Friday, 17 May, 2024
Arvind Kejriwal has been invited by the High Commissioner of Singapore to attend the event
A veritable war of words, egos and political “prestige” has broken out between the Aam Aadmi Party Supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the central government that work through the Lieutenant Governor who happen to be Vinai Kumar Saxena, a rare “corporate technocrat” to hold such a post. Singapore is hosting a conference of Mayors of some big cities from across the world towards the end of this month. Arvind Kejriwal has been invited by the High Commissioner of Singapore to attend the event. He is also scheduled to address the gathering of mayors on August 1. The Delhi government and its top minsters like Manish Sisodia have written twice to both the Lt. Governor and even to the Ministry of External Affairs to expedite formal approval for the trip. The Lt. Governor has declined twice stating that it is unbecoming of a chief minister to attend a conference of mayors. Mr. Kejriwal, who has a natural penchant for wading into controversies ha now threatened to ignore the “diktats” of the central government and travel to Singapore. Quite naturally, it has triggered a massive controversy.
As repeatedly stated, India Tracker is more interested in data rather than political or other controversies. What do ordinary Indians think about the issue. The results of an all India survey conducted by C Voter-India tracker are not good news for the BJP. Overall, more than 63% of the respondents clearly tasted that Mr. Kejriwal hound be allowed to go to Singapore. As the accompanying chart reveals, the survey throws up some interesting if not astonishing results. For instance, more than two thirds of NDA supporters among the respondents want Mr. Kejriwal to attend the Singapore conference while just about 55% of opposition supporters feel the same. More than 3 out of every four urban respondent wants Mr. Kejriwal to go while a minority of 45% of rural respondents feel the same. But the stark contrast is in response from different income groups. While 49% of higher income respondents want the visit to happen, 69% of lower income respondents feel the same. Lower income voters outnumber their higher income counterparts by a huge margin. Quite clearly, at least when it come to thi controversy, Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP are winning this battle of perception.
A massive victory in the Punjab assembly elections early this gave clear Ignacio that AAP is no longer just a Delhi based party. It did collect respectable vote shares in the Goa and Uttarakhand assembly elections, killing any Congress chances of the Congress coming back to power in the two states. It won one seat in Guwahati Municipal elections while the Congress scored zero. It is campaigning aggressively in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat where assembly elections are due later this year. It ha even one one municipal mayoral post in Madhya Pradesh just recently. Right after the civic elections in Madhya Pradesh, a nationwide C Voter-India Tracker Urey asked a simple question: the AAP will be a bigger threat to which party: Congress or BJP. While 60% of opposition supporters considered AAP to be a bigger threat to the Congress, almost 62% thought it posed a bigger threat to the BJP. Interesting time and years ahead.
