‘Once AAP wins again, LG obstructionism will see a big fall’: Atishi

What do you view to be the biggest achievements – both as an MLA and as the Delhi Chief Minister?

As an MLA, I think that in Kalkaji, especially areas like Govindpuri and Sriniwaspuri… have faced water and sewage problems for decades. In Govindpuri, which is a very large unauthorised colony that has been regularised, water supply and sewer lines have not been upgraded for 70-80 years. In this area, 20 to 30 years ago, one family stayed on the ground floor, another on the first floor… Each (residential) plot now goes up to five stories, has approximately… two to three flats… So, where two families used to stay, now 15 families do…the requirement for water has gone up substantially and sewer lines were unable to cope…

Second, water shortage was a major issue over there… (due to) exceptional increase in population and no change of water lines… So, I feel that one of my big achievements has been that for some of these most densely populated parts of Kalaji, we have been able to provide a long-term resolution for basic water and sewerage infrastructure… we have been able to change 70-80% (water and sewer lines)… We have managed to do a lot of rainwater harvesting and groundwater usage has supplemented the water supply…

And as Chief Minister?

(AAP national convenor) Arvind Kejriwal was arrested to bring the government to a grinding halt. That is the main purpose… and work did suffer, there is no doubt. One could see it in roads, water supply… in the fact that (payment of) pensions came to a standstill and it did affect governance…

I would say that my achievement in the past four months is that we have been able to get the basic governance of Delhi back on track. We have been able to repair roads… I am not saying that all our water and sewerage issues have got resolved, but those problems have improved up to 70% to 80%. Now, everyone is getting their pension on time… (including) widows. And of course, we were finally able to pass the (Mahila Samman Rashi Yojna), which I feel was a major achievement.

Another thing that has happened since you took over as CM is that you have personally got a lot of praise from the L-G. How do you view that praise?

I hope that if he likes my work, then when he goes to cast his vote, he will vote for the AAP.

Speaking of women, who several of your schemes target, there is less representation across party lines in terms of ticket distribution. Why?

There is no denying the fact that we are a deeply unequal society… that only changes over time. Leave politics, even in mainstream professions… in software and consulting companies… consider a cross-section of vice chancellors across all universities… a cross-section of CEOs across multinational corporations. You will see a similar issue. This is the reality.., even for mainstream professions, this gap does exist.

Politics is a more complicated profession… 24/7 profession… where one is subjected to all kinds of mudslinging… It is not an easy profession for women… So, I think that inequality is bound to reflect not just in the AAP, but in any other party…

I think it will (change)… as the nature of society is changing… in mainstream professions also, we are beginning to see the difference. So, I think that in politics, we will do the same… Everything has its own cycle… earlier you could say that educated people like us are not seen in the field of politics. But when AAP came into the picture, people like us became mainstream politicians.

Second, unlike a lot of other parties, many of AAP’s volunteers are women… who come from very normal backgrounds. They are homemakers, studying in colleges, having jobs… You would see far more women in the AAP cadre than you would see in any other party.

How do you view Congress’s campaign and would the AAP be open to outside support from it to form the government if the situation arises?

I don’t think there is much to be said about Congress’s campaign. Congress does not have a significant cadre in Delhi at present… I know that they have struggled to find candidates… As far as Delhi’s politics goes, Congress is not a significant player. The Delhi election is a direct fight between AAP and BJP. If I remember… in the 2020 election, Congress (candidates) lost deposit… in 68 or 69 of the 70 seats… I don’t think the situation is going to be very different this time.

Does the INDIA bloc survive after these polls?

I think that we will see (depending on) how things move forward… we will see once the elections are over… But it is very unfortunate… You have Congress leaders, for example, Sandeep Dikshit, who is constantly attacking Arvind Kejriwal. He is contesting from the New Delhi constituency, he went to the L-G with a complaint against Kejriwal, but they are not uttering a word against the BJP.

For example, (BJP New Delhi candidate) Parvesh Verma is openly flouting all rules – distributing money, bedsheets and shoes. Everybody has seen it, right? Has Sandeep Dikshit or the Congress spoken a word against him? No. So, what does that go to show? It almost shows… as if there’s a collusion between BJP and Congress.

What about Rahul Gandhi’s comments on Kejriwal and AAP in his maiden rally?

Why are Congress leaders not attacking BJP? Why are they only speaking out against AAP? So, this is definitely a question. For example, when (BJP Kalkaji candidate) Ramesh Bidhuri made that comment (‘will make roads of Kalkaji as smooth as Gandhi’s cheeks if elected’) about (Congress MP) Priyanka Gandhi, everyone in AAP condemned it. When Bidhuri, the following day, made a comment [‘(Atishi) Marlena has changed her father… earlier, it was Marlena, now it has become (Atishi) Singh’] about me, no one in the Congress spoke against it.

Has the MCD coming to AAP been a pyrrhic victory? The MCD has not been able to function despite AAP having a majority in the House.

It depends on area to area. For example, AAP councillors have a good ground connect in their areas. It definitely adds to the positivity that exists for AAP because people can see that they are at least trying…

Yes, there may be bigger issues – the mountain of garbage/landfill has not been removed fully, bio-mining has not happened to the extent we would have wanted, the Standing Committee (of MCD) has not been formed. But when you call an AAP councilor or MLA, they show up at your doorstep to help you do your work… people do appreciate it.

You were speaking about the attack from the Opposition, especially Bidhuri. The BJP also upped the ante yesterday with the Afzal Guru narrative…

BJP has no narrative in this election. It has no vision for Delhi and has not done anything for the city in the last 10 years. After 10 years, the Prime Minister has laid the foundation stone for three colleges. This is their achievement…. Also only the foundation stone has been laid, construction will go on for three-four years, then teachers will be appointed in another two-three years. So these colleges are not going to start for another five-seven years.

BJP has been in power at the Centre over the last 10 years. Why are they not going to the people of Delhi with everything that they have done? Why are they asking for votes by hurling abuses at us? If you were to see the entire narrative of the BJP, it is to attack Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi, AAP and the Delhi government.

What is BJP’s vision? Who is the CM face? If people of Delhi elect BJP, is Ramesh Bidhuri going to be the CM? People want to know this, right? Because that is going to impact their choice of whom they vote for…

BJP has not even, in all of this time, presented any vision for Delhi. Now two weeks before the election, they are releasing some ‘Sankalp Patra’, which is basically a copy-paste of everything the AAP has been doing for 10 years. So, what is its vision for Delhi? Nothing. Their only vision, from morning to evening… is to abuse Kejriwal… What have they done in 10 years?

In the next possible term of your government, what do you foresee your role to be? Also, how would you deal with ‘an obstructionist LG’, a different government at the Centre and an allegedly non-compliant bureaucracy? How will you get work done?

I think we will see once AAP wins the election… As far as the obstructionist approach (of L-G is concerned), that is likely to get reduced substantially after we win. Why was there an attempt at obstructionism? So that he (Kejriwal) would lose the election. BJP’s plan was to stop work, arrest AAP ministers, and stop the work in the health and education sectors. When they could not do this, they arrested Kejriwal, to bring the government to a standstill. That was the entire strategy of the BJP. But it hasn’t succeeded… despite all their attempts, we have been able to deliver on the governance front.

Yes, we may not have been able to deliver some agendas, but by and large there is no anti-incumbency against our government. Why? Because we have been able to deliver on governance.

It’s not as if people in Delhi don’t know others who live in Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Noida and Greater Noida. They know how many powercuts there were in the summer, but Delhi was the only state, which in peak summer, in 52 degrees Celsius, with 8500 MW peak demand, was able to provide 24×7 electricity. So, the people of Delhi know that we have delivered.

The PM may stand on stage and say that the education sector has been destroyed. But the parents whose children study in government schools know how schools has changed.

BJP may hold press conferences and say that mohalla clinics are in a dilapidated condition but the lakhs of people, especially women, who get free treatment, medicines and tests done at mohalla clinics know what these are worth. The lives of women have changed because they can go to work, colleges… They can also indulge in leisure activities because buses are free…

Kalkaji Temple is in my constituency. Many women who come there say that we can easily visit the temple since we do not need to ask anyone for money… we can just board a bus and come.

So, the lived experience is what makes people support us. This entire obstructionism – make the bureaucracy stall work, make L-G stall work, arrest the health minister, education minister and chief minister – at the end of it all, the people of Delhi still love Arvind Kejriwal, they still love AAP and are happy with the work we have done.

What is the next big shift in the education sector?

We have been able to make a very good start on pushing entrepreneurship in our schools. I think pushing entrepreneurship in our higher education institutions is going to be our big push. We have finally been able to start our business blasters programme in ITIs, universities, higher education institutions…

Otherwise, the entire focus of young people is to finish college and start looking for jobs… There are no jobs in the country right now. Turning students leaving higher education institutions into job creators, that, I feel, will be our major push.

AAP has filed complaints regarding deletion of names from electoral rolls and other poll-related issues. What specific apprehensions regarding the electoral system do you have?

I have to give credit to the Election Commission of India (ECI). They have been extremely responsive. When this issue of deletions came up in Shahdara constituency, we wanted to meet the commissioners. Within hours, an order was issued by the EC, stating that if any verification of deleted names in electoral rolls has to happen, booth level officers – EC’s field staff – will have to be accompanied by the booth level agents of all parties.

This basically meant that the system couldn’t be manipulated. I feel this was an extremely important intervention and we are extremely grateful to the EC.

There are definitely questions about the neutrality of the officers involved. For example, in the New Delhi constituency, we saw that about 50-odd people put in applications seeking deletions of 5,000 voters. When those applicants were called for verification, not all of them turned up… I think 17 turned up. Nearly all said that they had not filed any such applications.

Now, what should the district election officer have done? He should have immediately registered an FIR against unknown people, gotten a criminal investigation conducted… conducted verification of all those objectors who had filed a large number of applications. But they did not do it. This definitely raises questions about the neutrality of some officers.

The EC has been extremely positive, extremely constructive and repeatedly given us time at extremely short notice… they have been extremely responsive in terms of trying to resolve any electoral malpractices.

The issue of corruption, including at Kejriwal’s previous residence, has been a major plank the Opposition has used against you. How do you navigate questions around corruption? Do you think that there is any traction regarding corruption and AAP leaders being sent to jail?

There is only one thing that people say: AAP leaders have been harassed a lot…

Say whatever you wish in press conferences, arrest AAP leaders… but how are you going to convince that woman that Arvind Kejriwal, because of whom she does not have to stand six hours in the sun waiting for a tanker to turn up so that she can fill a can of water and take it back to her jhuggi… that woman who now has a water pipeline coming to her doorstep. She knows that her life has changed because of Kejriwal…

How is the BJP going to convince those parents whose children used to study in that absolutely dilapidated school with dirty toilets, no teachers, no proper desks, no labs… who are now studying in this high quality infrastructure, a (government) school having all facilities… whose principal perhaps has visited Singapore (for training), a teacher from where has taken training at IIM Ahmedabad? Where you have a synthetic athletics training track in the school? Theirs is a lived experience.

In the last 10 years, the ordinary people of Delhi know that their lives have been transformed. They know that corrupt leaders are those who put money in their own pockets, not those who put money in the pockets of the people of Delhi.

BJP may harp in their press conferences and their LED (campaign) vans… the only thing the people of Delhi care about is how their lives have been transformed by Kejriwal and AAP and how Kejriwal and AAP have been persecuted because they dared to try to transform the lives of ordinary people.