Delhi Politics : 10 Turning Points

By Deepak Parvatiyar

January 1, 2015

1.  Statehood : After Independence, Delhi was accorded the status of a ‘C’ category state with limited legislative powers that ensured that Delhi, as the National Capital, largely remained a chief commissioner’s regime. The legislative powers of Delhi Assembly were further curtailed under Section 21 of the Part C States Act, 1951, and subsequently, following the recommendation of the States Reorganisation Commission, Delhi was finally made a Union Territory following a Constitutional amendment through States Reorganisation Act, 1956.

The turning point though came on 14th December 1989 when the Sarkaria Committee (later on called Balakrishan Committee) recommended the provision of Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers and a special status to the National Capital. Following the recommendations, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 came into existence.

This led to Delhi becoming a city state with an elected government with legislative powers except law and order which remained with the central Government.

The NCT of Delhi came into force in 1993 and following the state elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government in the city state under the Chief Ministership of Madanlal Khurana that year.

2. 1984 anti- Sikh riots: The assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984 following the military operation to flush out separatists from Golden Temple in Amritsar led to the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi that spread to other parts of the country.

The shameful incident that allegedly had the blessings of some Delhi Congress leaders still remains a blot on the national capital and the issue of punishment to the perpetrators surfaces as a hot issue every election in the national capital even three decades after the riots. The riots proved a turning point for Sikhs and Delhi has since been divided into pre-riots and post-riots era, socially as well as politically.

3.  Soaring Onion Prices: The rising onion price proved a turning point for the crisis-ridden BJP government in Delhi. It not just cost it two CMs and the government in the 1998 state elections, but became a symbol of rising price and food inflation even till today. Just before the rise in Onion prices, the ruling BJP was grappling with internal trouble. CM Khurana had faced corruption charges and had to be replaced by Sahib Singh Verma in 1996. However, within two and a half years, soaring onion prices cost dearly to Verma who was replaced by Sushma Swaraj as CM. She too failed in checking the onion price rise and finally the BJP lost the state Assembly elections over the onion price issue.

4. Shiela Dikshit’s Three-Decade Long Rule :  BJP’s downfall marked the rise of Shiela Dikshit who was to rule Delhi for the next fifteen years (1998 to 2013). After a decade at the helm, not many pundits had given chance to Shiela to win in 2008. Yet, she won the third time braving the anti-incumbency factor that arose largely because of the perception of the Congress’s soft approach to terror. Just before the state elections, serial blasts had rocked the national Capital in September 2008 in which 30 people were killed and over 90, injured. Earlier in 2005 too Delhi had witnessed similar serial blasts in which 66 persons were killed and over 200 injured. The BJP made terrorism a major poll plank. However, the Dikshit government’s win for the record third time was soon to be a turning point following the Commonwealth Games fiasco in 2010 and charges of corruption against Dikshit herself. The Congress got completely routed in the next assembly elections in 2013.

5. The Commonwealth Games fiasco: The 2010 Commonwealth Games was supposed to change the face of New Delhi as a modern international city. Instead, it turned into a fiasco as the Games’ organising committee faced serious corruption charges. There were delays in the construction of many Games’ venues and even the Games’ Village. There were charges of infrastructural compromise, and the Dikshit government too was dragged into the controversy. It turned out to be a rallying point for the anti-corruption forces that united to ensure that the Congress was defeated in the 2013 elections and a big turning point for the fortunes of the Congress, as its downslide began both in Delhi and national politics.

6. Anna’s indefinite fast in support of anti-graft legislation in August 2011: Social activist Anna Hazare’s fast unto death at Delhi’s Ramlila Ground to demand a Lokpal Bill in August 2011 caught the imagination of the entire nation grappling with issues of corruption involving elected representatives. Though the tenor was national, it impacted local Delhi politics in a big way and finally resulted in the ouster of the Diskhit government in the 2013 assembly elections. Even the Aam Aadmi Party, floated by Anna’s associate during the movement, Arvind Kejriwal, was an outcome of Anna’s anti-corruption movement.

7. Nirbhaya case:  The incident of gang rape of paramedical student inside a moving bus in South Delhi on 16th December 2012 proved to be a turning point not just for the Delhi police but also for the criminal justice system of the country. The brutal rape and the subsequent death of the victim created an unprecedented uproar on the streets of Delhi and at other parts of the country too. It escalated the demand to bring the Delhi police force under the state government, and brought the issue of women’s safety in the national capital under close scrutiny of the people as well. The incident was among the reasons for the fall of the Congress government both in Delhi as well as at the Centre.

8. Emergence of Aam Aadmi Party:  No other greenhorn political party had made such an impact over the issue of corruption as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) when it won 28 seats and stood second to the BJP in the 2013 Delhi assembly elections. It formed the government with the unconditional support of the Congress and its leader, Arvind Kejriwal, became a middle-class hero.  Yet, the government lasted only for 49 days and the party had a disastrous debut in the 2014 general elections where it could not win a single seat from Delhi though it did win four seats – all from Punjab. However, the emergence of the AAP proved a turning point in Indian politics as it offered hope to the common man on the streets that someday even they can be a part of Indian politics or even become a chief minister or prime minister!

9. The 2013 state Assembly elections: The 2013 state assembly elections in Delhi did prove another turning point for Indian politics where clean politics took precedence over all other issues. The unexpected victory of the AAP, which had made corruption its main election plank, was a case in point. Yet, the elections also saw the highest poll code violations in Delhi’s electoral history and  346 FIRs were registered against the political parties during the elections with the AAP leading the pack!

10. Controversial Statements and Trilokpuri communal flare-up: The intended polarisation of votes inherent in some of the controversial statements made by BJP ministers like Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and the communal flare up at Trilokpuri in East Delhi could well be another turning point of Delhi politics. The nondescript Delhi neighbourhood is home to about 1,50,000 Dalits and Muslims. The locality had  witnessed one of the worst episodes of the anti-Sikh riots - 350 of the more than 2,700 Sikh victims were killed here. With Muslims and Dalits being eyed as important vote-banks by rival political parties in the ensuing Delhi elections, Trilokpuri incidents may affect the forthcoming polls outcome.