In India, electoral politics is fast becoming the most riveting spectator sport, giving IPL a run for its money. The recent Karnataka Assembly elections are just one example of that. The way events unfolded on counting day had most people glued to the TV screens or mobile phones. Just as the BJP top brass and party workers began celebrating its ‘victory’, came another twist in the tale — the saffron party fell tantalisingly short of a majority. To make matters more absurd, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam congratulated the Prime Minister on the BJP’s victory in Karnataka even before the counting was over.
The Congress, known more for its sloth in the recent past, showed remarkable alacrity in sewing up an alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular) which surprised many. But the Congress-JD(S) combine has to reckon with the wily Amit Shah, who is sure to leave no stone unturned to ensure a majority for the BJP in Karnataka.
Tie-breaker
Whenever the electoral verdict throws up a hung Assembly, the attention automatically shifts to the Governor. Now, Governors are political appointees of the Union Government and it’s no surprise that they usually end up batting for their masters at the Centre. The Karanataka Governor, Vajubhai Vala, is not just an old RSS-BJP hand, he is known to be particularly close to PM Narendra Modi, having served under him as Finance Minister in Gujarat for 10 years when Modi was the CM.
So, to expect Governors to behave as neutral arbiters beggars belief. This time around the Governor claims to have followed the rulebook by inviting the single largest party – BJP – to form the government. But the recent events in Goa and Manipur, where the Congress — despite being the largest party — was not given a shot at government formation, shows that the BJP is being very selective in playing by the ‘rulebook’.
There are many grey areas in the ‘rules’ and ‘conventions’ which give ample scope for political manipulation. Both the Sarkaria and Punchhi Commissions had recommended inviting the single largest party to form governments. Some observers argue that the Supreme Court’s judgment in the SR Bommai case also supports this view, but others have argued that the judgment also says that the single largest party or ‘group’ can be invited to form the government, which strengthen’s the Congress-JD(S) case.
Besides the role of the Governors is also not codified which ends up giving them far too much discretionary powers.
So it is not surprising that this vast grey area is fertile ground for political parties to play out their ‘Machiavellian’ games.
Political skullduggery
The BJP’s strategy of outsmarting the Congress in Goa, Manipur and Meghalaya, and now trying the same in Karnataka, has a long history in Indian politics. In fact the BJP has only perfected an ‘art’ that was set in motion by the Congress way back in the 1960s and 1970s. In fact, people in Kerala would go even further back and remind us of how Nehru unfairly dismissed the first elected Communist government in Kerala (and the world) in the late 1950s.
Haryana has the dubious distinction of introducing the term ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram’ to the Indian political lexicon, when legislator Gaya Lal changed parties thrice in a single day in 1967. The 1970s were replete with instances where the Congress, under Indira Gandhi, wilfully engineered political defections to topple elected governments, making a mockery of the popular mandate.
A particularly egregious instance of political skulduggery was when Chief Minister Bhajan Lal (again, in Haryana) and his entire lot of 37 MLAs defected from the Janata Party to the Congress in early 1980 and overnight the State had a Congress government. The architect of this was none other than Indira Gandhi.
In the early 1980s too Indira Gandhi toppled elected governments in Jammu and Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh. In Andhra Pradesh, when NT Rama Rao was dethroned and Nadendla Bhaskara Rao was installed at Indira Gandhi’s behest, in a typically cloak-and-dagger operation, the opposition parties backed NTR’s TDP and organised a huge rally in August 1984 at the Marina Beach in Chennai, where all the leading lights of the then Opposition addressed a huge gathering.
Defective law?
To put an end to such manipulations and the whimsical dismissal of elected governments, Rajiv Gandhi’s government brought in the Anti-Defection law in 1985. This law, though a welcome step, was far from perfect, which is why it was amended over the years. Initially, at least one-third of the legislators needed to ‘defect’ to another party to avoid disqualification. This was later amended to two-thirds of legislators in 2003.
So, the Congress crying foul today at the BJP’s tactics has a hollow ring to it. Given its past shenanigans, the Grand Old Party is no position to occupy the high moral ground. Of course, this is not to say that what the BJP is doing today is right. By honing the tactics put in place by the Congress, the BJP has proved that it is not a ‘party with a difference’.
In the meantime the whole country will be engrossed with confidence vote that will take place at the Karnataka Assembly on Saturday afternoon.