AAP's 30-day report card

A month ago, on December 28, Arvind Kejriwal took the oath at the Ramlila Maidan as the Chief Minister of Delhi. A month later, the party has fulfilled some of the promises made in its election manifesto while many remain unfulfilled. The new government on Day 1 had enforced a Supreme Court order by banning the use of red and blue beacons on government vehicles, to put an end to the VIP culture.

It had announced free water of up to 700 litres per day to those having metered connections, launched an anti-corruption and nursery admission helpline and ordered a CAG audit of the power distribution companies apart from slashing power bills by 50% for those consuming up to 400 units. On the flipside, the government also drew flak for "populist anarchy, vigilantism, racial remarks and attacks on the media".

It also faced open rebellion from one of its own MLAs, Vinod Kumar Binny, and had to ultimately expel him. Apparently, the Jan Lokpal Bill, which he had promised to pass within 15 days after coming to power, has still not seen the light of the day.

“The AAP have not involved in governance ever since it stepped into power. Rather, the party has only engaged in activities which are meaningless and have no priority. Every step this government has taken in the past month is for its own political gain. It has done nothing for the betterment of the people living in the capital. We thought that they are the change we need, but instead they are worse than the existing political parties,” Ellapparaj Ravi, an NRI from New Zealand. Ravi and his family donated in excess of Rs 4 lakh to the party before the Delhi Assembly elections last year.

“One month of his government has been highly disappointing for me. He formed a political party to provide good governance but within 15 days, he himself gave up governance and went on an agitation. In other words, honesty is no substitute for governance. He may be honest but he lacks talent,” TVR Shenoy, former Editor of The Week magazine and a senior journalist.

“No elected government has taken as many decisions as we have in the last one month. Arvind has swiftly taken the decisions and acted on a majority of the promises. A committee is looking into ways of giving permanent employment to contractual staff. The draft Jan Lokpal Bill is ready,” Dilip Pandey, an AAP spokesperson.