NEW DELHI: The Delhi legislative Assembly on Saturday passed a resolution demanding full statehood for Delhi. “This House resolves that the NDMC area in Delhi, which is governed by the NDMC Act, be kept under the exclusive control of the Central government, and the rest of NCT of Delhi be declared a full-fledged state” said Nitin Tyagi while presenting the resolution the Assembly.
The MLA from Laxmi Nagar area of Delhi further said: “This house is of the view that now, since almost 16 years have passed since the previous Delhi Statehood Bill was presented in Parliament and there were some shortcomings in that Bill, therefore the MHA must consult the elected government to be on the same page about the fresh draft Bill”.
The resolution demands that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs take legal and legislative steps to declare Delhi a “full-fledged” state. Speaking on the issue of full statehood, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Centre’s alleged interference in Delhi’s affairs.
“I want to tell the Prime Minister to handle Pakistan, which he has not been able to do, and give the Delhi Police and MCD to the people of Delhi,” he said.
Full statehood would ensure better law and order and safety for women, he said, adding that Delhi will become a clean city like London and Paris, and every household would have its own house.
“We will give a house to each voter family in 10 years after attaining full statehood. We will give employment to youths, regularise ad-hoc employees, open universities and send corrupt and inefficient officers to jail because Modi government will not be able to have our files,” he said.
The resolution questioned how a politically nominated Lt Governor could act as a “super-boss” of a democratically elected council of ministers.
Attacking L-G Anil Baijal for his alleged interference in the functioning of the Delhi government on the directions of the BJP-led Central government, Development Minister Gopal Rai said regarding the demand for statehood that “now this is a do or die situation”.
“People of Delhi have given such a huge mandate to us, so there is a responsibility. We all have to fight for this (full statehood),” said Rai.