Court verdict clears Delhi chaos for now

The ruling will strengthen India’s constitutional ethos, apart from bolstering AAP politically

It took five judges of the Supreme Court to reiterate what was spelt out by India’s founding fathers in the Constitution — that an elected government has supremacy in all major administrative decisions. The order on Wednesday came after a protracted tussle between the federal government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Delhi state government of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — an outfit born from a popular civil movement in 2012 and now a strong force in the capital region and neighbouring Punjab state.

The AAP accused the BJP government of attempting to rule Delhi via a proxy — the lieutenant governor who is appointed by the federal Home Ministry. More seriously, AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the lieutenant governor took orders from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office to prevent the Delhi Government from performing its functions.

This bitter confrontation between Modi and Kejriwal began in December 2013 when the AAP defeated BJP and Congress in Delhi state elections.

The AAP’s first stint began with a tussle over the routing of official files between the lieutenant governor and Kejriwal — an issue that snowballed into a political battle, leading to Kejriwal’s resignation just 49 days after becoming Chief Minister. In 2015, Kejriwal’s party made a stunning comeback by winning 67 out of the 70 seats in the state assembly.

This crushing defeat, the AAP alleges, made the BJP leadership vindictive and the party used the lieutenant governor’s office to create hurdles for the elected government.

In its order, the five-judge bench said the Constitution mandates a balance between state and federal governments and a governor is bound to follow the advice of the Cabinet. While this order has settled the issue for the time being, the tussle between the AAP and BJP is unlikely to end. The origins of this rivalry lie in the anticorruption movement in 2011 that led to the birth of the AAP. The movement contributed to the downfall of the Manmohan Singh-led Congress government and the biggest beneficiary of this mass protest against corruption was Modi’s party, which stormed to power in May 2014, riding on a popular narrative scripted by India Against Corruption, the AAP’s earlier avatar.

Since then, the AAP has emerged as a political party and this court order will further strengthen it as a political entity. Rivals BJP and Congress appear to be on the same page while confronting the AAP and the two parties will continue to stall the growth of the AAP as a viable alternative.