Last Updated on 23/08/2024 by Ankita
If we believe Arvind Kejriwal, he is currently running the Delhi government from Tihar Jail. How he is running the government is as easy as it sounds, but it is difficult to understand. If we look at the statements of Aam Aadmi Party leaders, everything seems easy, because the pattern of governance is old.
The bottom line is that whatever welfare work the government elected by the people of Delhi wants to do, the Deputy Governor of Delhi creates hurdles. Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj also say the same, and earlier Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia also used to say the same thing.
Recently, many such incidents have happened in Delhi which raise questions on the claim of Kejriwal and Company that the government can be run comfortably from jail. There are many technical issues in the administration which prove that all this is not practical. When the Aam Aadmi Party was conducting surveys in Delhi on running the government from jail, such questions were being raised even then.
Recently, three youngsters preparing for IAS died due to rainwater entering the basement of a coaching centre in Delhi. And another youngster died due to electric shock in the same area. Such incidents raise questions on the entire system, but Arvind Kejriwal’s government is the first target.
The biggest thing is that despite all this, Arvind Kejriwal’s rating among the chief ministers of the country has remained at number two. In Aaj Tak’s Mood of the Nation survey, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is at number 1, while West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is at number three – and in such a tough competition, Arvind Kejriwal has made his place between the two – other questions are in their place, but in the current circumstances, this achievement of Arvind Kejriwal is not a small thing.
Kejriwal remains in the field even while in jail!
Aaj Tak Mood of the Nation Survey was conducted between July 15, 2024 and August 10, 2024, in which an attempt was made to know the views of the people on the country’s politics, and people also responded openly – and when people from 30 states of the country were asked about the best Chief Minister of the country, people have ranked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at number two.
In August 2024, 13.8 percent people considered Arvind Kejriwal as the best chief minister, which is less than half of the 33 percent votes received by Yogi Adityanath, but much more than the 9 percent who liked Mamata Banerjee. In fact, Arvind Kejriwal’s popularity has decreased compared to February 2024. Talking about the same scale, Arvind Kejriwal got 19.6 percent support in the survey conducted in February – which was a month before his arrest on March 21. However, a year ago in August 2023, Arvind Kejriwal had the support of 19.1 percent people.
When asked about the performance of Chief Ministers, the opinion given by the people in the Mood of the Nation Survey has also recorded a decline in the popularity of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The survey data shows that this figure was 37 percent in February 2024, now it has reached 44 percent. If we talk about one year, then in August 2023, 57.7 percent people were satisfied with the work of Arvind Kejriwal, in which there was a decline in February after 6 months, but between February 2024 and August 2024, there has been an increase of 7 percent in it – and this is the most important thing.
This is not only important, but also quite surprising, because this is about the period when Arvind Kejriwal was in jail. During the period being talked about, he was out for only one month and even then most of his time was spent in responding to ED notices and trying to avoid arrest after the case went to court, but he could not avoid arrest.
In between, he was granted interim bail for 21 days for the Lok Sabha election campaign, but the election results show that his election campaign did not benefit either the Aam Aadmi Party or the Congress, which contested the elections in Delhi under the banner of INDIA Block.
On top of that, the Swati Maliwal case also happened at that time. Swati Maliwal has accused Arvind Kejriwal’s PA Bibhav Kumar of assault, and he is also in jail. Delhi Police has also expressed doubts over Arvind Kejriwal’s role in the assault incident.
This shows that even while being in jail, Arvind Kejriwal is still in the political arena of Delhi as the Chief Minister. This is the situation when the issue of obstruction in government work has been raised even in the High Court. The High Court had to say that it has to be ensured that children get books, because they cannot be deprived of such facilities. The matter was that the Chief Minister’s approval was necessary for the quota of books, and it was not possible to get Arvind Kejriwal to sign it due to being in jail.
Kejriwal going to jail is beneficial for his political health
The results of the Lok Sabha elections and the results of the Mood of the Nation survey seem to be completely opposite to each other. However, the results of the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi have remained the same as before. BJP has been winning all the seven seats in Delhi since 2014, but after two assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party has also been successful in the MCD elections.
Assembly elections in Delhi are scheduled to be held early next year in 2025, but due to the instructions given to the MCD by the Election Commission, there are speculations of it being held this year as well.
Arvind Kejriwal, who has got bail in the ED case, has not yet got bail in the CBI case. On August 14, the Supreme Court rejected the bail plea, but sought a response from the CBI. On August 23, the CBI asked for a little time and the Supreme Court agreed – that is, Arvind Kejriwal will have to remain in jail till the next hearing on September 5.
The good thing for Arvind Kejriwal is that his two strong allies Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh have been released from jail, and at present the entire team is busy preparing for the Delhi assembly elections. The responsibility of Haryana has been handed over to Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal, who recently went to Pune to meet Sharad Pawar. Sanjay Singh was also with her, but the media was not told anything about the meeting.
Now a new campaign has been started by Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi – ‘Kejriwal will come!’
Is the new campaign about Arvind Kejriwal coming out of jail, or about coming to power in Delhi after the elections? What does the surge in Arvind Kejriwal’s popularity after going to jail indicate?
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)