New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS) It is indeed a bizarre situation where a Chief Minister announces schemes and the government terms them ‘fraud’. This probably must be unprecedented in Independent India’s history, but that is how it has been happening in the national capital.
Delhi’s politics has never been normal, witnessing twists and turns right from the day Arvind Kejriwal became the Aam Aadmi Party chief and formed the government. From sleeping on the road threatening to disrupt the Republic Day function in 2014, to parking himself overnight on L-G’s sofa in 2018, former Chief Minister Kejriwal has attempted all novel ideas to endear himself to the public, even trying to make his arrest, jail period and release on bail, something like political ‘martyrdom’.
His unusual activism has no doubt given him a majority in the Delhi Assembly thrice — becoming the Chief Minister from 2013 to 2014, 2015 to 2020 and then again for the third time. The tenure of the seventh Delhi Assembly is scheduled to end on February 15, 2025, and before that, the election process has to end. So, with the elections near, Kejriwal and his party are moving heaven and earth to rekindle people’s faith which was badly shaken when they elected BJP candidates to all seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital.
His plot in the 2024 Lok Sabha election was an utter disaster after he made it a kind of a people’s referendum on his arrest which he had termed ‘illegal’. But the electorate rejected his candidates, somehow proving that his ‘victim’ card had no takers. The arrest was in connection with corruption allegations relating to the Delhi government’s 2022 policies over the sale of alcohol. Later, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail for three weeks to campaign for the parliamentary elections on the condition that he would abstain from his official duties as Chief Minister. Finally, the Apex Court on September 13, 2024, gave him regular bail. Four days later he resigned from his post and made Atishi the CM.
Denying all allegations against him, Kejriwal said that he would take up the post only if people re-elected his AAP in the upcoming Assembly elections. With this vow, Kejriwal stepped down and has been attempting to win people’s favour.
Following the rejection of his victimhood referendum tactic in the 2024 general election, the only best strategy for him is to announce and promise doles.
There is nothing wrong with making promises to the electorate before the election. Every party does that and Kejriwal, who is the AAP convenor, did the same. Kejriwal announced the ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana’ and ‘Sanjeevani Yojana’ ahead of the upcoming elections. Registration for both schemes began on December 23.
The Delhi government in its 2024-25 Budget had announced Mahila Samman scheme to provide Rs 1,000 per month to all women aged above 18. However, Kejriwal on December 22, announced that the amount would be raised to Rs 2,100 if his party returned to power in the Assembly elections. He also said that the AAP volunteers would go to the people’s homes and complete the registration. The beneficiaries were required to show their voter identity cards, he added. He also made the announcement for the Sanjeevani Yojana saying the elderly people will be registered at their homes by AAP volunteers.
As Kejriwal, CM Atishi, his ministers, MLAs and AAP volunteers started visiting homes and collecting data about the likely beneficiaries, senior officers in the Delhi government released public notices and disowned the registration process started by CM Atishi and her predecessor, Arvind Kejriwal.
It was an unprecedented move, two Delhi departments releasing public notices saying the welfare schemes launched by AAP have not been notified by the government and are ‘non-existent’.
The Department of Women and Child Development (WCD) said the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana does not exist and has not been approved by the Delhi government. It urged citizens to refrain from sharing personal information with individuals or groups claiming association with the ‘fake scheme’, as doing so could result in identity theft or financial fraud.
The Health and Family Welfare Department also said that the Sanjeevani Yojana was non-existent. The notice advised the public to exercise caution and not be misled by “fraudulent” claims about free medical services.
The public notices have made the AAP’s exercise appear like a Ponzi scheme in which people get looted. A Ponzi scheme is an investment scam that pays early investors the money taken from later investors to create an illusion of big profits. The AAP’s two ‘unapproved’ schemes seem to be luring people as investors in the AAP’s electoral win to make Kejriwal Chief Minister for the fourth time.
Becoming the Delhi CM again is the ultimate answer to the cases of corruption filed against him, that is what Kejriwal has been saying. The win in the Assembly elections is crucial for Kejriwal’s political existence and AAP’s growth. Hence, the promises for welfare schemes. The success of the Ladli Behna Scheme in contributing to the BJP’s win in Maharashtra has given Kejriwal a proven strategy to pursue his ambitious goal of winning all 70 seats in Delhi.
(Deepika Bhan can be contacted at deepika.b@ians.in)
–IANS
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