Age Debate: State vs Centre

The Modi government’s imposition of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand is against established norms. The action came even though Uttarakhand governor K.K. Paul had directed chief minister Harish Rawat to prove his majority on the floor of the House and leaves no doubt that the Bharatiya Janata Party is hell-bent on grabbing power in the state at all costs. After the poll debacle in Bihar, the BJP is well aware that the 2014 Lok Sabha victory bubble has burst and the promise of “achche din” has become a nightmare for the people.

The BJP seems to have admitted that the party can no longer win state elections. Hence is resorting to back-door entry by using financial muscle. It’s clear that the episode in Uttarakhand, which came soon after the crisis in Arunachal Pradesh, suggests that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has no respect for constitutional propriety.

The matter concerning Uttarakhand is now before the judiciary. The Uttarakhand high court has rightly directed that a floor test should take place. The manner in which the Union Cabinet recommended President’s Rule under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi shows undue urgency on the part of the BJP to short-circuit the well-established norms followed after the landmark S.R. Bommai judgment. It has been well-established that whether a party enjoys a majority is tested on the floor of the House.

Mr Rawat was ready for a floor test. That the state high court stuck to this line is surely a rebuff to the high-handedness of the Modi government. Now there is speculation that the BJP will resort to similar attempts in Manipur and Himachal Pradesh to destabilise the governments there. This is not only undemocratic but unhealthy for a parliamentary democracy. The anti-defection law looks toothless in the face of events in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh. And the smaller states look vulnerable to the might of money and muscle power at the disposal of the BJP currently.

The BJP claims that in the past the Congress also dismissed a lot of state governments on the pretext of constitutional breakdown. True, the Congress-led government at the Centre dismissed the BJP-led state governments in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. But it’s also a fact that in the S.R. Bommai judgment the judiciary drew a fine line to caution that the brute power of the state cannot trample the federal structure of the country. Also, one wrong can never justify another wrong. This is not only dangerous, but fraught with the possibility of further straining Centre-state relations.

Mr Modi came to power on the slogan of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”, but the actions of the Central government contradict the Prime Minister. Better sense must prevail upon the leadership of the BJP and it should accept that it can neither win state elections nor gain control through extra-constitutional routes.

Rajesh Dixit is national secretary, Samajwadi Party

$The BJP is hell-bent to grab power

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With President’s Rule being declared in Uttarakhand, many political commentators are getting a sense of déjà vu. A cursory analysis of the present impasse, however, throws up a compelling case for appreciation of the foresight of the framers of the Indian Constitution in providing for constitutional safeguards against a situation arising out of a constitutional breakdown in the states of India.

The expression “breakdown of constitutional machinery” has not been defined in the Constitution. Whatever may be the reason, the President has to be satisfied of the grounds on which President’s Rule is sought to be imposed.

The chain of events in the Uttarakhand Assembly warrants a careful consideration of constitutional norms to evaluate the acts of impropriety committed in the state Assembly. There are serious charges of violation of established norms in the Assembly against the erstwhile Congress dispensation and the Speaker. The Speaker was acting in violation of rules by first declaring as passed a Budget rejected by a majority of MLAs, and then by disqualifying MLAs even after the Assembly was put in suspended animation. There is also the charge that the Congress “plunged the state into a serious constitutional crisis by continuing a government which should have quit after the failure of the Appropriation Bill”. The Constitution states very clearly that if the government of the day fails to pass the Budget, or any other money bill, the government falls. It would mean that the government has lost the confidence of the House and thus has to relinquish office. Chief minister Harish Rawat has lost the right to rule the state.

Neither Mr Rawat nor the Speaker forwarded a certified copy of the Appropriation Bill to the governor. Obviously, the governor didn’t give his assent to the Appropriation Bill. Two further consequences flow out of this. First, the Appropriation Bill sanctioning expenditure from April 1, 2016, was not approved; and, second, if the Appropriation Bill was defeated, the continuation of the government subsequent to March 18, 2016 is unconstitutional. To further complicate the crisis, there is evidence that Mr Rawat started allurement and horse-trading with a view to alter the composition of the House.

Even in the landmark S.R. Bommai case, the Supreme Court ruled that courts can’t question the Union Cabinet’s advice to the President, but they can question the material behind the satisfaction of the President regarding breakdown of constitutional machinery. It also said that the use of Article 356 was justified only when there was a breakdown of constitutional machinery and not that of administrative machinery. Thus, prima facie the material of the present case does not have parallels with mostly whimsical abuse of Article 356 which began right under the watch of the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and was used eight times till 1964. This was only bested by Indira Gandhi who used it a record 35 times between 1966 and 1977.

Deepti Rawat Bhardwaj, former secretary and spokesperson, Uttarakhand BJP

$Harish Rawat has lost the right to rule

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