Ignorance
can't be bliss for Arvind & Nitish
The
way the self-confessed "anarchist" Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal is behaving and blurring, it provides justification for denial of
Statehood to Delhi, not at least under a maverick politician like him.
Instances of his words and actions which do not behove a chief minister are
unending. Sufficient to question his latest soundbite. Mahesh Giri MP "should
be arrested n interrogated by Modi Police" for NDMC official MM Khan's
"murder", Kejriwal tweeted, charging that "Modi Police was
shielding him".
On the other hand, the beleaguered and bereaved family of
Khan has pleaded with politicians not to play politics with their family loss
but help get them justice.
Granting statehood to Delhi, in these circumstances, shall
be like handing over a loaded gun to a child. The Delhi chief minister seems to
be ignorant that under the law a chief minister — or, for that matter, even a
prime minister — have no constitutional authority to order the arrest of an
individual however heinous the crime of an accused may be. It is for the police to register a case on
receiving a complaint and investigate it. Going by his conduct, had Kejriwal
been the chief minister of a full-fledged State of Delhi, he would certainly
have ordered "Kejriwal" police to "arrest and interrogate"
Giri for the alleged murder.
Similarly, we have another chief minister, Nitish Kumar of
Bihar, displaying ignorance of law and the reality. While the world was
celebrating the second Yoga International Day on June 21, it goes to the credit
of Nitish Kumar to decide not to
observe it, apparently taking offence at the BJP-led central government cold
shouldering his call for countrywide prohibition.
Ignorance
of law and the constitution may be bliss for the ignorant but not for a chief
minister like Nitish or Kejriwal who share a common wish, at one time or the
other, to be the country's prime minister. The home truth is that in his own
State Nitish Kumar's Grand 'Secular' Alliance may have won 178 seats in a 243-member
house but only with 41.9 percent votes against NDA's 34.1 percent votes with
just 58 seats.
Further,
he needs to understand that prohibition is a State specific policy and the Modi
government has no authority to impose Nitish's will on the rest of the country.
If NDA did, it would be the likes of Nitish and Kejriwal who will be the first
to shout from the housetops that Modi government was transgressing on the
rights of the States and arbitrarily imposing its will on the unwilling States
for which it has no authority. They will then further allege that the States
were not consulted and no effort was made to find a consensus.
Or
is Nitish Kumar trying to build a ground to put the blame on the Centre if he
fails to effectively enforce prohibition policy in the State?
