BJP TODAY

October 16--31, 2005 - Vol. 14, No. 20

Deceitful Congress stands exposed

By declaring the dissolution of Bihar Assembly on May 23, even before the legislators could be sworn in, as "unconstitutional", the Supreme Court has exposed the hypocrisy of the United Progressive Alliance Government and the blatant misuse of gubernatorial office by its agent in Patna. The midnight meeting in New Delhi where the decision to dissolve the Assembly was taken on the basis of two spurious reports submitted by Governor Buta Singh and the unseemly haste with which the President's approval - he was in Moscow and the recommendation was faxed to him for his signature - was sought and procured, made it abundantly clear that the Prime Minister and his men had acted in a partisan manner to prevent the National Democratic Alliance from staking its claim to form a Government in Bihar.

By May 22, it had become obvious that the NDA was in a position to break the political gridlock caused by the fractured verdict of the January-February Assembly election. But rather than allow an alternative to Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav's hugely corrupt Rashtriya Janata Dal to come to power, the UPA Government resorted to a pre-emptive strike, ignoring all provisions of the Constitution as well as violating all guidelines framed by the Supreme Court in its famous judgement of 1994 in the SR Bommai Versus Union of India case. Two factors played an important role in shaping this patently untenable abuse of power - blackmail by Mr Yadav who believes that he and his wife alone have the divine right to rule Bihar irrespective of the people's verdict, and the Congress's contempt for the Constitution of India whose provisions have been time and again subsumed by the party's lust for power at any cost.

The Congress is dependent on Mr Yadav's support for remaining in power at the Centre; if the RJD MPs were to walk out of the UPA, the present regime would collapse like a house of cards. Hence, Mr Yadav arm-twisted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his colleagues, especially Home Minister Shivraj Patil, into taking a step that has now recoiled on the Government, severely damaging its credibility and putting a question mark on the sincerity it professes in its commitment to constitutional propriety. It can be argued that Mr Singh, whose integrity is often cited by apologists of the Government's policies and programmes while defending the indefensible, could have stood up to Mr Yadav's blackmail and dared him to walk out of the coalition.

In all probability, Mr Yadav would have stayed put because he needs the UPA as much as the Congress needs his RJD as a coalition partner. Even if he had walked out, Mr Singh and the Congress could have claimed, and rightly so, the moral high ground. Instead, they chose to succumb to the demands of a man who is known for boundless amorality and limitless corruption; rather than insist that the Constitution is supreme, they sacrificed democracy at the altar of political expediency. Not much effort was required for that, though; nor did the Congress have to struggle too hard to overcome compunctions.

Starting with the sacking of the EMS Namboodiripad Government in Kerala, the Congress has misused Article 356 with the help of pliant Governors on numerous occasions to remove non-Congress Governments from power. Regard and respect for the Constitution have never prevented the Congress from having its way, nor has the possibility of judicial rebuke stopped the party from indulging in politics of utter cynicism. If there was a respite from such misuse of power between 1998 and 2004, it was not because the Congress had reformed and turned a new leaf but the NDA was more mindful of constitutional propriety.

The moment the Congress returned to power at the head of the UPA, it fell back on its past practice of thumbing its nose at the Constitution and established norms of democracy. The perversity that was witnessed in Patna when the Assembly was dissolved without any honest effort being made for Government formation must be seen in the context of similar misuse of Central power and abuse of gubernatorial authority in Jharkhand and Goa. The dissolution of Bihar Assembly, therefore, is not an isolated incident that can be explained as poor political judgement; it is part of a pattern to subvert democracy to foist illegitimate Governments controlled either by the Congress or its allies on States whose voters have exercised their franchise to elect an alternative political entity. The Prime Minister cannot dissociate himself from such despicable politics: Friday's judgement tars him as much as it shows up Mr Buta Singh for what he is.

The Supreme Court's decision not to exercise its discretionary powers to order the restoration of the dissolved Assembly is laudable. If the Supreme Court had asked for the Assembly to be restored and thus declared the ongoing electoral process to elect a new Assembly as null and void, it would have led to an avoidable confrontation between the judiciary and the executive. Now that both the Congress and the RJD stand exposed as shameless aggressors against the Constitution and remorseless violators of democracy, the coming election will provide the people of Bihar with an opportunity to punish them for their collaborative misdeed.

The best way to do that would be to vote decisively against those who can go to any extent to perpetuate the hugely corrupt RJD regime and its criminal family enterprise. If Bihar has to be saved from total ruination and brought back from the brink of a bottomless abyss to which it has been pushed by more than a decade of Mr Yadav's rule, either directly or through conjugal proxy, then an alternative Government must come to power in Patna - not through political blackmail or by use of muscle power, but with the help of the ballot box. The coming Assembly election in Bihar has gained a certain importance in the light of the Supreme Court's judgement whose sanctity will be strengthened by a decisive vote that leaves no room for politics of manipulation and deceit as was witnessed after the January-February poll.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister would do well to introspect on his contribution to the "unconstitutional" act in Bihar. It is unlikely that he will accept the burden of moral responsibility since that would require summoning vast reserves of integrity and ethics. The least he can do is to sack Mr Buta Singh whose continuance in office is a blot on India's image as a democracy where the nation's Constitution rules supreme.