The BJP put up a grand show at the Ramlila Maidan on Thursday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and the entire party brass along with industrialists, film stars and performing artists to announce the arrival of first-term MLA Rekha Gupta as Chief Minister of Delhi with six Cabinet colleagues.
The glittering oath-taking ceremony was preceded by Rekha Gupta, the fourth woman after Sushma Swaraj, Sheila Dikshit and Atishi to occupy the Chief Minister’s office in Delhi, announcing that her government would fulfil the promise of providing ₹2,500 as monthly financial assistance to women. The BJP clearly plans to outdo Arvind Kejriwal’s freebies-driven governance. There is, however, enough evidence to show that freebies have been bleeding the State’s coffers in the ten years of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rule. In ten years, , the subsidy bill in Delhi has increased over 7 times from ₹1,554.72 crore (in 2014-15) to ₹10,996.34 crore in the current financial year. Delhi is projected to slip into a revenue deficit for the first time in three decades by the end of 2025-26. Yet, the biggest advantage for the new government is that it is not likely to be curbed either by the fiscal constraints or the operational impediments that stymied governance during AAP’s tenure.
The new Chief Minister assumes charge with the blessings of the Centre which has massively expanded on its already entrenched Constitutional powers in Delhi that included control over public order, police and land. Through amendments in the Government of NCT of Delhi Act, the Centre usurped powers over ‘services’ in Delhi, overriding the Supreme Court that had held that Delhi Assembly and government shall have legislative and executive powers over services. The Government of NCT of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2023, completely shackles the local government which has no authority over how its officers function unless the Centre adopts a cooperative attitude. Indeed, the mandate for ‘double-engine sarkar’ holds an exceptional meaning in the context of governance in Delhi, and Rekha Gupta comes with special privileges to deliver on it.
That said, Delhi’s monumental problems reflected in the mountains of garbage at its borders, appalling pollution levels and a toxic Yamuna overflowing with sewage and industrial waste require specific measures that even an efficient administrator like Sheila Dikshit failed to take. Arvind Kejriwal’s constant bickering with the Centre, which targeted even his best schemes like Mohalla clinics, have left the city’s infrastructure in a state of collapse. The BJP needs to change tack and restore some order to the chaos in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), made worse by constant political strife. The BJP-ruled National Capital Region States of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi need to evolve a common strategy for cleaning the city’s air which remains dangerously polluted all the time. The new Chief Minister has her task cut out.