People of Delhi Know AAP Is Fighting for Them: Atishi to HT

People of Delhi Know AAP Is Fighting for Them: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will regain control of the Capital, according to Delhi Chief Minister Atishi. In an interview, she discussed the state government vs. LG deadlock, her learnings as CM over the past four months, and her efforts to get governance back on track following Arvind Kejriwal's imprisonment last year.

The AAP has been in power for 10 years. Isn’t it facing anti-incumbency in Delhi?

Ten years is definitely a long time, but a very large section of people in society have fundamentally transformed lives by the AAP government in Delhi.

Although ten years is undoubtedly a long period, the AAP government in Delhi has radically changed the lives of a sizable portion of the populace.

You must comprehend how severely divided Delhi has always been in order to appreciate Arvind Kejriwal's and the AAP's appeal. While some areas of Delhi have always had good facilities, residents of JJ clusters and unauthorised colonies did not. These places were not previously funded by the government.

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A decade ago, a woman from a slum would spend a good part of her day waiting for a water tanker. Now, she has water coming in a pipeline at her doorstep. This is not something she is going to forget in two years or five years or 10 years.

Think of a lower middle-class family who didn’t have money to send all their children to private schools. They have seen the transformation.

There was a time Delhi had “tent wala schools” (school in a tent). Recently, I asked a Class 8 student which school he goes to, and he said, “building wala school,” and then he said, “now all schools have buildings”.

Then why have you changed so many incumbent MLAs?

One of the biggest reasons why some MLAs have been changed is because they didn’t make themselves available in their constituency, or didn’t have any ground connect. Overall, there is no anti-incumbency against the party. People do appreciate our work. If there is any anti-incumbency, it is specifically against some candidates.

You were a first-time MLA who was made chief minister four months ago in the middle of a lot of turbulence. What challenges did you face?

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The six months before these four months were far more challenging. We all know Arvind Kejriwal was arrested to stop the work that the Delhi government was doing. It’s a fact that work did come to a standstill at that time, and a lot of things like road repair and maintenance, and water supply got deeply impacted at that time. In the last four months, what we have been able to do is bring governance back on track.

Do you think the arrest of the top AAP leaders made the election harder to fight for the party?

No election is ever easy because the amount of money power and the muscle power that the BJP puts into any election is incredible. That always has to be combated, along with WhatsApp university through which they spread disinformation at a fast pace.

I think that the way our leaders were arrested has created sympathy for us. People can see that Kejriwal and the AAP are fighting for the people of Delhi, and they can also see that the CBI and ED raids have found nothing. No property papers or cash has been found with any AAP leader.

The BJP calls you “temporary CM.” Has this undermined your authority?

The BJP should first tell us if it’s possible in their party that an ordinary volunteer who joined in 2013, who comes from no political background or wealth or vote bank, can in 2024 become the CM? It can’t happen and this is their problem because when someone like me becomes the CM of Delhi, their leaders also question them.

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