AAP's 30-day report card

AAPs 30-day report card
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Highlights

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 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.

“There will be more such announcements. But it’s all gimmickry and no governance. People have lost faith in Kejriwal. The hype they created around themselves has dissipated,” says Subrata Mukherjee, former professor of political science at Delhi University.
“Power seems to have gone into the head of Kejriwal. People of Delhi wholeheartedly supported the Aam Aadmi Party as the fight against corruption was their agenda. Unfortunately, Kejriwal himself tried to move to a capacious mansion despite his repeated promise of humble living, drawing flak from all sections of society. Though he changed his mind, his anarchic style of protests and immature statements have already shown the government in poor light. People in Delhi have sure done a mistake by electing Kejriwal. Promises the AAP had made have gone down the drain. It has made a mockery of democracy,” Shafali Khan, former news anchor, Total TV.
“Arvind Kejriwal is learning. I hope there are better times ahead. People will slowly realise the power of AAP after the audit of power companies. Jan Lokpal will be passed. I think he should be given more time,” Rakesh Reddy Dubbudu, RTI Activist.
"He is new to politics but is going in the right direction. He has committed a few mistakes but the people must accept it as a lack of experience. We must encourage him and people must give him time to adjust. He has made sure that he stuck to his promises, be it power and water. He just needs more time.”
Padmanabha Reddy, Secretary, Forum for Good Governance.
“AAP ruling is good. But, Kejriwal has caused so much trouble, to the real common people by sitting on dharna. So I think if they use the same tactics for each and everything, then I don't think they will last long. It’s just a month so it is too soon to comment on their governance. I hope in future they will not do this so that the faith of common man in the party will be same as it was before electing them,” Nazim Sheik, Teacher, Govt. Primary School, Pargi.
“Well I believe that he is working honestly for the people without any greed in his mind. I think people should give him more time to stabilise. It is not possible to do all things in a blink (which the people want),” Joshua Das, student.
“Kejriwal lacks social maturity. He is emotionally imaginative, highly defensive at individual ideas, likes to be a pioneer but does not fit into the leadership in Indian politics. He lacks empathy and assertiveness with which he can change the mindset of the people. He will soon become another Chiranjeevi,”
SV Nagnath, astro-psychologist.
“It’s a trial and error method which started on a very promising note. But they have lost the way in the past one month. They need to get down to governance and talk less. But that’s really hard as the general elections are around,” Kaali Sudheer, curator, Muse Art Gallery, The Marriot.
“They are wasting their time instead of giving good governance to Delhi. Arvind just got promoted from protester to chief protester. He is not behaving like a chief minister of a state which is the heart of India. Does he have a ruling capability atleast? He is not concentrating on ruling. He can rather spend time on TV channels,” Deepa Meenakshi, management student.
“I think that media attention on AAP is too much now. He should be given some time. I think that he's pretty confused currently. Expelling Binny, the Ugandan woman scandal and the inexperience, so much has happened in a month. So, a bit of time is required. The experience might help AAP gel into politics better,” Joyneel Acharya, management student, IIM.
“I think people should give them time to give good results. Just pouncing on them for each and everything saying 'this is anarchy' is wrong. However, I do not support what the particular minister did to the Nigerian women and also I do not support Kejriwal's dharna which resulted in more trouble for the common man. AAP came to power against all the political stalwarts and so these allegations would be a part and parcel of it. The party should focus on their motive to change the system rather than getting affected by these. They have by far done good work mostly. I hope they would continue to do so provided they are not successfully distracted from doing so,” Sumedha Gowswami, executive in corporate communication, Dr Reddy's Foundation.
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