Kejriwal denied clearance for Singapore trip as speaker

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has missed the chance to participate in the “World Cities’ Summit” in Singapore, where he was one of the speakers. The Chief Minister has missed the deadline for travel formalities — not only was he refused clearance for the visit, it came too late, the Delhi government has said.

In a statement Thursday evening, the Delhi government said the formalities for the Singapore visit were to be completed by July 20. But Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena’s response on the proposal came back a day later — on July 21.

“The file regarding permission to travel was sent to the Lieutenant Governor on June 7. The LG sat silent for about one-and-a-half months and returned the file on July 21. By then, not only had there been a lot of delay, but the deadline till July 20 to complete the travel formalities had also passed,” read the statement.

It is clear that the Central government’s intention was to “prevent the Chief Minister from talking about the world-class work done in Delhi” in the international arena, apart from education and health, the government said.

“The Central government’s intention may have been fulfilled, but it also leads to a situation where the global community may look down upon the country,” said the Delhi government, which argued earlier that such a summit will be an opportunity to showcase the city and enhance the prestige of the country.

Kejriwal was invited for the meet back in June by Singapore High Commissioner Simon Wong and accepted the invite. He was to address the Summit on August 1.

His clearance did not come. “This is the program of the mayor, the Chief Minister should not go into it,” was the Lieutenant Governor’s response to the Delhi government’s request for clearance that has now come.

Kejriwal wrote back to the Lieutenant Governor, saying he would approach the foreign ministry directly for clearance. “Human life is not compartmentalised into the subjects mentioned in the three lists of the Constitution,” he wrote.

In 2019, the Centre had withheld permission to Mr Kejriwal for a similar visit, saying it is unbecoming for a Chief Minister to participate in a meet meant for Mayors. Mr Kejriwal finally had to address the meet online.