NEW DELHI LETTER
The law came into force on April 27, as the Indian capital was overwhelmed by the second wave of Covid-19 and hospitals were overwhelmed by the influx of patients and the shortage of equipment. Delhi’s head of government Arvind Kejriwal, who battles Narendra Modi every day for help, beds, oxygen or vaccines, has lost much of his powers.
The Indian Prime Minister had passed, a month earlier, by the Parliament special legislation, entirely directed against this opponent, a centrist who, a year ago, had severely beaten the Hindu Nationalist Party in the regional elections.
Religious divisions
The state-appointed lieutenant governor of Delhi, Anil Baijal, now has more powers than the democratically elected head of government, and can give instructions directly to officials. Conversely, for any “executive decision” Arvind Kejriwal must seek the opinion of the representative of the State, in particular on the subjects of the fight against corruption, education, health, social welfare. , tourism, hospitals and transport, all areas where the elected official has distinguished himself since his election in 2015. “It’s a sad day for Indian democracy (…) This law is an insult to the people of Delhi, commented Arvind Kejriwal, during the presentation of the text in Parliament. It takes powers away from those who have been elected by the people and gives powers to rule Delhi to those who have been defeated. ”
A little over a year ago, in February 2020, Mr. Modi’s party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), put all its forces to try to ravish the capital, trying to exacerbate religious divisions. between Hindus and Muslims. He had dispatched the Minister of the Interior, Amit Shah, the most powerful ally and closest to Mr. Modi, who had held dozens of meetings. But, despite the BJP steamroller, Mr. Kejriwal was triumphantly re-elected by the Delhiens, winning 62 of the 70 regional assembly seats.
This takeover of the government marks a further weakening of Indian democracy, which has been considerably damaged, since the coming to power in 2014 of Hindu nationalist leader Narendra Modi. After each electoral defeat in the regions, the BJP tried to overthrow the coalitions that won at the ballot box by buying the elected officials. It happened in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Manipur.
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