Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot slams Centre over Delhi's GNCTD bill; says states could be next

Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot on Saturday joined the Aam Aadmi Party in slamming the Centre over the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021. Taking to his official Twitter handle, the Chief Minister opined that the bill has been passed by the Modi government to curtail the rights of the Delhi government, and in all its means is 'the murder of democracy'. 

Supporting his point with facts, he wrote," Earlier, the Supreme Court has also clearly ruled that the elected government is the real head of Delhi."

Claiming that the PM-Modi-led government is trying to run the country on fascist grounds, he stressed, "Electoral malpractices, horse-trading of elected MLAs, and when failing in both, it resorts to passing such a dictatorial bill on the strength of its majority in Parliament. This is how the Modi govt rules."

Reflecting on the happening in the present, he went on to assert," The Modi govt can abolish the powers of the state govt by bringing such laws if BJP loses the election in any state in the future." Putting forth his points, he demanded that the legislation be opposed at the national level by rising above the party line.

He did not stop there, and in order to strengthen his argument, went on to remind how the saffron was opposed to the passing of the bill when in opposition. 

Elaborating on the same, he wrote, "BJP used to demand more rights by giving full statehood status to Delhi, but now they have brought such law. Prime Minister advocates cooperative federalism but in reality, the NDA govt is imposing decisions on state governments by enacting such laws."

BJP 'scared' of Kejriwal model

The centre has been at the receiving end of backlashes right from the time the GNCT bill was introduced in the parliament. Right after the bill was passed in the parliament, Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had held a press conference in which he had slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party for the Bill and had claimed that scared of the developments taking place under the Kejriwal model, the bill in question was brought. 

Highlighting that the people all over the country demands a model like the Kejriwal model, he had stated, "From local body elections to assembly elections, the voters are all in need of model like the one the Kejriwal government came up with. Everyone wants free water, free electricity, good schools and hospitals, and since PM Modi and the BJP have nothing to offer to the people, they got scared and came up with this bill."

Praising the initiative taken by the Kejriwal government of home delivery of ration, he had pointed out that the saffron party has never taken any such initiative. Opining that the agenda of the party has always been to gain wrongfully and that they follow a "chori-model" he had questioned, "If you see people struggling in long queues, why not get rations delivered at their doorstep?"

"Not just this, we have brought offices at the doorstep of the public of Delhi too. Now, they don't have to put on hold their chores and run day to day to day government offices," he had said while adding that these were the things that had made the party and the party leaders insecure, and the bill was just to put a stop on all of these initiatives. 

Reminiscing the last 6 years of Kejriwal's chief ministership, he had pointed out that even in the past, efforts had been made to put a stop to the initiatives of the CM. "Kejriwal, however, is a fighter, who did not stop and will not stop," he added. 

GNCTD bill 

The GNCTD bill had been a bone of contention between the Kejriwal government and the Centre government for years, but the controversy gained momentum this month when the central government introduced it in the Parliament. While the Centre throughout maintained that the Bill will authorise the Lieutenant Governor of New Delhi, so the latter can take decisions equivalent to the Delhi government, as is the case with all Union Territories, the Delhi government kept expressing its displeasure sometimes through protests and sometimes through tweets against the bill, calling it BJP's attempt to gain control over the region. The bill was ultimately passed in Parliament on Wednesday.