Elected Emperor

WE DON’T APPRECIATE enough that Arvind Kejriwal settled for toilet seats costing only ₹12 lakh a piece, complete with all fancy fittings and voice controls for his Sheesh Mahal. He could well have gone in for silver or gold sanitaryware, a la the West Asian oil potentates who loll in the lap of uber luxury. After all, elected emperors, too, are accountable to none. And he had the keys to the Delhi treasury with no one empowered to question him how he spent the manna.

And as for Lieutenant Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena, hadn’t our good and upright chief minister already defanged him? Saxena could cavil no more since the ₹50-odd crore lavished on Sheesh Mahal was split into multiple bills, all slightly under ₹10 crore, to get round the pre-existing expenditure limit over which the chief minister was obliged to seek the lieutenant governor’s nod.

Indeed, the Central government had neither done away with that niggardly ceiling nor raised it from ₹10 crore to at least ₹100 crore. After all, with the depreciation of the rupee wreaked by the non-performing Congress and BJP governments, the ₹10-crore ceiling was now an affront to the popularly elected Delhi chief minister. ₹10 crore wouldn’t even buy a small part of the land for Sheesh Mahal, though fortunately, in this case, land was cost-free.

Because BJP was such a bad loser, and it fears the honest and performing Delhi government would soon catapult the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) into power at the Centre and in all the states in the Union, it daily picks fights with the AAP supremo and his underlings. And in AAP, there is only one leader, the one and only Kejriwal, all others being minions. For instance, take the fuss over the modest expenditure on Sheesh Mahal. Where was the need for the PWD to list the fittings and fixtures, even if such inventorying was the standard practice? That drill may have been in place for decades, but hadn’t these duds realised a messiah had come to clean up the Augean stables of Indian politics? And the only thing he insists on for delivering the long-suffering people from the misrule and misery of the old and tired fogies of Congress and BJP was a free hand unfettered by interference from anyone.

Why can’t they get it that Kejriwal knows what is best for the people? How dare they question the messiah of new politics? Hasn’t he delivered? Paris-like roads, pollution-free Delhi, 24×7 potable and plentiful drinking water, a super-clean Yamuna, excellent healthcare at the doorstep, tens of thousands of budding Einsteins in government schools, etc. And yes, free bijli and paani to the aam aadmi.

Now, you will appreciate that such excellent governance—by the way, AAP was so thoughtful that for the tipplers it had even arranged one bottle free on purchase of every bottle of whisky until the BJP killjoys spoiled the fun—does not come cheap. Therefore, if there is a shortfall in the Delhi budget of ₹7,000 crore or thereabouts for the first time in three decades, AAP needs to be commended that it spent so much in the service of the good people of the national capital. Why, the salary and perks of MLAs, and recently, of members of the Delhi Municipal Corporation, were quadrupled. As Manmohan Singh said, money does not grow on trees, or does it?

The Sheesh Mahal messiah needs more funds to pay hundreds of ad hoc teachers whose salaries are held up, or private bus operators who supplement the perennially bankrupt DTC fleet, or scores of consultants and advisers put on rolls at fancy packages without the cumbersome selection process. Even the AAP volunteers who stand on road crossings displaying “red light on, engine off” need to be compensated. Otherwise, they wouldn’t work for AAP’s success in the coming Assembly polls, would they?

Let us face it. So long as the AAP supremo does not get the keys to the national treasury, he expects the Centre to replenish the empty coffers of the AAP government, though AAP is grateful for the Centre’s amnesia over the Delhi Jal Board’s ₹80,000-crore debt.

Meanwhile, the talk of missing TOTO toilet seats has echoes of Akhilesh Yadav’s tooti chori from the Uttar Pradesh chief minister’s house. Also, there are hints about kickbacks in the purchase of fittings and fixtures at the sticker price. Wonder who shall pick the tab for Kejriwal’s defence now that he is ex-chief minister.

About The Author

Virendra Kapoor

Virendra Kapoor is a political commentator based in Delhi