One of the first reactions of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership on their performance in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls has been that the people have rejected the corruption charges against their leaders Satyendra Jain and Manish Sisodia. Those who keenly follow the politics of this country will recall that the discovery of fodder scam in Bihar did not really harm the political fortunes of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) strongman Lalu Prasad Yadav.
It took another decade before the RJD government was replaced by the NDA government led by Nitish Kumar in 2005. The vote against Lalu Yadav was not exactly against his acts of corruption but against malgovernance and lack of development with Nitish Kumar promising sushashan (good governance). Despite Nitish bringing relatively cleaner and more efficient governance in Bihar, Lalu Yadav's party did not go out of business.
Arvind Kejriwal's party, which had its genesis in the anti-corruption movement and its leaders claims that they did not seek a share in the power structure, today has imprisoned ministers refusing to quit office despite being denied bail by the trial court and also the High Court. This was something that even the much-maligned Lalu Prasad Yadav did not indulge in when he was arrested in the fodder scam case.
Despite the abstruse physiognomies, AAP has won the Assembly elections with a thumping majority twice in the national Capital, in the border state of Punjab earlier this year, and now unseated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the MCD. Despite a decrepit administration and fast-deteriorating civic services, the party in Delhi continues to command the trust of a larger section of voters than the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
It's the comatose if not already dead Congress in Delhi, which is keeping AAP not just alive but also helping its growth in other states. It's similar to the survival of the hyenas in the animal world, living on the cadavers of the dead.
Having said that, where does Delhi go from here, now that it has AAP's 'double-engine government' sitting at Delhi Secretariat and the Civic Centre? Despite being an incorrigible optimist, one doesn't see any arrest in the decay of civic services and local governance in the national Capital any time soon.
For the past one decade, Delhi has as good as been ungoverned. Collapsing civic and health infrastructure, public transport system and rising levels of pollution are indicators of the national Capital being a filthy city. Kejriwal has promised to clean the city of garbage mounds but then it's easier said than done.
More than half the voters of Delhi live in colonies that are not part of the master plan. Christened as unauthorised colonies, these clusters today wield political power in the city and their very existence deflates any attempt to 'decongest' the city of its civic ills.
Delhi's population today stands at two-and-half crore rising from 17 lakh in 1947. The city has been the destination of migrants not just from Pakistan (post-partition), but also people from the north Indian states. People from large parts of north India, which have been hit by economic despair and lack of employment, looked at Delhi as their El Dorado.
People from these regions kept migrating to the capital in search of livelihood and adding to its population, continuously changing its demographic profile. With the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the central government agency responsible for development of the metropolis, failing to rise to the challenge of providing homes to the migrant population, the farmlands were converted into housing colonies, albeit illegally; thus the name unauthorised colonies.
It's then not going to be a small task to govern the labyrinth called Delhi especially given Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's disinterest in governance. One of the main charges against Kejriwal, and to a large extent true also, is that he spent more time on strategising the expansion of his party rather than in providing leadership to his government. He remains a Chief Minister without a portfolio.
Kejriwal has patented the politics of subsidy, which while helping increase his party's presence in the other states, has also left the government coffers empty. There are several instances of Delhi government having failed to release even salaries of people under it on time.
Now, he has the bigger challenge of running the mammoth municipal corporation. For the past five years, there was a running battle between AAP-controlled Delhi government and the BJP-controlled MCD over the release and use of funds for the MCD. Now with the AAP at the helm in both places, will the party show the political will to recover the long-pending property taxes to raise monies for civic governance?
Alternatively, Kejriwal could sit with the city's mayor, call a press conference, and blame the Centre for lack of funds in the municipal body.
(The writer is Author and President, Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice)