CPI(M) DELHI state committee outrightly rejects the undemocratic and authoritarian takeover of Delhi administration by the BJP led central government through four amendments brought to the Government of NCT of Delhi Act 1991 through a bill slated to be placed in the Lok Sabha. The bill in the pretext of giving clarity to the Supreme Court order of July 4, 2018, and February 14, 2019, goes against its spirit as it had upheld that the lieutenant governor is bound by the ‘aid and advice of the popularly elected government. The amendment to section 21 of the 1991 act in which the “the expression ‘government’ referred to in any law to be made by the legislative assembly shall mean the lieutenant governor” has grave implications. The amendment to section 44 directly contradicts Justice Chandrachud’s separate opinion that interpreted the phrase "any matter" in Article 239A(4) as not "every matter". The people of Delhi have not forgotten the gross inaction of the Delhi Police under the union home ministry during the communal violence which led to the loss of 54 innocent lives in north east Delhi in February 2020.

The BJP has repeatedly promised the people of Delhi that if voted to power at the centre it would ensure full statehood for Delhi. It has brazenly betrayed this promise. Its moves to further truncate the limited powers of the elected state government. These dastardly attacks are part and parcel of both the authoritarian drive of the Modi government as well its increasing attacks on the federal structure.

The CPI(M) Delhi state committee demanded immediate withdrawal of the bill attacking the rights of the Delhi state government introduced in the Lok Sabha. It reiterated the demand for full statehood to Delhi and called upon the people of Delhi to raise their powerful voice against the moves to render the elected state government a powerless entity beholden to the tender mercies of the central government through its points-man, the lieutenant governor.