REWIND
New Delhi, 26 January
2023
India’s Rulers and the Republic
By Inder Jit
(Released
on 26 January 1988)
Several sharp questions are being asked at home and
abroad as India celebrates its 38th Republic Day with traditional
pomp and pageantry. Will Bharat continue to be a free democracy? Or, will our
republic degenerate into a feudal, autocratic set-up behind a facade of
democratic trappings? India's top leaders have again reaffirmed on the occasion
of the Republic Day their faith in parliamentary democracy and the values
advocated by the Father of the Nation. But words and pledges have largely lost
their meaning since life has increasingly therefore, persists, against the
backdrop of severaldistressing developments during the year and the present
environment of deep distrust and suspicion. No one is sure about what anyone
might do for the sake of power and pelf at the Centre and in the States, the
Constitution and conventions notwithstanding. One thing alone is clear. Our
Republic today is in bad shape -- worse than ever before. The system demands
serious attention and remedy if it is not to collapse.
The founding fathers of our Constitution
consciously opted for Parliamentary democracy and provided a delicate balance
between the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. But this balance has
been upset further during the past year and more. Parliament continues to be
under heavy assault. The Lok Sabha has been reduced by the Government to a mere
rubber stamp on the strength of a two-thirds majority, ignoring the fact that
the Opposition jointly polled over 49 per cent of the votes cast. Nothing
reflects this more than the success with which Parliament has been prevented so
far from getting at the truth in the Bofors and the Submarine scandals.
Ordinance Raj, denounced by free India's first Speaker, Mavalankar, as
undemocratic, has become the order of the day. There are no qualms of
democratic conscience in imposing fresh taxes by ordinance, wantonly ignoring
the basic democratic principle: no taxation without representation. The
Judiciary no longer inspires the respect and confidence it did during the first
two decades of freedom. Some of the high judicial functionaries today are seen
to even allow the Executive to play its politics through the Courts.
India is a Union of States. But the Centre has
increasingly been undermining the federal set-up and functioning more and more
as a unitary State, creating unnecessary tension and trouble. The Centre's
latest attitude to the non-Congress-I States and their well-being is a case in
point. On December 15, seven Chief Ministers of non-Congress-I States
comprising Mr Jyoti Basu (West Bengal), Mr Ramakrishna Hegde (Karnataka), Mr
N.T. Rama Rao (Andhra Pradesh), Mr Devi Lal (Haryana), Mr P.K. Mahanta (Assam),
MrNripenChakravorty (Tripura) and Mr E.K. Nayanar (Kerala), protested at
Calcutta against the "unfair" terms of reference of the Ninth Finance
Commission and sought from the Prime Minister an appointment on the subject any
time between January 13 and 16. But the meeting did not take place. Worse, the
Chief Ministers did not receive any reply to their joint letter seeking the
appointment until January 16. In fact, New Delhi responded to the letter only after
Mr Hegde had complained earlier on January 15 at a news conference about the
Centre's "increasing arrogance" vis a vis the States and its failure
to extend to them even the bare courtesy of an acknowledgement!
The Prime Minister is no doubt frightfully busy.
However, theseven non-Congress-I Chief Ministers took care to ask for an
appointment almost a month later. The dates -- Jan 13 to 16 -- were proposed
bearing in mind their decision to finalize their stand on the Ninth Finance
Commission at Bangalore on January 11 after joining Mr. Hegde a day earlier in
celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Janata Government in Karnataka. My enquiries
show that Mr Gandhi could have found the time to meet the non-Congress-I CMs if
he so wanted. On January 13, he attended a meeting of the Planning Commission
in the morning and received the Kerala Chief Minister, MrNayanar, in the
evening. On January 14, he addressed the Public Sector Chiefs in the morning
and met the Kampuchean Prime Minister in the afternoon. On January 15, he flew
to Haridwar in the morning, returned to New Delhi in the afternoon for the Army
Day reception and left for Gorakhpur in the evening. On January 16, he flew to Calcutta
from Gorakhpur and then proceeded to Shantiniketan. He returned to New Delhi on
the night of January 17.
The substance of the complaint of the
non-Congress-I Chief Ministers is even more important. The Statement adopted at
their Bangalore meeting on January 11 and released thereafter at a Press
Conference, where I was present, leaves little doubt on two points. First, the
Union continues to encroach on the States autonomy and ride rough shod over
their rights and interests. Second, there is urgent need to set up an
Inter-State Council as provided for in the Constitution for a free, uninhibited
and constructive dialogue between the Centre and the States -- a point I have
made time and again during the past many years. Mr Hegde, who chaired the news
conference in the presence of the other Chief Ministers, helped to clarify
matters and set the record straight by making available copies of his lucid and
informative speech delivered at the CMs meeting and entitled: A Correct
Approach. The speech asserts that while the political set-up provided for the
Republic has come to be described as quasi-federal, the Indian Constitution has
created a truly federal financial structure. This structure, he says, has been
undermined creating major problems for the States.
Not only that. Democracy means rule of the people,
by the people and for the people. This is made possible through time-bound
elections which are free, fair and without fear. Yet there has been an
increasing tendency since 1980 in the ruling Congress-I to avoid inconvenient
elections, in sharp contrast to Indira Gandhi's attitude in 1977, which brought
her kudos from the visiting British Prime Minister, Mr Callaghan. The ruling
Congress-I refused to hold a poll in Delhi for more than two years after its
return to power at the Centre in early 1980 despite the Chief Election
Commissioner's repeated statements that he was ready to hold the poll at short
notice. West Bengal's Marxist regime, headed by Mr Jyoti Basu, however smartly outmanoeuvred
New Delhi in 1981 by recommending the State Assembly poll in March 1982. The
poll for the Delhi Metropolitan Council has been recently put off again by a
year against strong and justified protests from the Bhartiya Janata Party,
which is hopeful of victory. Further, there is no sign yet of several overdue
byeletions to the Lok Sabha, including one from Allahabad.
One could go on and on. But
suffice it to add that the Republic has also been greatly undermined by the
manner in which the Centre has misused the provision relating to President's rule
and the appointment of Governors. The founding fathers provided for imposition
of President's rule in the event of breakdown of the Constitution. But it was
clearly understood that the Assembly would be dissolved in such an event and
fresh elections ordered soonest. This has been conveniently forgotten. Time and
again, President's rule has been kept going indefinitely. What is more, on
occasions the Assembly has been kept in "suspended animation" to suit
New Delhi's politics in flagrant violation of both the letter and the spirit of
the Constitution. The office of the Governor has also been grossly undermined
and reduced to the position of an agent of the Centre, ignoring the fact that a
Governor is the Constitutional head of the State and that he has certain basic
responsibilities to his people. This may suit the spineless and the
undeserving. But it has wrought havoc on the basic framework of our federal
system.
How did Nehru visualise the Republic? On January
26, 1950, he said, "What we do with this fruit (of independence) depends
upon many factors, the basic factors being those on which Gandhiji laid stress
throughout his career --- high character, integrity of mind and purpose, a
spirit of tolerance and co-operation and hard work... I can only suggest to our
people that we should found our republican freedom on these basic
characteristics and shed fear and hatred from our minds and think always of the
betterment of the millions of our people." Later, in a broadcast to the
Nation on December 31, 1950, he said: "As Prime Minister, I am the servant
of all our people... With the coming of independence, a great responsibility
came to all Congressmen. That responsibility was not merely to occupy the seats
of authority but... to continue to serve to the best of our capacity and to
remember always the lessons that our Master taught us... We seek no power or
profit for ourselves but only endeavour to serve our people, that we seek the
co-operation of all others and avoid everything that weakens and disrupts..."
Clearly, the Republic
today is not what was envisioned. However, all need not be lost provided Mr
Rajiv Gandhi is prepared to take inspiration from his "Nana". Nehru
bent overbackwards to ensure the federal character of India's Constitution and
also sought to lay down healthy conventions. For instance, Nehru made it a point
to consult Chief Ministers before appointing Governors. No Governor was thus
thrust on any Chief Minister as came to be during Indira Gandhi's time. Nehru
was clear that institutions are infinitely more important than any individual,
no matter howsoever great. As an ex-pilot, Mr Gandhi must appreciate that what
helps a plane to take off, sustain in the air and land safely depends
essentially on the health of the institution--the plane. Happily, the Prime
Minister has again spoken in welcome Gandhian idiom. But words need to be
translated into practice. India is not the Centre alone. Nor is it merely the States.
Together, they constitute the Republic. Both must cooperate in harmony if our
Republic is to enjoy good health -- and forge ahead. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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