On Delhi Ordinance, Raghav Chadha’s ‘yuhin koi bewafa’

Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha Wednesday took a swipe at the Biju Janata Dal and the YSR Congress party for supporting the Centre on Delhi services bill and said they were “compelled” to do so. “Kuch to majburiya rahi hogi, yuhin nahi koi bewafa hota, ji karta hai ki bahut sach kahu, kya kare hausla nahi hota…(There must have been some compulsion, people don’t turn unfaithful for no reason),”Chadha cited popular Hindi poetry while speaking to media.

Without elaborating further, Chadha said the ‘compulsions’ preventing state governments in Opposition from opposing the “undemocratic” bill, are a subject of public and media’s analysis. The AAP has previously charged the Narendra Modi-led government of misusing financial probe agencies to silence the opposition parties. (Parliament LIVE updates)

Chadha also cautioned the non-BJP parties saying that “if this experiment (by the BJP) gets successful in Delhi, it will be replicated in all non-BJP ruling governments.” He also recalled popular poet Rahat Indori famous lines to reiterate his stance saying “…lagegi aag to aaenge kai ghar zad me, yaha sirf hamara makaan thodi hai…”

Both the non-Bharatiya Janata parties, which have the ruling government in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, decided to extend their support to the contentious bill, aimed at allowing the Centre to retain control over the bureaucracy in Delhi. The AAP has termed the bill “unconstitutional”.

AAP furious

The bill was in Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The AAP has been rallying opposition parties to vote against the bill in the Rajya Sabha. However, the BJP has enough numbers in both houses of Parliament for the bill to sail through.

Earlier, Chadha criticised the legislation, claiming it will turn democracy into “babucracy” and said it was a product of the BJP’s “envy” as it hasn’t been able to form a government in Delhi in a long time. “In the last 25 years, all six Delhi chief ministers were non-BJP. The BJP has become politically irrelevant in Delhi…it is unable to digest the success of Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP and wishes to stop him at any cost,” the AAP spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the Opposition’s I.N.D.I.A alliance has extended support to the AAP on the matter. Several leaders expressed their disappointment on the bill and slammed the Centre for the move. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said that he failed to understand what merit the BJP, YSRCP have found in the legislation. “Have they found merit in the provision where the two officers can overrule the chief minister?” he asked, targeting both the parties.