Kejriwal’s instruction to ministers from custody leave ED puzzled

What’s happening in Delhi? If someone can decipher the new method of governance which is being followed by AAP and explain in detail it should be incorporated as the most important chapter in Public Administration courses and a specialised training session for IAS trainees should be held on this.

Ever since the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in the Delhi liquor scam and sent to ED custody, AAP has been claiming that he was giving instructions on different issues and that for him people matter more than his arrest. Fine it’s rare to see a leader who says people matter these days because for all leaders of all parties people matter only before elections and they feel that money can buy those votes.

But the biggest puzzle which even ED has not been able to answer so far is how does Kejriwal send instructions to his ministers? For a CM to function efficiently, he needs to have necessary ground level information from the officials like Chief Secretary or Principal Secretary of the concerned department, an official note from the department which the CM has to study and give instructions under his signature. This is not private fiefdom where one can give oral instructions.

The ED says it has not given him any stationary or computer or mobile phone. There is no indication of any of the officials meeting him during mulakat time. Then how are the instructions being given when Delhi CM is in the custody of ED?

This has led to all kinds of speculations. Some say that he was sending instructions through the lawyers who meet him or his family members who meet him in the evening for 30 minutes each. Presuming that it is being done so can that become an official decision? That certainly is not the job of lawyers and how can it be legal?

It was more surprising that Delhi health Minister Bharadwaj based on the “direction given by CM on Mohalla clinics has asked officials to convene a session of Delhi Assembly on Wednesday. “The Chief Secretary has been ordered to inform the status of free medicines and free tests in hospitals and mohalla clinics and if there is any deficiency, then come up with a complete plan to correct it. So that I can inform the assembly,” he said in a post on X in Hindi.

Sharing details of the chief minister’s order, Bharadwaj told a press conference that healthcare in Delhi has always been Kejriwal’s priority. He said Kejriwal believes that even though he has been arrested, people of Delhi should not face any problem in getting free tests and medicines in government hospitals and mohalla clinics.

This is something very interesting, What kind of sanctity such oral instructions can have? What kind of governance is that? Can every leader evolve his own style of functioning? Giving oral instructions if it is true and a Minister asking Chief Secretary to convene Assembly session is something which is never heard before. If this continues, it can become a new precedent in governance. I really pity the Jharkhand CM who resigned from the post when ED went there to arrest him.

Another thing that baffles the common man is if he is arrested by any probe agency ED or any other agency, will he get similar facilities like meeting family members every day, getting food, bed sheets etc from home, newspaper facility etc. if so how can we claim that all are equal before law? These can be good questions for SUDOKO kind of puzzles. Hope they do not remain as puzzles forever.