Drama in Bihar

Resolving the issue of political appointees as governors is not as simple as it appears

Vijay Sanghvi Delhi
The Congress high command is as guilty as the Bihar governor, Buta Singh, in the Bihar assembly dissolution drama that invited the wrath of the supreme court. Congress leadership exhibited undue haste to grab power in states or at least prevent the opposition from coming to power in states. In twelve months since it came back to power in Delhi, this was third instance of power capturing; Jharkhand and Goa being the other two.

Chief ministers were forced by the Congress leadership on the state before the opposition could stake its claim. However, Manmohan Singh's moral stand in the case of both Jharkhand and Goa made the high command retreat and allow opposition to come to power in both the states. The prime minister relented in the case of Bihar when it appeared that Nitish Kumar and his managers had succeeded in cobbling a majority through induced defections of few legislators. Congress leadership was impatient and the PM's moral stand had been worn down by then.

Governor Buta Singh was ready to serve the Congress cause even though he had been a partner in the National Democratic Alliance government for few months before his return to the Congress. He promptly grabbed his pen to write the report that would enable the union council of ministers to recommend the imposition of central rule and dissolve the assembly. The advice along with the prepared notification was rushed to the president who was woken up from his deep sleep in Moscow, where he was. The notification was pushed in front of the PM for his signature. He obliged but regretted much later when the supreme court struck down the dissolution as unconstitutional.

But that novices were playing deadly political games is apparent from the strictures that have been passed in the majority verdict of the supreme court. The verdict clearly says that the governor did not have the basis to assume that there was no legitimate realignment of political parties and there was blatant distortion of democracy by induced defections through unfair, illegal, unethical and unconstitutional means. Only the minority judgment has spared the governor from such sharp strictures.

The prime minister's reaction to the judgment was typical of a seasoned politician. He said that he would accept the judgment. It was not as if anyone has a choice in this matter. His reaction shows that he was in no position to ask Buta Singh to put in his papers. Buta Singh has also let no one in doubt that he did not intend to step down despite the castigation passed by the supreme court on his role.

Buta was serving the cause of the Congress. It is certain that he would not have moved a finger even if the same game was initiated by Lalu Prasad Yadav and had induced defection to come to his side.

Meanwhile the Congress managers were desperately trying to salvage the party position and keep the Congress-led government propped up. One senior even felt that the strictures in the majority judgment were not that harsh. 'They have only said that the union council of ministers should have verified facts before accepting it [governor's report] as gospel,' he remarked. What could have been harsher than saying that the union council of ministers did not apply its mind? Never before had the supreme court come down so heavily on the union government, not even in case of the Karnataka chief minister, SR Bommai, when his government was thrown out and the supreme court had reinstated it.

But will the supreme court judgment have any impact on future governance is unlikely with all political parties behaving alike in seeking shortcuts to power. The council of ministers would be more careful in future. But constitutional provisions leave room. The union council of ministers could dismiss the state government of Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu even without the governor's report as it had in January 1991. The suggestion that parties should evolve a policy for defining what kind of persons should be appointed to the post of governors is also not likely to be a solution. The political parties are obliged to take care of party workers who have given unstinting service. The Bharatiya Janata Party that has lamented over the Congress nominees as governors was equally guilty of stuffing many raj bhavans with its own nominees.