Citing a conscious adversarial stance of the BJP-led regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and its keenness to open vengeful investigations with a view to destabilise his government through the misuse of the CBI in collusion with certain political entities, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu took the extremely serious step on Friday of withdrawing “general consent” to the CBI to carry out investigations in his state, unless specifically mandated by a court of law in a specific instance.
The previous day Mr Naidu had accused the Centre of deploying the CBI as well as the Income Tax department to undo his government — a complaint heard for the past year by many important Opposition parties and leaders.
If there was any doubt that Mr Naidu’s initiative would fuel sentiment in other Opposition-ruled states in the current atmosphere of grave mistrust as regards the BJP and its government at the Centre to deal fairly with political opponents, West Bengal followed suit straightaway in withdrawing general consent to the CBI late on Friday itself, with chief minister Mamata Banerjee issuing a withering statement against the Modi regime.
AAP leader and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has lauded Mr Naidu’s step, although it is not clear if Delhi, being a Union Territory in respect of which the Centre enjoys special powers, can emulate Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. However, the Modi government as well as the BJP as a party are expected to closely watch the next moves of states run by non-BJP parties, and take political steps to counter these. In a sanctimonious tone, a BJP spokesman has spoken of the recent developments as a “coalition of corrupt parties”.
Under section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, state governments can deny the CBI permission to operate as an entity with police powers within their territory. If they so wish, they may only accord consent on a case-by-case basis. Under a recent ruling of the Delhi high court, a state government is obliged to give consent to investigate if a case is registered in another state. This has not yet been subjected to legal challenge.
All things considered, it does seem that the Constitutional scheme of the country, where the Centre and the states have clearly demarcated powers but must pull together in harmony, is likely to come under strain if political actors do not show the maturity and wisdom expected of them.
The nagging complaint of the political Opposition to the Modi dispensation for some years has been that it is savagely intolerant of them and seeks to unsettle them by even using foul means. The Prime Minister and his top BJP colleagues need to address this if the fruits of democracy are not to elude us.
