The impact on democratic institutions

The biggest indication sign of autocracy is the feverishness to destroy the systematic establishments and replace them with weak alternate systems.

The reality is that this tendency that surfaced with the Indira Gandhi government has reached a precarious phase breaching all boundaries, during the tenure of Narendra Modi for the past three years. It’s the Governor’s post that was impacted severely. The plight of the Governors, who as a representative of the President in the Raj Bhavan and the guardian of Constitution, take on crucial responsibilities, getting reduced to mere puppets and political negotiators of those in power at Delhi, has today crossed all limits and reached a disgraceful situation. When the NDA government cram the Raj Bhavan with third-rate politicians and severely biased RSS leaders, the reports from different states prove that the apprehensions shared by the people were absolutely right.

The allegations raised by Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal against state Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi require grave attention. Mamata alleged that the Governor behaved like a block president of BJP. The Governor had questioned the moves by the Trinamool Congress government of curbing the communal tensions in North 24 Parganas district in Bengal spawned by a blasphemous Facebook post by a 17-year old. He demanded the release of the student who was arrested related to the incident which reportedly led to the straining of ties with the Chief Minister. The Governors who fervently strive to be in the good books of their bosses toil hard to perturb the governments by neglecting the sanctity of the position held and violating the precedence followed by the Raj Bhavan so far. Mamata alleges that the Governor threatened and insulted her. The answer to the question, as to who gave the Governor the right to breach the limits is what should be found.

If those who believe in democracy fail to resist the snots who reduce Raj Bhavan to a hub of political horse-trading, conspiracy and appeasement for those ruling in Delhi, regardless of their ideological lineage, it would bring irreparable harm to the system. Former IPS officer Kiran Bedi earned the appreciation of the nation through her heroic deeds while she was police chief. Even her arrogant attitude when she was posted as the Governor shocked those who expected at least some degree of righteousness and ethics in politics. Bedi who is the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, nominated three Sangh Parivar leaders as MLAs violating all precedence and criteria. She nominated BJP state president V Swaminathan, Treasurer Shankar and educationist Selva Ganapathy those rejected by people in the previous election, as nominated members of the Legislative Assembly without even consulting the state government. How much more cruelty should be expected from the ‘gutsy’ woman officer to slaughter democracy? Bedi’s and Keshari Nath’s contemptible moves comes even before the political antics displayed by the Governors posted in Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Tripura by the Modi government in recent past, fades from the memory.

The fact that the NDA government that continues its moves of undermining the sanctity of the Governor post, engaging in questioning even the credibility of the Election Commission which should in no way pander to the pressures in matters of fairness and efficiency, should be seen with gravity. Former IAS officer Achal Kumar Jyoti who was the former Chief Secretary of Gujarat has now been appointed the new Chief Election Commissioner. It isn’t difficult to comprehend the devilish intentions behind this appointment that was a pre-planned move readied foreseeing the retirement of Nasim Zaidi. Given the unbiased approach of the EC in matters like Electronic Voting Machine and others, the discrepancy in PM’s own nominee getting catapulted to a significant post in such a way, should be a subject of discussion. Certain grave questions arose when the subject recently appeared before the Supreme Court. The apex court wanted to know what criteria was to be followed for the appointment of those who should be leading an independent and just election as well as why no legislatures were formulated for a transparent process. When the nations increasingly trudges towards authoritarianism, it’s the Opposition parties that should curb the attempts. But what could be expected from an Opposition that has already landed in indolence and despair?