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HomePoliticsFive things Arvind Kejriwal can learn from his predecessor Sheila Dikshit

Five things Arvind Kejriwal can learn from his predecessor Sheila Dikshit

Unlike the incumbent, the former chief minister had more than a working relationship with her bureaucrats & cordial ties with the Centre.

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New Delhi: From a professional working relationship with her bureaucrats, being accessible to the media to even maintaining cordial ties with a BJP government at the Centre, former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit ran her governments in a far less brusque manner than incumbent chief minister Arvind Kejriwal now does.

The senior Congress leader, who passed away Saturday at the age of 81, served as the chief minister of Delhi for three consecutive terms. She is widely credited with the improving the infrastructure of the national capital. From building roads and flyovers, to privatising power, Dikshit launched a number of developmental projects since first coming to power in 1998.

She initiated green reforms in the public transport sector, successfully accomplishing the shift from polluting vehicles to a CNG-based fleet. She hastened the flagship Delhi Metro project, oversaw the creation of a network of flyovers in a city stressed with high population density and heavy traffic, and also led the phasing out of the ‘killer’ blue line buses that had claimed several lives on the roads.

Here are few lessons incumbent chief minister Arvind Kejriwal can learn from the Congress stalwart.


Also read: Sheila Dikshit always loved a challenge — even when Delhi’s young voters replaced her with AAP


Treatment of bureaucracy

Diskhit’s style of governance was one of least interference and maximum impact. Kejriwal, who has often come under the scanner for his brusque treatment of civil servants, could do well to take a leaf out of the late CM’s book.

“Unlike others, Sheila Dikshit was a hands-on CM but not breathing down your neck CM. She gave her officers the space to work, and never interfered unless necessary,” a senior civil servant who worked with Dikshit for four years told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity.

Kejriwal’s government, on the other hand, made the headlines last year after two Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s legislators allegedly assaulted former Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash. The AAP chief’s tussle with the Centre has also revolved around taking control of the service appointments in the capital, which he claims has hampered governance. He has consistently accused the executive of siding with the union government.

Working with the opposition

The first time Dikshit ever took charge of the national capital was in 1998, while BJP’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee governed at the centre.

None of this, however, ever came in the way of the developmental reforms taking place in the capital. It was in her first stint that Dikshit took on the transport mafia and switched Delhi buses to the green fuel, CNG. Despite opposition on various fronts, she worked with the central government to undertake a number of ambitious infrastructural projects, including the construction of flyovers in the capital.

For Kejriwal, it appears, the fact that Delhi is not a state provides the perfect outlay for hampered governance. The Centre, Kejriwal has been alleging, interferes in the AAP’s ability to take decisions since it has control over land, law and order, and service appointments.

Sharing power

Ever since AAP’s formation in 2013, many senior party leaders have quit the political outfit. Their reason — the AAP chief’s “dictatorial attitude.” After Kejriwal’s election as CM, many urged him to step down as party president and cede the post to another leader. But Kejriwal refused. Even within the government, many legislators lament the loss of the democratic nature of the party, saying Kejriwal takes all decisions behind closed doors.

But Dikshit never faced such a problem. Congress leaders Ajay Maken and Arvinder Lovely also had stints as Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs.


Also read: Sheila Dikshit was a powerful chief minister who knew the importance of having fun


Always a fighter never a victim

Of the many things being recalled about Delhi chief minister, her indomitable fighting spirit has found a mention everywhere. Even at 81, Dikshit took over as the DPCC chief very close to the Lok Sabha election this year. After Delhi was rocked by protests in the wake of Jyoti Singh’s brutal rape and murder, Dikshit kept her composure, even shouldering some of the blame which, in her autobiography, she said the national government was unwilling to take responsibility for.

Despite being defeated by AAP in 2015, Dikshit nurtured the hope that the young voters returning to her in the next election.

But Kejriwal is on the other end of the spectrum. From dharnas outside the L-G’s office, to repeatedly asserting the central government is blocking AAP’s decisions.

Relationship with the media

Another facet that two leaders differ on is their treatment of the media. The AAP government despite promising transparency before it came to power has virtually shunned the media throughout its tenure.

Dikshit, however, was always accessible. She was known for having a cordial relationship with the media, even going to the extent of offering journalists breakfast at her official residence.

“I remember there’d be times when reporters would call late in the evening for a story,” the civil servant mentioned above said. “She would be unavailable after 10, but would ensure she called them back at 7:30 the next morning.”

“They’d be too groggy to ask her any questions, but always appreciated the gesture,” he added.


Also read: After Modi, now Arvind Kejriwal wants to forcibly retire corrupt Delhi officials


 

* The article has been updated to correct the fact that Dikshit’s first tenure began under the Vajpayee government. 

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9 COMMENTS

  1. Everything is fine if a CM doesn’t have to deliver. Officers, politicians, contractors are all happy. Sheila Dixit had no will to fix ever increasing electricity/water tarriffs , PrivateSchool fees, corruption EVERY GOVT office. Kejriwal disturbed the status quo these VVIPs lived in. Did she has any shame to accept that she did nothing to fix Govt hospitals, tests. People were helpless to spend thousands at Private clinics/hospitals. WHY??

  2. What Kejriwal needs to learn is positive leadership, situational leadership. His is the case of a revolutionary turned into a despot. If given a free hand, Kejriwal would be to Delhi what Fidel Castro was to Cuba.

  3. It is correct Delhi CM could have learnt few good tips from late Sheila Dikshit. But IAC was making unsubstainted corruption charges on her, the media joined the chorus along with him and BJP. It was different matter when IAC got converted as AAP, BJP was in for a rude shock when they went against Modi and BJP, he is being punished by BJP until now.

  4. The most important lesson that Kejriwal can learn (and I one that he never will) is to stop pandering. She put the power supply on a sustainable path – he wanted the state to take over the power distribution and gives free power. She worked on the transportation infrastructure including bus fleet and the metro – he hasn’t added a single bus and his proposal for free metro have now set it on the path to its destruction.

  5. Let Me guess
    Looting, sycophancy, Brazen desire for power, no retirement till death, and befriend your accusers.
    I think kejriwal has already learnt them

  6. When AAP swept to power in Feb 2015, had posted that CM Arvind Kejriwal should drop in occasionally for a cup of coffee with his predecessor, she had so much wisdom and experience to share. However, to be fair to him, he has not been allowed to function with even as much autonomy as the Constitution confers upon Delhi.

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