On Valentine’s Day, has Arvind Kejriwal had a change of heart?

On Wednesday, it was one of those rare moments in politics when a state chief minister came out for an open interaction with citizens. That too in front of TV cameras, journalists, his party legislators and a band of officers.

It was on Valentine’s Day in 2015 when, after clinching a historic mandate in the Delhi Assembly polls, Arvind Kejriwal took oath as Delhi CM. Three years later, Kejriwal and his cabinet took direct questions from Dilliwallahs.

From Valentine’s Day wishes to Mahashivratri greetings, Delhi and its CM interacted on a range of issues, though briefly. While CM Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia took live calls, the questions were listed on Facebook and Twitter. To an extent, at least the callers seemed to be genuine.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi CM, prior to the interactive session, addressed the gathering at the NDMC Convention Centre. Notably, there was something different about Kejriwal’s speech. He was less aggressive, more focused on his work and full of humour and punch lines.

Moreover, there were no direct salvos against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Delhi CM did take on the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but smartly and in humorous tones. It appeared that his speech had been prepared with caution. Or at least Kejriwal and his party tried their best to dispel negativity from their third anniversary.

Before taking the questions, Kejriwal and Sisodia spoke at length about the AAP government’s achievements in the health and education sector in the capital. The Delhi CM emphasised that his government, by the end of four years, would successfully deliver 15,000 classrooms – including the 7,030 already constructed in Delhi government schools. Sisodia, also Delhi’s education minister, added that the numbers would, in fact, increase to 20,000 classrooms.

Kejriwal’s frontal attack on the BJP-led central government made the majority in the audience laugh. “A year-and-a-half after we came to power, they (Delhi Lieutenant Governor-appointed Shunglu Committee) took 404 of our files… they failed to find any corruption in these files. What can be a better certificate of our honesty?” he asked, adding: “Char din ke liye apni files humme dedo, tumhari naani yaad dila denge (give us your (central government) files for four days, we will teach you a lesson).”

Interestingly, it appeared that CM Kejriwal was taking cues from PM Narendra Modi. Throughout his speech, probably for the first time, Kejriwal kept pitting his government’s achievements against the work done by the previous Congress government in 15 years.

For instance, he said: “In 15 years, they built 33 schools, in four years we have built 20 schools.” According to Kejriwal, if the construction of flyovers is the yardstick for development, then AAP has constructed 11 flyovers against the 57 built in 15 years of Congress governance in Delhi.

One of the callers from Delhi University, who identified herself as Kritika, wished “Happy Valentine’s Day” to Kejriwal. The CM blushed and responded to the greeting. She also asked him what the way ahead was in times of hate being spread in society.

The question gave Kejriwal enough ammo to take on the fundamentalist forces. “Nafrat kabhi nafrat ka jawab nahi ho sakti hai (hate can never be an answer to hate). You can win over hate only by spreading love,” he said, adding that everyone will have to speak up against divisive politics.

The building of infrastructure for sports in Delhi, specifically in the rural areas, installation of CCTV cameras, the Odd-Even policy and tackling Delhi’s air pollution were among the issues raised by the citizens.

One of the questions, asked on Twitter, pertained to Delhi’s jhuggis. According to the Twitter user, slum settlements created inconvenience for nearby residential areas and were a challenge to the Swachh Bharat mission. The Delhi CM, not to anyone’s surprise, countered the argument saying that slums can’t just be demolished for two key reasons – one on humanitarian grounds, and the other because the settlements are key contributors to the urban ecosystem. Hence, he said, the government is trying to provide the people resettlement – a challenging task.

Meanwhile, another call gave CM Kejriwal an opportunity to poke transport minister Kailash Gehlot.  The Najafgarh legislator, while responding to an athlete from his constituency, informed him about the sports infrastructure, i.e. an international football ground, cricket ground and hockey ground being brought up in the locality. Soon after the call, with a smile on his face, Kejriwal asked Gehlot: “Advertise about these facilities, it is your constituency. Let’s put up posters and distribute pamphlets about these achievements.”

Ensuring the presence of commissioners of all three civic bodies during the interactive session was a strategic ploy by the AAP. Questions related to sewer lines, streetlights or even parking spaces were directed at the commissioners, who would respond to the questions like a class monitor submitting a report in front of the school principal and a panel of teachers.

Notably, two major concerns for Delhi voters were women’s safety and transport. Kejriwal, after consulting his officers, said installation of CCTV cameras would be finished by the end of the year.

The CCTV cameras, along with issues of women’s safety, were among the major poll planks of the AAP. Kejriwal, however, again tried to pass the buck on to the Delhi Police. Indirectly holding them responsible for crimes against women in the capital, he insisted that until the police, who are not under the Delhi government, start acting swiftly in cases of crime, there will be no deterrence.

In three years, the AAP government has failed to deliver on promises in the transport sector. Even during his speech, Kejriwal made a passing reference to the work being done in the sector. There is no denial of the fact that the Delhi government has failed to maintain the infrastructure which was there under the Congress regime. There are fewer bus fleets and even bus depots have reduced.

Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken, during the presser today, attacked the Kejriwal government on this issue. While accepting that the AAP government’s performance on transport has not been satisfactory, Gehlot told Newslaundry: “I understand that there are concerns over transport facilities. Earlier there were constraints related to allotment of land for bus depots – which have been taken care of.” He said: “We are adding 2,000 more buses this year and we are confident about this.”