Day one of the three-day Delhi Assembly session was adjourned on Monday after MLAs of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) stormed the well of the House protesting against Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena’s alleged interference in the working of the Delhi government.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal then led his MLAs to Raj Niwas raising slogans against the L-G’s objection to a proposal to send teachers to Finland for training, and sought a meeting with the Lieutenant-Governor. Sources in the L-G House said the Lieutenant-Governor had agreed to meet the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister, but the meeting could not take place as Mr. Kejriwal insisted that all his MLAs and Ministers be allowed to attend it.
Last week, the AAP government had alleged that the L-G rejected the proposed training of primary teaching in-charges and educators of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) in Finland, and termed it an attack on Delhi’s education model.
Raj Niwas officials reiterated that the L-G has not rejected the proposal and the government was asked to assess the effectiveness of such programmes. Any statement on the contrary is deliberately misleading and mischievously motivated, they added.
Mr. Kejriwal said, “It is regrettable that the L-G refused to meet the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, along with the Ministers and the MLAs. We represent the two crore people of Delhi. It is not right for the L-G to consider himself superior and to insult the people of Delhi.”
He asked who gave the L-G the right to stop Delhi’s education revolution. “If the elected government is sending teachers to Finland with taxpayers’ money, why does the L-G have a problem with it? People of Delhi elected their Chief Minister and gave him a majority. If he is unable to send teachers for training, it calls into question the purpose of such elections and democratic processes,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
Raj Niwas officials said the government has been advised to evaluate the proposal in totality and record the cost-benefit analysis in terms of impact on quality of education being provided to students in order to assess the effectiveness of various foreign training programmes for teachers undertaken in the past.
Mr. Kejriwal said Finland is widely regarded as the country with the best education system in the world and that it is concerning that the L-G does not appear to be committed to providing a good education for the children of Delhi.
“On July 4, 2018, the Supreme Court had ruled that the Lieutenant-Governor does not have the power to make decisions on his own. Yet he is preventing teachers from going to Finland for training. The L-G’s actions suggest that he does not respect the Supreme Court’s ruling. This attitude is detrimental to the principles of democracy and the Constitution,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
He added that despite this ruling, the L-G has been halting various initiatives in Delhi and must realise that the orders of the Supreme Court are binding on all.
Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva said the behaviour of the Chief Minister and his MLAs, both in the Assembly and outside the L-G House, clearly shows “they are anarchists with no respect for constitutional posts or the Assembly”.
