On 8th of February, Delhi saw its election for the 70 seats for MLAs and the contest for Chief Ministerial post of the union territory and 11th of February saw the magnificent victory of Aam Aadmi Party. The election confirmed the return of Arvind Kejriwal as the Chief Minister of Delhi third consecutive time and built his image as a dominant leader and put Aam Aadmi Party in the contention along with big parties and has powered the party’s potential to become a national party.
Arvind Kejriwal, although had tried his hand to become a national leader in 2015 when he went onto contest as an alternative to Narendra Modi for the PM Candidate where he faced handsome defeat and put him back to square one. Experts called this an amateur move, and regarded his as “too ambitious too soon” which he was, and he has admitted. But now that AAP has won once again, its ambitions to turn into a national power can come true, but to become so, it needs a sheer amount of planning, ground force as vast as of BJP’s and Congress’ and faster advances.
AAP’s party politics is still not sorted where at one point we see leaders like Kumar Vishwas and Yogendra Yadav leaving the party, we also hear headlines of criminal charges against many of its candidates, corruption’s allegations and what not. But, now that it has come to power again, what it really needs to do is resume from where it left its DELHI plans, these are the issues that should be on the priority list:
Pollution:
Delhi’s biggest challenge right now is the air pollution in the region which AAP has been saying is on their checklist but has not seen much improvement. The air quality in Delhi, according to a WHO survey of 1,650 world cities, is the worst of any major city in the world. However the pollution in the city is caused by a variety of things in the neighboring states as well, factors include farmers burning crops, vehicle pollution, cold etc. It will be on the lookout what the government do about this issue and if Centre will be collaborating on the issue, as Arvind Kejriwal has been asking for.
Waste Disposal:
“Why can’t we have waste management plan in Delhi?” asked the Supreme Court expressing anguish at the shocking state of affairs in the capital where indiscriminate waste burning contributes to air pollution. In November 2019 the Supreme Court urged Delhi govt to take necessary measures to make Delhi cleaner and waste-free. There has not been much talk about this in AAP’s pre-electon interviews or post, but there is to be seen what the govt does to tackle the issue.
Women’s safety:
Arvind Kejriwal and his party members have always blamed that the security cautions are such because Delhi Police is not under his authority, and have claimed to do so much about women’s security such as giving free rides in buses and installing CCTVs, but have failed to provide an environment where crimes against women are scarce. CCTVs have not been installed in the number they were promised, street lights are not working at many places. Women’s safety should be this party’s priority which Delhi has been suffering since long.
Sort the DU funds debate:
The AAP government has allotted a piece of land in south Delhi’s Fatehpur Beri area to the Delhi University for opening of a girls’ degree college. Meanwhile, 12 DU colleges are struggling to stay alive due to cash crunch caused by AAP govt. AAP govt has been withholding funds since it says that the delay has occurred because the colleges in question have failed to form governing bodies, while many teaching and non-teaching staff have complained again and again of going through cash crunches and facing delay in payments. Due to this, the concerning colleges have also complained of not being able to better the infrastructure to facilitate more students. Manish Sisodiya, as the Minister of Education which most probably he will be again continuing as, in addition to other dept he supervises, should look into this, and speed up the process.
Although there’s no denying that AAP has done commendable job in sectors of health, education, water, electricity, and the results showed how Delhietes have trusted them with their city, these are some issues that are need to be resolved in the first session itself. AAP’s national ambitions are finally looking to bloom as there is many state parties are copying its governance model, also party’s winning pitch in the elections was the fact that this is the only government whose budget is showing profits in the nation. Well, if it all goes well, AAP can be seen as a serious contender in the Lok Sabha elections as well.
