteryear’s bestseller of a different genre ~ of the fateful midnight hour will continue to reverberate in the national capital.
Quick as lightning, they brought together, in solidarity and support, associations of the IAS and other Central Services across the country. Most significantly, various associations of officers and employees of the Government of Delhi coalesced in a Joint Forum and resolved to resist and not cave in.
Without compromising on performance parameters of public service, they drew up a unique charter of dos and don’ts to guide their functioning, going forward.
This first-of-its-kind “governance- battle”, still unravelling, will be riveting to observe and analyse especially in the context of the upcoming Budget session of the State Assembly scheduled for mid-March.
Following the text book divide-and-rule strategy, the Chief Minister may have made a temporary dent in the ranks by getting a splinter group, the Joint Council of All Employees Organisations, Delhi, to hyperventilate on how hollow the talk on dignity by IAS officers was and how they never stood up for causes that affected the lower rungs of administration.
However, neither the touted victory nor the faux “pain” expressed at the protests will take away the humiliation and adverse working conditions which seem to have become a pattern in the last three years of Kejriwal’s helmsmanship.
The AGMUT cadre has passed five resolutions during the period against physical and mental harassment. This is a disquieting record in the country, one that can only be a cause of grave concern to the public.
Union Ministers of Home and Personnel and the Cabinet Secretary have been empathetic. The Lt. Governor, Sessions Court and Delhi High Court have also been upfront about the mega trust deficit between the Government, the Delhi Legislative Assembly, where AAP has a brute majority, and the civil servants.
However, the problem transcends trust issues and is far into the danger zone of potential dysfunctionality. It is unrealistic to expect bespoke, instant quick-fixes though the damaging situation is screaming out for them. Nonetheless, a beginning can and must be made.
For far too long has the diseased state of affairs been allowed to play havoc. Abdication of responsibility by civil servants in the sordid saga beyond this point is untenable. It is effectively a #WETOO moment for governance, like the #METOO of Hollywood fame and ought to be seized.
Change that is desired must be skillfully and deftly piloted from within. It may be initiated through a wide-ranging debate on amending Conduct Rules of different Services and staff, as also sections 120(B), 332 and 353 of the Indian Penal Code, along with other relevant laws, to specifically enable calling out the political executive who believe they can get away with crass intimidation, abuse and assault under the often questionable pretext of rendering Jan seva.
A Model Code of Conduct for the tenure in office and a mint new Regulatory Authority ~ the Third Eye of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ~ may be put in place. Those found on the wrong side of the Code must pay the penalty, quit and be debarred from holding office for a specified period.
On the next Civil Services’ Day in April, there should be a parallel session by Central Associations with Awards for civil servants who dared to stand up and forged ahead to inspire colleagues and the public, instead of being mauled and crushed by power-intoxicated politicos.
AAP has unwittingly provided a lever for reimagination and chiseling governance overhaul. Let it not be cast away unwittingly into the filthy sewer of the Yamuna.
The writer is a retired IAS officer and comments on governance