We will soon know if Uttarakhand, not long after Arunachal Pradesh, will succumb to the small states syndrome. This may be broadly described as the will of the people — as available through the electoral verdict — being subverted and an elected government torpedoed by manipulating the bloc of ruling party legislators.
In general, states with numerically small legislatures have been prone to instability, destabilisation and horse-trading through the use of muscle and money power as well as through the unscrupulous use of the official machinery. This gave us the “Aya Ram, Gaya Ram” phenomenon in the 1960s. The subsequent anti-defection law required that at least a third of a party’s elected MLAs must switch sides in order not to fall foul of the law.
But in small states, the loyalty of the required number of MLAs could be subverted with moneybags. In recent times, this seems to have been turned into a fine art. The trouble is that even the judiciary is taken for a ride, as appeared to be the case in Arunachal Pradesh. There the governor got his way in the end after proffering seemingly bogus arguments supporting the claim of a breakdown of the constitutional machinery to facilitate President’s Rule, that was ended in record quick time to enable the formation of a new BJP-supported government led by a Congress dissident. The BJP moved from being the main Opposition party to a key government backer.
The governor’s role was egregious. He chose to call an Assembly session, bypassing the elected government, in order to help a section of MLAs who can easily be called his protégés. The governor of Uttarakhand, Dr K.K. Paul, has so far played by the book. He has given Congress chief minister Harish Rawat, under pressure from BJP-backed dissidents, a week to prove his majority on the floor of the Assembly (March 28).
The governor is, however, under tremendous pressure from the BJP to bring that date forward. It is afraid that the CM may be able to win back some of the flock if he is given enough time. Some of the Congress dissidents could also stand to lose their membership of the House if the Speaker so decides, in case party discipline is violated.
In that event the position of the Rawat government may get stronger. To prevent this happening, the governor is being pushed to freeze the membership of the Assembly as it was on the day the Budget was passed. These are fairly unusual demands to make of any governor. In order to be fair and square, Dr Paul will be well advised to adopt the standard conventional approach in approaching political situations brought by sharp-dealing politicians.
