Britain’s exit from the EU has profoundly impacted the politics of Europe for foreseeable future.
the victory by ‘Leave’ camp has now given hopes to far right and anti-immigrant parties across Europe to hold similar referendum in their respective countries.
Drawing inspiration from the historic development in UK was the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who said it was time for Delhi to hold its own referendum.
He tweeted, “After UK referendum, Delhi will soon have a referendum on full statehood.”
His colleague Ashish Khetan tweeted, “After the UK referendum on EU exit, it’s time to have a referendum on full statehood of Delhi. In a democracy the will of the ppl is supreme.”
The AAP government wants a referendum on the issue of statehood for Delhi. Kejriwal had sent a note to various departments of his government last year asking them to “draft a law and create machinery for” such a practice.
Kejriwal had also discussed the referendum plan with his cabinet colleagues. The note from the Chief Minister said “Do a referendum in Delhi. Draft a law and create machinery for referendum.”
Delhi has a unique status in the Indian union. It is a union territory with a legislative assembly that limits the power of the Delhi government.
Demand of statehood for Delhi was part of the Aam Aadmi Party’s manifesto and even other political parties like BJP had raised the issue in the past.