The Governor of Maharashtra - Bhagat Singh Koshyari - waited for almost two weeks for the winning alliance of the BJP-Shiv Sena to stake claim. For all these days he did not take any proactive step to initiate an invite to the largest party to form the government.
On 9th Nov when the previous assembly term was completed he invited the BJP. The BJP finally indicated that they do not have the majority.
He then invited, on 10th Nov, the next largest Party Shiv Sena to form the Government and gave them 24 hours to express their willingness to form the government. SS showed willingness to form a government and asked for more time - surprisingly the Governor refused giving more time.
He then invited the third largest Party and gave them time till 8:30 in the evening of 12th November to express willingness to form the government. It is reported that NCP also asked for more time to prove majority (although this is not established as of now on the morning of 13th). The Governor not only refused more time - he went ahead and sent his recommendation to the cabinet for imposition of President's rule in the state much before his own deadline of 8:30 PM on tuesday the 12th of Nov.
The cabinet met quickly under PM modi who was to leave for Brazil soon after (connect the dots if you can). It passed a resolution in a ziffy and sent its recommendation to the President for imposition of president rule in Maharashtra.
The president was in Punjab attending a function and he was to return by the evening. Once he was back - he signed the order immediately. Quite uncharacteristically the president did not even wait for one night to take legal opinion from his advisors on the situation. More so, because the report of the Governor does not mention the possibility or situation of horse trading for winning support. He simply mentions that the there is no possibility of formation of a stable government in the state.
Unbecoming of Constitutional Posts
In less than half a day the imposition of president rule was completed almost as if everyone is working on a cue. Now maharashtra is not a unstable state or a special case. In fact in this particular situation almost all parties seemed to be tightly together - and were negotiating terms of alliance to form a government.
The role of the governor should have been to help formation of government minimising the possibility of horse trading. What he did instead was - showed an unusual hurry to impose president rule. What he did was unbecoming of his constitutional post. The President Ram Nath Kovind also missed the chance to be a statesman president by signing the order in a hurry. The inherent checks and balances in the system as a result failed to work - it seems, because in all key posts important constitutional functionaries seemed to be working like party workers.
Issues
Many people point out that imposition of president rule still means that a majority government can be formed in the next six months. True, but that is not the point. The point is the Governor acted in an unusual hurry almost as a stooge of the ruling party because otherwise there was no way BJP could have formed a government. Now the field is wide open to the BJP. And it is anybody's guess as to who could resort to horse trading.
Two, more worrying is the reaction of people at large. I am sure you are also part of whatsapp group of friends who are happy at imposition of president rule - just because they don't feel Shiv sena should come to power. Now, I am no shiv sena fan but this end cannot and must not justify the means resorted to in this matter. Shivsena won 56 seats and so however much we dislike them - they must have a say in the Government. The reaction and acceptance of people is very worrying to the Indian democracy. More worrying is the approach of many educated elite Indians who easily justify this by pointing out that governors and presidents in the past also have been stooges to the Congress governments. This of course is true and should not matter now.
Both the Governor and the President failed to act in the spirit of constitutional democracy in my view. Though, this is not new but post 1990s we have had some stellar Presidents who acted with patience and maturity in such situations. Even those governors leaning towards the ruling party in these years, followed at least some constitutional norms. They would allow reasonable time followed by a floor test in most cases. I think the recommendation of president rule even before completion of the self given deadline to the NCP, by the Governor must be unprecedented in the history of independent India. It is embarrassing. One is bound to conclude that his hurry was because the PM was to leave teh country by the evening - that would have given more time to SS-NCP-INC combine to stitch an alliance.
Very sad times for the Indian Democracy. The BJP strategists seem to trying to create an equivalent of a corporate monopoly in the Indian democracy and it surely cannot be good for the country.
BTW ShivSena got 56. Good Article. Yes, Governor should have give some more time to Sena and NCP. Even if PM was leaving the country he could have used his power from abroad also (if not then this little change should be soon made in the constituition..). Anyway BJP should avoid these gimmicks and focus on performance as a lot is expected of them.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time it should be also noted that alliance partners are showing their true colors and are being very opprtunistic and it will be too much to expect BJP to deal with them in simple straight manner. isnt it little idealistic in politics, expecting BJP to give away its mandate(as majority partner) to the three other opportunistic parties easily? But then Governor/ President still could act impartially inspite of BJPs internal pressure. Yes, sad for our democracy as it has been in umpteen no of cases in past too(reminded of Romesh Bhandari). May be its time to have neutral people in these positions.
The poitics of the situation is (should be) irrelevant to the role of the Governor. BJP is free to deal with its alliance partner in the way it deems fit. However the way it has used offices of the Governor brazenly is simply a no-no. ANd no this is not idealistic. It is leading to destruction of basic tenets of democracy. We have had Governors who may be favouring a side but even they have not flouted constitutional norms so shamelessly.
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