‘Lieutenant Governor is merely a pawn’: Delhi Assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel

On Sunday, thousands of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters took out a march to the Prime Minister’s residence to protest against IAS officers refusing to work for the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government.

Newslaundry spoke to the Speaker of Delhi Assembly, Ram Niwas Goel, who broke protocol and joined the protest. “I agree with it. I am the Speaker [of Delhi Assembly] but first of all, I am the citizen of the country. If the rights of the citizens of Delhi are being ‘kidnapped’ by Modi, I have to come on the road,” said Goel, who is a member of AAP and represents the Shahdara constituency of Delhi.

Commenting on the current administrative impasse, he said, “If you see in Delhi today, more than 150 Mohalla Clinics are dysfunctional, despite the orders of the LG [Lieutenant Governor]. The Health Secretary did not make timely appointment of doctors. If this is not a strike, then what is?”

Taking a dig at PM Modi and LG Baijal, Goel said constitutionally only one man is creating hurdles in the administration — which is, Narendra Modi. “LG is innocent. LG is merely a pawn,” he said.