How Corruption Spreads Coronavirus Under Kejriwal Government in Delhi

Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister, Delhi
Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister, Delhi

Kejriwal is running one of the most corrupt governments in India and heading his political group AAP which is full of people with criminal records.

By Rakesh Raman

Although the understated coronavirus data being released by the Delhi Government cannot be trusted, Delhi recorded more than 4,000 cases of coronavirus in 24 hours, ending Wednesday (September 9).

It is a record in the number of cases in the national capital, as the previous highest single-day spike of 3,947 cases was recorded on June 23.

According to official data, as of September 9, the total number of coronavirus cases in the city were 201,174 while 4,618 people have died.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal – who is a pathological liar – is again downplaying the effect of the deadly virus. “Today, highest no of cases-4039. But also, highest no of tests-54,517 against 15,000/20,000 tests till last week…So, don’t b scared by no of cases. Del wages war against corona wid aggressive testing,” Kejriwal tweeted in wrong English language.

Since most politicians are uneducated in India, they lack language and communication skills.

Kejriwal has been telling lies about Delhi’s Covid situation which is going from bad to worse because of Kejriwal’s reckless decisions. The number of cases and deaths are increasing in Delhi because Kejriwal has been lifting the lockdown restrictions carelessly.

The recent spike has come a couple of days after the government allowed the crowded metro rail services to operate in Delhi. Also, all other community places have been opened where crowds mingle with each other without observing social-distancing guidelines and without wearing masks.

Although with wrong reporting, Delhi is at No. 6 in the list of worst-affected Indian states, the national capital has the most number of infections as percentage of population.

As of today (September 10), Maharashtra with a population of 120 million (12 crore) has 950,000 Covid cases to appear at the top of the list. But Delhi with an official population of just 20 million (2 crore) has 200,000 cases. In other words, 0.8% people in Maharashtra are infected. But even with under-reported data, the Covid devastation is maximum in Delhi with 1% people infected.

The situation is, in fact, worse in Delhi, as the details of the second serological survey or sero survey released on August 20 in the capital confirmed that nearly one-third of Delhi’s 20 million population or nearly 60 lakh (6 million) people have been exposed to Covid-19.

CORRUPTION IN CORONAVIRUS

Since Kejriwal is an incompetent politician, he has completely failed to enforce laws that are required to contain the Covid contagion.

Moreover, it is believed that Kejriwal government is opening the commercial establishments desperately amid the pandemic because in the opened economy there are more opportunities of corruption for Delhi bureaucrats and politicians in his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The Kejriwal government is so corrupt that it has allowed even long-term construction projects in the occupied housing societies where hundreds of thousands of people – men, women, children – are living.

As the corrupt Delhi bureaucrats and AAP politicians can make quick money in high-value construction projects, they have allowed construction in crowded housing complexes which have become the epicenters of coronavirus in Delhi.

Rajendra Pal Gautam. Photo: AAP
Rajendra Pal Gautam. Photo: AAP

It is the sole responsibility of Delhi Cooperative Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam to stop corruption at the office of the Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS), which is supposed to regulate the housing societies where corruption and construction is happening amid the pandemic.

But the minister has completely failed to do so. Now, it appears that the cooperative minister has become corruption minister. Earlier, I had sent a letter to Kejriwal to get the minister removed from his position.

Kejriwal is running one of the most corrupt governments in India and heading his political group AAP which is full of people with criminal records.

Last month (August), the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police had revealed that 2 persons were arrested for allegedly donating Rs 2 crore to Kejriwal’s AAP through shell companies formed on the basis of fabricated documents.

A sacked AAP minister Kapil Mishra had also alleged “massive irregularities” in the funding of AAP and raised questions about the “suspicious” donation of Rs. 2 crore to the party. He had also claimed that several shell companies had given money to AAP and Kejriwal’s party knew it.

Earlier, in 2015, Dr. Munish Raizada – who has been a part of India Against Corruption (IAC) movement and AAP – was removed from the party when he started questioning the shady handling of funds by Kejriwal and AAP.

On Raizada’s complaint, social activist and IAC leader Anna Hazare had also written a rebuke letter to Kejriwal for misappropriation of party funds. But AAP ignored the letter and allegedly continued working in a dishonest manner. Raizada was the co-convener of AAP’s Chicago-based NRI Cell.

While there have been a slew of complaints related to misappropriation of funds against Kejriwal’s AAP, police said the investigation will continue to unearth a bigger racket, if any.

Last year, AAP had decided to defy a notice from Delhi’s anti-corruption body Lokayukta which had asked AAP MLAs to reveal the details of their assets, as they may have assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.

While bureaucratic and political corruption is rampant in Delhi, reports suggest that the office of Lokayukta had received 41 complaints of corruption against the AAP legislators. The complaints were against AAP MLAs as well as ministers.

The extent of criminality in AAP can be assessed from the fact that in the Delhi Assembly election of 2020, Kejriwal’s AAP had fielded 36 of the 70 candidates who have serious charges against them. AAP had the maximum number of candidates who are involved in criminal cases.

Earlier, the Shunglu Committee was instituted to examine the alleged irregularities and cases of nepotism in the appointments across various Delhi state government departments under the Kejriwal’s government in Delhi.

While the names of Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain and transport minister Gopal Rai were mentioned, the Shunglu Committee had found major irregularities and abuse of power by the Kejriwal government.

Since most Indian bureaucrats and politicians go scot-free in corruption cases, no action was taken against Kejriwal and his ministers.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.

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