Amid a walkout by Opposition parties, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was passed in Lok Sabha on Thursday. The bill was passed after a nearly four-hour-long debate which was replied to by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
If passed in the Rajya Sabha too, the bill will replace an existing ordinance that overrides a Supreme Court order giving the Delhi government control over most services. The ordinance has been a major flashpoint between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP and the Centre.
The Centre on May 19 had promulgated the ordinance which creates the authority for the transfer and postings of Group A officers in Delhi. The ordinance was brought in days after the Supreme Court had ruled that Delhi’s elected government has control over services except in matters of law and order, police, and land.
“Today India is witnessing the dual face of opposition. For them, the bills for public welfare are not important. To ensure a small party does not leave their alliance, they have joined forces”, Shah said in a tweet after the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha.
After Lok Sabha passed the bill, Arvind Kejriwal lashed out at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged people not to believe anything that the PM says.
“BJP promised time and again to grant full statehood to Delhi. In 2014, Modiji himself said that on becoming the prime Minister, he would give full statehood to Delhi. But today these people stabbed the people of Delhi in the back. Don’t believe anything said by Modiji from now on,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.
