Delhi Ordinance | An impatient AAP cannot fathom Congress’s predicament

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is livid that the Congress is not willing to spell out its opposition to the Delhi ordinance that has reversed the May 11 Supreme Court verdict which defined and bifurcated the powers of the Chief Minister, and of the Lieutenant Governor (L-G). AAP is impatient and putting pressure on the Congress to declare its intent immediately.

The Congress, on the other hand, is not willing to oblige, and is playing the waiting game. Suffering from anxiety, AAP has threatened to boycott the Opposition unity conclave to be held in Bengaluru on July 17-18.

AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had thrown a tantrum while at Patna when he decided to leave the Opposition leaders’ press conference after the meeting of leaders. He complained then that the Congress leaders were not forthcoming on the issue. Despite the continuing conflict between the two, the Congress has extended an invitation to AAP for the Bengaluru conclave it is hosting.

This has given enough fodder to the critics to say that the unity drive has exposed fault lines in the Opposition camp even before anything concrete could come out of it.

AAP’s malice

This incident is symptomatic of the malice that afflicts AAP and its leadership. AAP lacks institutional memory to deal with such tricky issues. It also hints at the non-understanding of the nuances of coalition politics, and the complexities of forging a larger alliance between the political parties of different shades, nature, and ideologies.

AAP’s impatience is reflective of the fact that it fails to understand the inner contradictions of a democratic party as well. AAP in its inner functioning is authoritarian which does not allow its leaders to differ with Kejriwal, but the Congress is made of a different mettle. Leaders can openly differ with each other and air their views, which sometimes are not in harmony with the party high command.

The direct contest 

AAP has failed to understand that it’s not easy for the Congress to support it on this issue. The Congress is in a direct contest with it in many states. AAP has usurped the Congress’s social base in Delhi and decimated its presence in a national capital where the Congress ruled uninterruptedly for 15 years before AAP formed the government in 2013. For the Congress to reclaim its lost ground here AAP must be vanquished. It is no wonder that local Delhi leaders have put tremendous pressure on the party high command to not support AAP on the issue of the Delhi ordinance.

Similarly, AAP has formed the government in Punjab by thrusting a humiliating defeat on the Congress. Punjab Congress leaders are also advocating that no support should be extended to AAP. Let’s not forget that AAP’s entry in Gujarat was instrumental in the Congress’ massive defeat in 2022. AAP could manage ~13 percent votes there, but it ensured an unprecedented victory for the BJP in the assembly elections. If AAP continues its endeavour in Gujarat, then there is a real possibility that AAP can replace the Congress soon. This political reality has put the Congress leadership in a fix. It’s not easy for the Congress to decide in favour of AAP at the cost of antagonising its local units.

Congress’s dilemma 

It is also true that the Congress can’t afford to be seen supporting the Delhi ordinance for two reasons.

Firstly, the Congress is trying to cobble together Opposition leaders under one umbrella to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nationally. The Congress lost the elections to the BJP in 2014 and in 2019. On both occasions, it was reduced to less than 60 Lok Sabha seats, which made many wonder if the Congress could ever bounce back in national politics, or whether it would be history.

The Congress today is facing an existential crisis, and if Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes back for the third time in a row and if the Congress does not improve its tally in Parliament substantially, the chances of the grand old party’s revival is bleak. Given this, it is incumbent upon the Congress to keep its flock together and defeat the BJP in 2024. It is important for its survival. In this context, a few sacrifices for the sake of Opposition unity is not a bad bargain.

Secondly, the Delhi ordinance goes against the grain of the ethos of Indian federalism. Indian democracy, unlike the United States’s constitution, is a top-down exercise. In the US it is the states that created a federal structure and because of this reason the states in the US have more power than the federal government in Washington D.C. In India, the Constitution makers have made the Centre more powerful than the states. The states in India are not surviving at the mercy of the Union government, except in a few exceptional situations. The Constitution has demarcated jurisdiction of the state government elected by the people and of the Centre-appointed Lieutenant Governor (L-G) in Union Territories, including Delhi.

Ordinance in Parliament

The Supreme Court tried to restore the powers of the Delhi government and clarified that the L-G (other than in matters related to the police, law and order, and land) can't act without the aid and advice of the elected government of Delhi. But the Modi government, through an ordinance, has restored the L-G’s powers through the back door.

To become a law of the land, the ordinance must be approved by Parliament within six months of its promulgation. Most probably the Modi government would like to introduce the ordinance in the form of a Bill in the Rajya Sabha in the session beginning July 20. In the Rajya Sabha, the BJP does not have a majority and if the Opposition is united the Bill could be defeated. AAP has got support from most of the opposition parties, except the Congress.

This ordinance is anything but constitutional in its spirit. It violates the sacred doctrine of the basic features of the Constitution.

AAP’s impatience, Congress’s hara-kiri 

Delhi is not the only state which is suffering from the unconstitutional acts of the Centre-appointed Governors/L-Gs. In every state where an opposition party is in power, Governors/L-Gs have made functioning hard for the elected governments. There is a serious attempt to control Opposition-ruled states, including states where the Congress is in power, through them. For the Congress to support the Modi government’s ordinance would mean that it is supporting the interferences by the Governors/L-Gs of which the Congress is itself a victim. Supporting the ordinance would mean justifying such acts and the Congress can ill-afford to do so. AAP in its impatience has failed to see this.

Let us assume that the Congress, under pressures of its local units, decides not to oppose the Delhi ordinance—it would be political hara-kiri. It will not only make the Congress suspect in the eyes of opposition parties but will also derail efforts for Opposition unity. It will mean colluding with the Modi government for short-term political gain. That will be a historical blunder.

Most likely the Congress will not support it, but who know, isn’t politics also called the art of the impossible.

Ashutosh is Editor, Satyahindi, and author of Hindu Rashtra.

(The views expressed here are the author's own and they do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.)