MURDER OF DEMOCRACY
India since 1947 had remained a democracy though elections had been taking place as early as 1930s. The real power of people came to be seen only in the 1952 election when the first election was held after adopting the constitution and the country was officially declared as the Republic of Indian Union. Later many changes had taken place and words had been inserted into the preamble to make it more specific in terms of its socialist nature as expounded by the successive governments headed by Congress and the secular nature as deemed fit by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
However, the maturity of the democracy despite its nascent state, had been its hall mark in the last seventy odd years. The Indian voters, though most of them can be construed as illiterate from the first election to the national parliament in 1952 to the latest in 2014, had proved time and again that they had become much more matured beyond the time the republic had been in force legally.
The long tenure of ruling the country either by themselves or by proxy had given a sort of entitlement to the Congress though the present day congress is far removed from the one that fought for the freedom of the country from the British. The first family of the GOP had been milking their surname to such an extent that despite many young, acceptable, mature leaders in the party, the party had been foisted with the Italian born wife of the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi as the President and later her son. From the times of the first prime minister, the party had been having the person from the family or ones that are acceptable to the family and expected to the toe the line and thinking of the family as President of the GOP. There had not been any serious election within the party to elect the national president or for the state units. Be that as it may let us take a look at some of the events since before independence to the present times.
In the immediate prior to independence almost all the state units voted in favour of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel for the post of the prime minister. Using his extensive clout within and outside the party and also his charismatic persona M K Gandhi declared that Jawaharlal Nehru would be first prime minister of the country. This negated the very process of democratically choosing the first prime minister from among the many contenders who were all equally and in some cases more than equal to fill the post of the first prime minister; however the choice was among the two who were not only the best of the lot but also highly patriotic and were ready to serve the independent nation to make it strong and better among the comity of nations.
The first elected communist government of Kerala state in 1957 elections to the legislative assembly was dismissed in 1959 by the Central government headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. Many including some of the congress leaders themselves called it a Murder of Democracy.
In the year 1980 when the Janatha Party could not sustain the government owing to internal wranglings and deception and lost the plot thanks to the internal coup by Charan Singh assisted by congress the previous year, the congress swept to power with a resounding victory in the hustings. But the then prime minister found that her style of administration and governance getting hampered by the opposition filled upper house called Rajya Sabha in the parliament. To offset the problem she engineered defections from opposition ranks in the state governments and was successful in the states of Karnataka, Sikkim, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to capture power in the state legislative assemblies so that the election to the Rajya Sabha can be managed and the vacancies filled with congress loyalists. However, in many states the GOP could not get the people to defect to grab power. Therefore, the central government decided to invoke article 356 and dismissed nine state governments on a single day. The party cited the precedence of the actions of the government headed by Morarji Desaid of Janata Party who dismissed nine state governments in 1977 citing they lost the people's mandate when the Janata Party was swept to power. This was nothing short of a murder of democracy though the state governments were enjoying the popular vote and the party heading the governments were enjoying majority.
Owing to the switching of partners in the state of Tamilnadu with the congress, the central government dismissed the popular government headed by ADMK at the behest of DMK and the government headed by DMK at the behest of ADMK in successive terms.
The Janata Party government headed by Morarji Desai was torpedoed from within by enticing Charan Singh to break away with a promise of support and the post of Prime Minister. The government lost the majority and bowed out of power. Charan Singh's government also did not last long as the congress later withdrew support. When V P Singh was the prime minister similar action was replayed by congress by enticing Chandrasekhar to break away from the party to form a government on his own with the support of congress. Later congress withdrew support. Similar act was enacted when Deve Gowda was made the prime minister with the support of congress and later when the support was withdrawn his government fell.
In the year 1989, the government headed by S R Bommai in the state of Karnataka was dismissed using article 356 though he had majority and was ready for a floor test in the house of the legislature. But the governor, an appointee of the congress refused to heed his request and the party filed a case in the SC. The case was decided and the ground rules for dismissal of the governments under Article 356 and the subsequent invitation to the party or a group of parties to form government were laid down.
In the immediate aftermath of assassination of Rajiv Gandhi the congress did not get enough seats to form the government and the coalition government was headed by PVN Rao. In the state of Jharkhand the people had elected BJP and Janata Dal as the largest parties though no party could get absolure majority. But congress imposed the government headed by Shibu Soren of JMM supported by congress. The pre poll alliance of BJP and Janata Dal did not matter for the governor and hence the SC struck down the appointment of the Chief Minister in the state and a new government headed by Arjun Munda took office.
In the period since independence invocation of article 356 to dismiss the state governments had been used extensively by successive government mostly by those headed by congress party. Till 1959, the article was invoked 6 times and in 1960 alone 11 times. After Indira Gandhi ascended the chair of the prime minister of India, the article was used 7 times between 1967 to 1969. Between 1970 to 1974 it was invoked 19 times. After the period of emergency, when the Janta Party wrested power from GOP, it used the article to dismiss nine state governments citing loss of popular mandate. When Indira Gandhi came back to power in 1980, she used this article to dismiss nine state governments and justified her action citing the earlier action of the government headed by Janata Party. PVN Rao used this article to dismiss 4 BJP governments including the then UP government headed by Kalyan Singh of BJP.
The darkest period of the Indian Democracy was enacted by the GOP when the then prime minister after losing the case against her election to the Lok Sabha in the Allahabad High Court, declared emergency. The constitution was suspended and the civil rights were trampled upon. The opposition leaders were arrested and put behind bars without any charge or trial. The Democracy died instantly on the fateful date 25th June 1975. The emergency remained in force for 21 months and was lifted on 21st March 1977. The GOP paid the biggest price of losing the election held in 1977 and Janata Party came to power.
However, since the present government took office in May 2014, the article 356 has not been used as in earlier times except once on the orders of SC in Arunachal Pradesh, once in Delhi when the reigning Chief Minister resigned, twice in J&K as formation of government became infructuous due to fractured results and later death of the Chief Minister. In all between 2011 to 2016 Article 356 had been used only five times. But there had been attempts to cobble up a coalition to assert the right to form the government in many states. The graph below will bear testimony to the above.
The recent elections to the state legislature of Karnataka returned fractured verdict with the BJP being the largest single party but not having enough numbers to form the government. The governor of the state invited BJP overlooking the post poll alliance of the two main opposition parties who were at each other like vicious cats during the election campaign. The two opposition parties immediately approached the SC and sought a direction to the governor which the SC declined but made it sure that elected chief minister to prove his majority within a day though the governor while appointing the leader of BJP as Chief Minister granted fifteen days to prove his majority. These attempts are being generally dubbed as murder of democracy by the opposition parties mainly the GOP and the netizens who are against BJP and the Prime Minister.
On a careful reading of the above, it will reveal that neither the GOP nor its leaders, when they have so much of blood on their hands, have any semblance of propriety to call the actions of the BJP or the state governor murder of democracy, be it in Karnataka, Goa, Manipur or Bihar. The governors in all the cases had acted in terms of the verdict of the nine bench constitutional bench hearing the case in S R Bommai Vs Indian Union. The governors were well within their right to call the BJP leader to form the government in all the cases if you strictly apply the provisions of that judgement. But sadly many do not seem to understand but get carried away by emotions and the rabble rousing by the parties opposed to BJP.
In the immediate prior to independence almost all the state units voted in favour of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel for the post of the prime minister. Using his extensive clout within and outside the party and also his charismatic persona M K Gandhi declared that Jawaharlal Nehru would be first prime minister of the country. This negated the very process of democratically choosing the first prime minister from among the many contenders who were all equally and in some cases more than equal to fill the post of the first prime minister; however the choice was among the two who were not only the best of the lot but also highly patriotic and were ready to serve the independent nation to make it strong and better among the comity of nations.
The first elected communist government of Kerala state in 1957 elections to the legislative assembly was dismissed in 1959 by the Central government headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. Many including some of the congress leaders themselves called it a Murder of Democracy.
In the year 1980 when the Janatha Party could not sustain the government owing to internal wranglings and deception and lost the plot thanks to the internal coup by Charan Singh assisted by congress the previous year, the congress swept to power with a resounding victory in the hustings. But the then prime minister found that her style of administration and governance getting hampered by the opposition filled upper house called Rajya Sabha in the parliament. To offset the problem she engineered defections from opposition ranks in the state governments and was successful in the states of Karnataka, Sikkim, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to capture power in the state legislative assemblies so that the election to the Rajya Sabha can be managed and the vacancies filled with congress loyalists. However, in many states the GOP could not get the people to defect to grab power. Therefore, the central government decided to invoke article 356 and dismissed nine state governments on a single day. The party cited the precedence of the actions of the government headed by Morarji Desaid of Janata Party who dismissed nine state governments in 1977 citing they lost the people's mandate when the Janata Party was swept to power. This was nothing short of a murder of democracy though the state governments were enjoying the popular vote and the party heading the governments were enjoying majority.
Owing to the switching of partners in the state of Tamilnadu with the congress, the central government dismissed the popular government headed by ADMK at the behest of DMK and the government headed by DMK at the behest of ADMK in successive terms.
The Janata Party government headed by Morarji Desai was torpedoed from within by enticing Charan Singh to break away with a promise of support and the post of Prime Minister. The government lost the majority and bowed out of power. Charan Singh's government also did not last long as the congress later withdrew support. When V P Singh was the prime minister similar action was replayed by congress by enticing Chandrasekhar to break away from the party to form a government on his own with the support of congress. Later congress withdrew support. Similar act was enacted when Deve Gowda was made the prime minister with the support of congress and later when the support was withdrawn his government fell.
In the year 1989, the government headed by S R Bommai in the state of Karnataka was dismissed using article 356 though he had majority and was ready for a floor test in the house of the legislature. But the governor, an appointee of the congress refused to heed his request and the party filed a case in the SC. The case was decided and the ground rules for dismissal of the governments under Article 356 and the subsequent invitation to the party or a group of parties to form government were laid down.
In the immediate aftermath of assassination of Rajiv Gandhi the congress did not get enough seats to form the government and the coalition government was headed by PVN Rao. In the state of Jharkhand the people had elected BJP and Janata Dal as the largest parties though no party could get absolure majority. But congress imposed the government headed by Shibu Soren of JMM supported by congress. The pre poll alliance of BJP and Janata Dal did not matter for the governor and hence the SC struck down the appointment of the Chief Minister in the state and a new government headed by Arjun Munda took office.
In the period since independence invocation of article 356 to dismiss the state governments had been used extensively by successive government mostly by those headed by congress party. Till 1959, the article was invoked 6 times and in 1960 alone 11 times. After Indira Gandhi ascended the chair of the prime minister of India, the article was used 7 times between 1967 to 1969. Between 1970 to 1974 it was invoked 19 times. After the period of emergency, when the Janta Party wrested power from GOP, it used the article to dismiss nine state governments citing loss of popular mandate. When Indira Gandhi came back to power in 1980, she used this article to dismiss nine state governments and justified her action citing the earlier action of the government headed by Janata Party. PVN Rao used this article to dismiss 4 BJP governments including the then UP government headed by Kalyan Singh of BJP.
The darkest period of the Indian Democracy was enacted by the GOP when the then prime minister after losing the case against her election to the Lok Sabha in the Allahabad High Court, declared emergency. The constitution was suspended and the civil rights were trampled upon. The opposition leaders were arrested and put behind bars without any charge or trial. The Democracy died instantly on the fateful date 25th June 1975. The emergency remained in force for 21 months and was lifted on 21st March 1977. The GOP paid the biggest price of losing the election held in 1977 and Janata Party came to power.
However, since the present government took office in May 2014, the article 356 has not been used as in earlier times except once on the orders of SC in Arunachal Pradesh, once in Delhi when the reigning Chief Minister resigned, twice in J&K as formation of government became infructuous due to fractured results and later death of the Chief Minister. In all between 2011 to 2016 Article 356 had been used only five times. But there had been attempts to cobble up a coalition to assert the right to form the government in many states. The graph below will bear testimony to the above.
The recent elections to the state legislature of Karnataka returned fractured verdict with the BJP being the largest single party but not having enough numbers to form the government. The governor of the state invited BJP overlooking the post poll alliance of the two main opposition parties who were at each other like vicious cats during the election campaign. The two opposition parties immediately approached the SC and sought a direction to the governor which the SC declined but made it sure that elected chief minister to prove his majority within a day though the governor while appointing the leader of BJP as Chief Minister granted fifteen days to prove his majority. These attempts are being generally dubbed as murder of democracy by the opposition parties mainly the GOP and the netizens who are against BJP and the Prime Minister.
On a careful reading of the above, it will reveal that neither the GOP nor its leaders, when they have so much of blood on their hands, have any semblance of propriety to call the actions of the BJP or the state governor murder of democracy, be it in Karnataka, Goa, Manipur or Bihar. The governors in all the cases had acted in terms of the verdict of the nine bench constitutional bench hearing the case in S R Bommai Vs Indian Union. The governors were well within their right to call the BJP leader to form the government in all the cases if you strictly apply the provisions of that judgement. But sadly many do not seem to understand but get carried away by emotions and the rabble rousing by the parties opposed to BJP.
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