Why 22 TVs indicate that Delhi's chief minister remains a modest aam aadmi

There is a bright side to the Rs 45 crore Sheesh Mahal. Apart from the imported marble, and hideously expensive fittings, furnishings, electricals and sanitaryware, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has reportedly deemed it necessary to have 22 TVs, including 13 with jumbo screens, in his new official home. This shows he is solidly in step with the zeitgeist that has seen SmartTVs (that comprise 90 per cent of sales in India) clock 28 per cent growth in 2022. Of course, buying 22 TVs for a family that comprises the chief minister and his spouse, his parents and two children may seem excessive — even for Sheesh Mahal. But then, you know children, spouses and grandparents these days. No two people want to watch the same programme at the same time; some even watch two shows at the same time. Rather than have a Mahabharata over the issue it is easier to provide several TVs for each of them to watch Mahabharata or whatever. It is curious, however, that the chief minister’s newly refurbished abode has only 22 TVs, given that they are not luxuries anymore, unlike automatic doors and imported marble floors. Indeed TVs now tend to roost everywhere from balconies to bathrooms, not just sitting rooms and bedrooms. The Sheesh Mahal must have more than 22 rooms; thus, far from being proof of excess, less than a TV per room can be spun by the chief minister’s media team as evidence of his continuing excessive modesty. Never mind that back in 2015, the very same chief minister who has now spent Rs 45 crore on a 13,000 sq ft official mansion (but with only 22 TVs) had self-righteously asked officials from the Public Works Department to remove all air-conditioners from the original bungalow. Back then the PWD had, equally self-righteously, declined to follow his orders as removing the wall and window ACs would leave huge gaps in the masonry requiring additional expenditure on repairs! The PWD had also insisted that the house, although unoccupied for a while, was in excellent condition. Yet in seven years, it was declared dilapidated beyond repair, and totally rebuilt as Sheesh Mahal. But then, as countless TV programmes — watched on one or 22 TVs — would vouchsafe, stranger things happen in India. At least there is Sheeh Mahal to show for the Rs 45 crore spent, unlike the invisible cowsheds built by another chief minister in another state, in another time. Of course, the Delhi chief minister’s Sheesh Mahal lags way behind the grandeur of the Telangana chief minister’s new residence-cum-office complex sitting on a nine-acre plot in Hyderabad’s Begumpet area that reportedly cost Rs 50 crore to build back in 2016. The actual vastu-compliant residential area for the chief minister is a two-storey 40,000 sq ft faux-Palladian villa with its own theatre-cum-auditorium to seat 250, and front lawns that can reportedly accommodate 5,000 people. There must be far more than just 22 TVs in that mansion — not to mention the rest of the buildings in the ‘Pragathi Bhavan’ complex — but then the Telangana chief minister has never averred that he is just an aam aadmi. Now the Andhra chief minister is also going ahead with plans for three state capitals—for the executive at Visakhapatnam, the legislature at Amaravati and judiciary at Guntur. That must mean at least one residence plus two ‘camp’ offices to build or renovate for the chief minister… A few may remember that in 2018 when former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati finally vacated the “small portion” of the palatial building at 13A Mall Road in Lucknow that she had occupied while in office — and out of it — after a Supreme Court order, the media was finally allowed to see her marble-clad, air-conditioned “modest” living area. She had it designated as a memorial to her late mentor Kanshi Ram in 2011 and reportedly “renovated” it at a cost of Rs 86 crore at that time. As the media teams swarmed over the vast marble floors and eagerly documented the dimensions, décor and fittings of Mayawati’s mahal, the ubiquitous presence of TVs in every room was unmissable. Except the kitchen and bathrooms, that is. The importance of TVs in the quotidian lives of chief ministers is therefore manifest, even though in financial terms they may figure far below imported marble, high-tech architectural finishings, security features and automatic curtains. Thus, details dug up by the media reveal that the chief minister’s Sheesh Mahal packs in a lot more for the chief minister than just 22 TVs too. Besides Rs 11.3 crore spent on décor, Rs 6 crore was forked out for Vietnamese marble (Italian would be politically inconvenient presumably), Rs 5.43 crore for smart lighting, electrical and firefighting systems, Rs 1 crore each for automatic curtains, kitchen appliances, wooden floors and even “consultancy” and much, much more. The Prime Minister’s vigorous advocacy has resulted in the construction of lakhs of toilets for the common man. It is thus heartening to note that the Aam Aadmi chief minister’s complex has 15 bathrooms. Two of them even have smart commodes (reportedly priced at Rs 4.28 lakh each) and are presumably in the bathrooms attached to the CM’s bedroom and office. Others denied this premier experience have probably been compensated with some of those 13 jumbo TVs. Given the self-professed unworldliness of the chief minister and his party, unscrupulous contractors and vendors could well have gypped them by sneakily providing inflated cost estimates — often referred to as gold-plating. Ingenues in the relevant Delhi government departments then innocently signed off on the excessive bills to be paid with public funds without a second thought. No one wondered how six clothes almirahs could cost Rs 40 lakh or water heaters Rs 24 lakh. Maybe both politicians and bureaucrats were too preoccupied with managing the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022, not to mention gearing up financially and physically for their Goa, Punjab and Gujarat election forays. They would not have had the spare time and mind space to pore over the details of the chief minister’s house renovations. The same or similar pressing concerns are probably what made them also take their eyes off the ball on the issue of Delhi’s liquor policy. To prove to his devoted Delhiwallas that he remains an aam aadmi, Delhi’s chief minister should now do a Mayawati and take the nation, via the media, into his Sheesh Mahal and show that reports of excess are exaggerated. Especially since his bete noire, Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor, has ordered all documents relating to the renovations be secured and examined. Eventually, it may be found that the only items that were actually as per their stated cost were those 22 TVs… The author is a freelance writer. 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