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POLITICAL DIARY
Katnataka & Governor’s Role
PLAYING THE CENTRE’S CHAPRASI
By Poonam I Kaushish
New Delhi,
November 06, 2007
Public life in India has hit a rotten
disgusting low. Free India hasn’t seen or experienced anything
like the goings-on of the past fortnight in Karnataka. And how
developments there continue to deteriorate from bad to worse.
Today, it is a stinking example of the murder of democratic
morals and principles at high noon on a busy crossing! All to
attain power and yet more power. And, at any cost. All else be
damned!
Tragically, the continuing charade being played out in
Bangalore and Delhi has once again brutally exposed two highly
reprehensible facets of our rulers’ democratic temper. At the
political level, governance is shamelessly all about cutting
deals, side deals and underhand deals. At the Constitutional
level, the Governor has been reduced to being the Centre’s
chaprasi.
Think. From the “worst ever betrayal” by the conspiring
father-son Gowda duo to becoming ‘bhai-bhai’ once again for
the sake of power, both the BJP and Janata Dal (S) have come a
long way. Brought about by the former Prime Minister and JD
supremo Deve Gowda through a dramatic U turn after he came to
know that the Congress was two-timing him --- by
simultaneously talking to him and his party’s rebel leader
Prakash. Faced with the prospect of a Congress-backed
government, the BJP too did a U turn to join hands with the
‘betrayers’ again. Never mind, the continuing mistrust and the
12-point charter of demands set out by Deve Gowda.
What should one say of the Governor Rameshwar Thakur’s role?
Suffice it to state that it has been over a week since the
BJP-JD(S) coalition in the State paraded 129 MLAs, which is
more than half of the 225-member Assembly, at Bangalore’s Raj
Bhawan in the hope that he would revoke President's rule and
swear-in a BJP-led coalition Government.
Nothing of the sort. Instead, of doing the Constitutional
right thing of reviving the suspended State Assembly and
asking the BJP-JD to prove their majority on the floor of the
House, as opined by the Supreme Court in the landmark SR
Bommai judgment, Thakur stated that he had to “consult the
Centre.” Why? He had to take instructions from his mai-baaps
in Delhi on what to do next. Just as his fellow Congressmen
Governors Buta Singh and Syed Sibtey Razi had done two years
ago in Bihar and Jharkhand. Forgetting, that they too had got
a sharp rap from the Apex Court which led to Buta Singh’s
ignominious exit.
Constitutional Propriety
Also, most oddly, thereafter Governor Thakur, sent a
‘statement of facts’ to New Delhi rather than ‘his report’ and
recommendation. His reported contention that the BJP-JD(S)
formation could lead to “horse-trading of the worst kind,” is
as shocking as Buta Singh’s report based on “hearsay” read
bazaar gossip. Not only that. He continues to wait for
instructions from Delhi. No matter that the jo hukam darbari
Thakur is crossing the lakshman rekha of constitutional
propriety and violating all norms by his outrageous and
unprecedented actions.
True, the Centre's brazen vacillation may have been influenced
partially by Deve Gowda’s letter of 24 October to Thakur
urging dissolution of the Assembly and calling for fresh
elections. It could also be because of JD rebel Prakash’s
factor or the JD’s new charter of demands to the BJP, which
raises a big question mark over the stability of the
coalition.
Either way it matters little. The issue is not whether Thakur
invites the BJP-JD combine to form a Government or dissolves
the Assembly for fresh polls. It is all about the role of the
Governor, his qualifications and Constitutional obligations
and duties. Or, should one say, politicization of this high
Constitutional office. Questionably, are they the Centre’s
chaprasis? Or, are they the keepers of the people’s faith as
heads of their respective States?
All seem to have forgotten that the true function of the
Governor is not just to represent the Centre but, as the Head
of State, serve his people and fight their battle with the
Centre and not vice versa. He has to bear in mind the overall
national interest, not partisan party interests. He has to be
in tune not with the party in power at the Centre, but with
his own people.
The Constitution empowers him to influence the decisions of an
elected Government by giving him the right “to be consulted,
to warn and encourage”. His role is overwhelmingly that of a
“friend, philosopher and guide” to his Council of Ministers
with unrivalled discretionary powers. A lot more than those of
the President.
Vital Link
As noted by the Sarkaria Commission and endorsed by the
Supreme Court, the Governor’s role is that of “a
Constitutional sentinel and that of vital link between the
Union and the State… Being the holder of an independent
Constitutional office, the Governor is not a subordinate or
subservient agent of the Union Government.”
Tragically, however, successive governments at the Centre have
successfully used, abused and debased this high office by
reducing Governors to the position of the Centre’s chaprasis
nee kathputlis, ever ready to destablise the ship of the
State, if so desired by New Delhi. Most have no qualms of
conscience in rubbishing it in personal or party interest,
barring honourable examples such as Karnataka’s erstwhile
Governor Dharam Vira, who refused to take orders even from
Indira Gandhi!
Clearly, the office of the Governor has been unabashedly
politicized over the past two decades. Times out of number,
the Governor has acted as a pawn of his political masters.
Overlooking the letter and spirit of the Constitution. But
none has done what Thakur did: acted as a police inquisitor
and openly asserted that he had to “consult” the Centre before
making his recommendations
.
Thus the Governors today have become a convenient tool in the
hands of the Centre to run Opposition-ruled States by proxy.
By playing the I-spy game---petty politicking, gross
interference and open partisanship at the Centre’s behest.
Even using a minor law and order problem to impose Central
rule on the State. Bluntly, make life hell for the Chief
Minister and use him as a springboard for returning to active
politics.
Alas, gone are the days of Nehru, who is now regrettably
considered by many, including Congressmen, as obsolete on the
ground that times have changed and his was another world! As
India’s first Prime Minister, he laid emphasis on the
integrity, merit and stature of the Governor. He said: “I
think it would be infinitely better if he was not so
intimately connected with local politics of the province or
with the factions of the province.”
Nehru believed that it would be desirable to have as
Governor’s “eminent people” who had not taken too great a part
in politics. Remember, he handpicked Dr. Zakir Hussain, an
eminent educationist, for the Governorship of Bihar and
thereafter had him installed as India’s Vice President.
Sadly, his daughter Inidra Gandhi changed the rules of the
game. Politicians close to her were rewarded with plum
postings. She successfully used gubernatorial appointments as
bait to get bureaucrats to do at her bidding. For the first
time, even a former Chief Election Commissioner and retired
intelligence and police officers came to occupy Raj Bhawans.
Brazen Appointments
In fact, many of the appointments were so brazen that the
Supreme Court was constrained to order in 1979: “The
Governor’s office is not subordinate or subservient to the
Government of India. He is not amenable to the directions of
the Government of India nor is he accountable to them for the
manner in which he carries out his duties. This is an
independent Constitutional office which is not subject to the
control of the Government of India…”
Trust India’s self-serving polity to trash this to the dustbin
of history. Be it the Congress, Janata Dal, United Front, NDA
and, now the UPA. Sadly, over 60 per cent of the present
Governors are active politicians or defeated and discredited
netas and the rest ‘pliable’ retired bureaucrats, police
officers and Army Generals. Today, the Governor largely
functions as a lackey of the Centre, ever ready to destabilize
the ship of the State.
All political parties lament the decline of the crucial
institution of the Governor when out of office. Tragically,
however, they merrily misuse and abuse the office for personal
and party ends when in office, as did the NDA before the UPA.
Not only does this generate bad blood between Lilliputian
politicians but, in its wake, denigrates the Constitution and
undermines India’s unity and integrity.
The harsh truth is that the office of the Governor is in
shambles and is no longer playing its key role as envisaged by
the founding fathers. It has to be revamped and restored to
its old glory with assured tenures. It is the time to rise
above politics and appoint neutral non-political Governors. As
long as the Centre continues to play petty, partisan politics,
India and its unity will be greatly hurt. The Governor must
not be reduced to the level of a glorified chaprasi! ---- INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)
E-Mail :
newseditor@sarkaritel.com
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