Four Reasons Why Centre Should Seriously Consider President’s Rule In New Delhi

Barely a month ago, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was pushing for the capital to be reopened, and rightfully so.

In a recent TV interview, stating that no living soul in the world had a clear idea about how long the virus was going to stay, Kejriwal backed the economic interests of the traders and urged people to devise ways to coexist with the virus.

The use of masks and social distancing was emphasised.

After a series of random experiments in the second half of May, the Delhi government sealed its borders on 1 June.

However, in hindsight, the sealing turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

On Sunday, hours before the borders were to open, Kejriwal embarked on another misadventure, stating that the hospitals in Delhi, barring those run by the Centre, would only cater to the residents of Delhi.

Private hospitals performing special surgeries were also exempted, given the capital sees many patients from across India for critical and advanced treatments.

From stating that Delhi was prepared to deal with 30,000 active patients in early April, Kejriwal did another of his infamous U-turns on Sunday and announced that Delhi would require 15,000 beds by the end of June, and, therefore, it was not feasible to open healthcare facilities for people of neighbouring states.

Today (as of 10 June), Delhi has around 18,000 active cases, if official numbers are to be believed.

The Delhi Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) was quick to step in, and a little more than 24-hours later, the decision had been reversed.

Kejriwal attributed the potential breakdown of health infrastructure to the L-G.

The problem with a reckless decision like this wasn’t that it was based on an imaginary survey of 750,000 residents, not more than 5-8 per cent of the Delhi population, but the kind of precedent it could have set for the future.

For instance, if a drought were to hit two adjacent states, would it, then, be fair for one state to reserve river water for its own interests?

Could state CMs step in and dictate how private companies were to reserve jobs for state residents alone?

The other problem was with its legality.

While the decree was in violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, it also violated the triage procedure listed under the National Disaster Management Guidelines on the Management of Biological Disasters which specifies prioritisation of treatment based on an assessment by medical teams.

The problem is not that of such decrees alone, but that of the stories coming out of Delhi.

In the previous days, residents have complained about lack of testing and the exuberant pricing by private hospitals with some charging as high as Rs. 500,000 as an advanced deposit with the Intensive Care Unit charges going as high as Rs. 300,000 for a single day.

While most of these stories are coming from citizens forced to share their grievances online in the absence of any administrative support on the ground, taking them with a pinch of salt does not negate the possibility of a breakdown of healthcare services in Delhi.

At Delhi’s Nigam Bodh Ghat, bodies have been piling up. Some hospitals have been forced to add refrigerated trucks to support the overused mortuaries.

Covid-19 patients, in some hospitals, are being treated alongside other patients, and for many, a mere bed in the hospital has become inaccessible, even after waiting outside the hospital for hours or trying their luck at half-a-dozen different ones.

To further add to the chaos, the Centre and the state governments are at odds when it comes to declaring community transmission in Delhi.

Talking to reporters, Delhi’s health minister Satyendar Jain said that more than 50 per cent of the cases could not be traced to any source.

The minister added that the national capital will cross the 50,000 case mark within the next 10 days.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the number could touch 550,000 by the end of July.

For Kejriwal, it appears till now, the response to all the problems of Delhi are straightforward.

Blame the surge in hospital admissions on the L-G, who he thinks works at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party, or blame the Centre for not offering sufficient monetary support, or even, to blame the media for exaggerating the situation on the ground.

Thus, is it time for the L-G of the state to contemplate the possibility of President’s rule in Delhi.

While the legal intricacies described here do leave enough room for the L-G to take over, it will be important to ensure that any such decision is taken keeping the interests of the citizens before that of Kejriwal or his party.

Also read: Can President’s Rule be imposed if a state government is unable to control a pandemic?

There are additional reasons for the contemplation as well.

Firstly, the healthcare system is in the doldrums. As evident by Kejriwal’s decision to reserve facilities in Delhi for local residents alone, a possible Presidential rule could help in the mobilisation of additional beds by temporary takeover of hotels in Delhi’s airport area, apart from other smaller facilities scattered across the capital.

If Delhi is, indeed, staring at more than 500,000 cases in another 50 days, it’s imperative that every possible arrangement is made in time.

Two, even 250,000 active cases in Delhi could hurt the economic recovery of almost entire north India, given how critical the capital is as a trading centre.

Community transmission, which the Centre must admit to at the earliest, could cause mayhem in Noida, Greater Noida, Gurugram, Sonepat, and other bordering cities.

Three, the inability of the AAP to work with the BJP governments in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, as is evident by what occurred in Anand Vihar, warrants this contemplation.

How long is the L-G willing to overlook the faults in the working of the Delhi administration, and the consequences it could have for the citizens of Delhi?

Lastly, under the Presidential rule, additional arrangements can be made and orders can be implemented with greater strictness, and if warranted, another lockdown, restricted to containment areas can be ordered.

While contemplating Presidential rule, merely a quarter of a year after Kejriwal and his party successfully thumped the rival parties in Delhi Assembly, may come across as being ‘against the federal spirit’ to some, the fact that the Delhi government has failed to address the concerns of the local residents cannot be ignored.

Even at a 3 per cent mortality rate, 550,000 active cases could mean more than 16,000 people dead in Delhi alone.

Thus, the trade-off before the L-G could well be between political correctness and the life of Delhi residents.

Kejriwal, for the greater good of the local residents and his holier-than-thou politics, should either offer credible solutions right away or walk away.

The breakdown of healthcare facilities in Delhi must also serve as a lesson in freebies, for no government, even with all its sugarcoated words and PR, can sustain impeccable governance with freebies.

The ones who spend carelessly in their good times are bound to land in trouble when things go south.

Delhi is the political and economic pulse of India.

No path to national economic recovery goes without passing through Delhi, and thus, damage control is imperative.

Political correctness and blame games must wait, but Delhi residents must not be made to wait anymore.