Explained: It is time for Kejriwal to show his leadership quality now during COVID-19 outbreak

New Delhi, Mar 30: On March 29, the nation witnessed a terrible and unprecedented situation in Delhi's Anand Vihar bus station where lakhs of people swamped in to take a bus and head back to their hometowns amid the 21-day nationwide lockdown.

Thousands of people were seen walking on foot from the national capital towards Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar districts.

Several channels and media outlets showed thousands of people rushing towards the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border after false public announcements were made in some parts of the national capital, urging people to reach the border where the Uttar Pradesh government had organised transportation for the commuters.

With this serious incident coming to light, two important question arises where the Centre and the state government is obliged to answer.

First, why was the Centre's order not followed when it asked everyone to stay wherever they are? And secondly, who is responsible for the mess created due to the mass migration of labour from Delhi.

Was Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal the reason behind the mass migration?

Evidently, the Delhi government was supposed to take the consequent necessary steps to ensure people belonging to other states, working in Delhi, are assured that they would get all the necessary support in this regard. But, CM Kejriwal is only seen making statements in print and electronic media requesting people to stay at home.

According to reports, day-to-day workers of the Delhi government has pointed out that the state government was lacking on the ground to stop the migration of people from Delhi.

If Kejriwal has not forgotten, these are times when a Chief Minister needs to show his administrative skill and leadership. With all these happening in the national capital, it can be seen that CM Kejriwal has failed miserably to do the needful in the Sunday's incident.

The people who walked the Delhi roads to reach their hometowns, had a terrible stories on the government to narrate. After all, it was these people who voted CM Kejriwal back to power with a massive majority.

What the Delhi government should do:

The Delhi government should get in touch with all the factory owners, contractors, service providers and shop owners and convey to them that they have to ensure that all the workforce engaged with them has to remain in Delhi.

Eventually, these employers would need their money reimbursed that they spent on their workers during lockdown.

The agenda is not to criticise a particular government but to drive home the point that leadership is judged during the time of crisis. Providing freebies during the election is one thing, but showing leadership at the time of crisis, is totally different.