The Supreme Court of India on Monday declined to provide any immediate relief to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been in jail since March 21, when he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi Liquor Scandal. Right now, he is under judicial custody.
In the meantime, another Delhi court extended his judicial custody till April 23. That means he will continue to remain behind bars for at least one more week.
He has been “running” the government, as he claims to, from inside the jail by issuing directions through his wife.
The reality is that with an absent, jailed Chief Minister, the Delhi government continues to remain in suspended animation.
The Chief Minister’s role is wide-ranging. It involves a lot of decision-making preceded by a lot of meetings. Cabinet meetings are only one part of his job. Normally a Chief Minister gets daily briefings from senior officers like the Director General of Police, the Chief Secretary and various other administrative heads, besides the ministers.
In Delhi, however, the police are under the direct control of the central government. There will obviously be no regular briefings from the DGP or the Commissioner of Police, who heads the Delhi Police.
It can be anybody’s guess that no government can be run from inside a jail.
Even Lalu Prasad Yadav resigned from his position as the Chief Minister although, like Kejriwal, he claimed he would run the government from jail.
Just a few months before Kejriwal’s arrest, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren also resigned before his arrest, after it became inevitable.
Senior jail officials have already clarified that nobody can run a government from inside the jail. Inside the jail, anyone who is imprisoned is a prisoner with the same rights and restrictions mandated for others. Kejriwal obviously cannot claim any special privileges or relaxations.
The Constitution of India is silent on the issue of whether a sitting Chief Minister if jailed, can continue to hold his position or should resign or be dismissed. Kejriwal is only trying to exploit the “constitutional silence” on the matter to his advantage. But even “constitutional silence” will be a matter of judicial interpretation.
At the same time, there is a provision for government officials, often called public servants, that in case they remain in jail for more than 48 hours, they are either suspended from their jobs or are deemed to be suspended.
Obviously a Chief Minister is also a public servant. But whether such a rule can be invoked in the case of Kejriwal is a matter of discussion.
Normally any other leader from any other political party would have resigned from the position themselves or the political party would have asked the Chief Minister to resign. In this case, Kejriwal is showing complete defiance in his characteristic manner.
Moreover, he is himself the chief of the Aam Aadmi Party. Who can ask him to resign?
Momentary defiance is fine for political posturing. It does not carry along very far. There should be no reason for Kejriwal not to take a “sabbatical”, till he remains in jail.
However, it is strange and surprising that he does not want to take any chance with the Chief Ministership, lest the government and also the party slip out of his hands.
In a democracy, public perception matters a lot, irrespective of the facts. Kejriwal is already playing a victim alleging political vendetta.
Two of his ministers are aggressively defending him. So is the AAP’s social media team, crying persecution while maligning the ruling BJP at the centre.
Questions have started being asked as to why Kejriwal stuck to the chair of the Chief Minister when he cannot sit on it since he is in jail.
Ideally, he should have maintained a pecking order as to who should be second in command. Earlier it was Manish Sisodia. Since he continues to be in jail, there is no “designated” number three in the party, who could be handed over the reins to take control.
Delhi government remains in a state of “suspended animation”, firstly because the head of the government is in jail and second the “leftover” government is completely occupied with defending Kejriwal in the public space.
As the events unfold, pressure will likely mount on the AAP and Kejriwal to nominate someone else as the Chief Minister. Kejriwal in this case has proved no better than anyone else, rather, the worse, worse than Lalu Prasad Yadav, as he unlike Kejriwal, also resigned when jailed.
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