Political Diary
New
Delhi, 4 December 2018
Governor Centre’s
Stooge
CAT OUT OF THE BAG!
By Poonam I Kaushish
“Agar Dilli ki taraf dekhta to Lone ki sarkaar banti or
mai itihaas mein ek baimaan aadmi ke taur pe jana jata, isliye maine ye kadam
(dissolved the Assembly) uthaya, ab ye jo gaali denge denge, lekin mai convince
hu maine sahi kiya,”
asserted J&K Governor Satyapal Malik. (Had I looked at Delhi I would have had to call Sajjad
Lone to form the Government. But I did not want to go down in the history as a
dishonest man. I don’t bother about the abuses now).
This is not all. Next
day he went a step further: “Apne aap
mein pata nahi kab tabadla ho jaye. Naukri toh nahi jayegi, tabadley ka khatra
rehta hai.” (I don’t know when I will be transferred. I will not lose my
job but the threat of transfer is there.) Undoubtedly, he has earned a place in
history: Of letting the cat out of the bag by unravelling political India’s
best known secret, the Governor is the Centre’s stooge to do at the bidding of
his political masters!
By choosing to play
straight Malik left none in doubt that the Centre wanted him to install Sajjad
Lone’s 2 MLA strong People's Conference who claimed support of BJP’s 26
along-with “more than 18 other lawmakers”, after Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP with 28
MLAs allied with Abdullah NC’s 15 and Rahul’s 12 MLAs Congress totaling 56 staked
claim to form a Government in a 87 member Assembly. A repeat of Karnataka in
May, Meghalaya in March, Goa and Manipur last year wherein the Centre’s
handpicked Governors installed BJP Governments despite the Party not having a
majority.
But why blame the BJP
alone? In a milieu dictated by opportunism, the Congress too is a past master
in manipulating tactics reducing the Raj Bhavans as extension of its Party
office. Instances of Governors ‘misinterpreting’ the rule book any which way he
wants, drawing his own conclusions based more often than not, on delusions so
that he and his mai-baaps at the
Centre could rule the roost are aplenty. Meghalaya 2008, Karnataka 2007, 2011,
Goa, Bihar and Jharkhand 2005. What to speak of 1971-81 during which in all 27
State Governments were dismissed by mis-utilizing the Governor’s office. By
1983 President’s Rule was imposed 70 times.
Tragically, successive
Governments comprising regional Parties like the United Front, Janata Party, Third
Front have used, abused and debased this high office by making a Governor a
trumpet and even a “chaprasi” of the
Centre to topple uncomfortable or Opposition-ruled State Governments to further
their political agendas. No wonder, Article 356 has been imposed more than 120
times in various States, at the whims and fancies of the Centre. But when they
get hit all cry foul. A classic case of the pot calling the kettle black!
Something
the Constitutional framers had neither envisaged nor imagined. Today, the
essential criteria for the selection of a Governor is no longer whether he is a
man of stature known for his integrity and objectivity but whether he is a
‘yes’ man, a chamcha who will scratch
your back and you his.
Bringing
things to such a pass that over 60 per cent of the present lot of Governors are
active politicians and the rest ‘pliable’
bureaucrats, police officers and Army Generals. Moreover, it has become the
perfect lollypop for political castaways, parting gifts for subservient
intelligentsia and convenient posts for inconvenient rivals. Underscoring, the
Governor has become a convenient tool of the Centre, specially in Opposition-ruled
States.
Governance,
after all is one big nautanki which
has rewritten the basic time-honoured rules of authority and turned democracy
on its head. Bend them, break them, who cares! Call it déjà vu or Et tu NDA
Modi’s NDA’s is no different from National Front VP Singh’s 1989, Vajpayee’s
1999 nor UPA’s 2004 who got Governors appointed by their predecessors to
resign.
Since
2014 nine Governors have resigned, Kerala’s Sheila Dikshit, Maharashtra’s
Sankarnarayana, W Bengal’s Narayanan, UP’s Joshi, Pudicherry’s Kataria, Goa’s
Wanchoo, Nagaland’s Ashwani Kumar, Chhattisgarh’s Shekhar Dutt and Mizoram’s
Purushothaman. Notwithstanding, a 2010 Supreme Court ruling which laid down
that a change of Government at the Centre was not a ground to remove Governors,
even if they were out of sync with the policies and political ideologies of the
Party in power.
He
runs the administration by proxy. By playing the I-spy game --- petty
politricking, gross interference, open partisanship ---at the Centre’s behest.
Sending for files, summoning Ministers and bureaucrats. To hear, entice,
provoke and register the voice of dissent against the State Government to his
political patrons in Delhi. Bluntly, make life hell for the Chief Minister at
every step and use it as a springboard to return to active politics.
To curtail the Governor from playing politics
in the Chief Ministerial stakes, the National Commission to Review the Working
of the Constitution headed by Justice Venkatachaliah, advocated significant
changes. It wanted the Chief Minister to be directly elected by the Assembly to
obviate the need to test majorities in the Raj Bhawan. The Commission was of
the opinion that this would combat the growing menace of horse-trading (sic.).
Pertinently, the
Sarkaria Commission noted the Governor’s role was that of “a Constitutional
sentinel and vital link between the Union and the State…Being the holder of an
independent Constitutional office, the Governor was not a subordinate or subservient
agent of the Union Government.” It also suggested he be appointed in
consultation with the State Chief Minister. This was endorsed by the Supreme
Court.
Experts affirm the
Governor’s role is to represent the Centre, serve his people and fight their battles
with the Central Government, not vice versa. His role is overwhelmingly that of
a “friend, philosopher and guide” to his Council of Ministers with unrivalled
discretion. He has to bear in mind overall national interest, not partisan
Party benefits. The Constitution empowers him to influence decisions of his
Government by giving him the right “to be consulted, warn and encourage”
What
next? Malik has shown the way of what is expected of a Governor which calls for
fairness, uprightness and adherence to Constitutional obligations, values and
duties. Yes, he might have been a Party man but once appointed behaved
according to what behooves his position of Governor and adherence to
Constitutional values. He saw through the perceived mirage of stability,
likelihood of extensive horse trading and possible exchange of money to install
a Government and dissolved the Assembly.
Will
he be the exception to the rule? It is too early to say. Like he confessed, he
could be transferred. Malik’s counterparts need to remember that democracy
means respecting the Constitution and upholding established conventions
along-with realizing the essence of Constitutionalism is restraint and not
confrontation.
All
in all, time to rise above politics and appoint neutral non-political Governors
and set healthy and gracious conventions for high Constitutional offices.
Remember, what matters are not men but institutions. One can tit for an
individual but not tat on the State. --- INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
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