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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Federal Farce

India’s federal compact was never meant to resemble street theatre. Yet that is precisely what unfolded in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where opening sessions of the Assemblies degenerated into petty skirmishes between Raj Bhavans and elected governments. Governors deserve scrutiny for overreach. But what played out on January 20 says as much about the studied belligerence of two state governments that have turned constitutional convention into a contact sport. Start with Tamil Nadu. Governor R.N....

Federal Farce

India’s federal compact was never meant to resemble street theatre. Yet that is precisely what unfolded in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where opening sessions of the Assemblies degenerated into petty skirmishes between Raj Bhavans and elected governments. Governors deserve scrutiny for overreach. But what played out on January 20 says as much about the studied belligerence of two state governments that have turned constitutional convention into a contact sport. Start with Tamil Nadu. Governor R.N. Ravi’s decision to walk out of the Assembly without delivering his address was dramatic, ill-judged and constitutionally questionable. But the stage for that walkout was carefully set by the ruling DMK. The Speaker’s insistence that the Governor read only what the Cabinet had approved, delivered with the pugnacious aside that “only MLAs can express opinion in the House,” reflected not reverence for convention but contempt for dialogue. Tamil Nadu’s government treated it as an opportunity to box the Governor into a corner and then feign outrage when he refused to play along. The subsequent statements from Raj Bhavan, disputing the state’s extravagant investment claims and invoking disrespect to the national anthem, only deepened the ugliness. But it is worth asking why such disputes routinely explode in Tamil Nadu. The answer lies less in New Delhi’s alleged conspiracies than in Chennai’s habit of governing by provocation. The DMK has discovered that permanent confrontation with the Governor serves its political narrative as it keeps the Centre in the dock. Kerala’s episode was no less revealing. Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar delivered his address and left, only for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to return to the House to announce solemnly that the Governor had tampered with Cabinet-approved paragraphs. The offending omissions concerned fiscal federalism and pending Bills, subjects dear to the Left Democratic Front’s sense of grievance. Vijayan’s declaration that the Cabinet’s version would prevail was less a constitutional clarification than a performative assertion of supremacy. Governors are not meant to rewrite policy. But nor are Assemblies meant to retroactively overrule a Governor’s address by executive fiat. Kerala’s government could have placed its objections on record or sought judicial clarity. Instead, it chose to dramatize the dispute, turning the Assembly into a forum for moral grandstanding. Together, these episodes expose a deeper malaise. State governments, particularly those ruled by parties opposed to the BJP, have begun to treat Governors not as constitutional functionaries to be constrained by process, but as political foils to be publicly humiliated. The irony is rich. Tamil Nadu and Kerala style themselves as guardians of constitutional morality, federalism and democratic norms. Yet, by weaponizing Assembly proceedings against Governors, they weaken the very conventions they claim to defend. None of this absolves Governors who stray into partisan commentary or obstructionism. India has no shortage of such examples. But federalism cannot be sustained if elected governments respond to irritation with institutional vandalism. Assemblies are not arenas for settling scores with Raj Bhavans.

Pre-poll thunderstorm rattles Fadnavis govt

Mumbai: The united Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Opposition parties managed a formidable show at a ‘Satya-cha Morcha’ protest march, with top leaders daring the election authorities on the alleged widespread discrepancies in voter-lists, ahead of the civic polls, on Saturday.

 

The massive march saw top MVA bigwigs like Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray, Balasaheb Thorat, Jayant P. Patil walking shoulder-to-shoulder with party leaders, workers and the ordinary citizens, for the common aim of deferring the civic polls till the voter-lists are cleansed to ensure a transparent election process.

 

The Thackeray brothers adopted an aggressive stance, calling for identifying bogus voters, thrashing them right there and then handing them over to the police.

 

Raj contended that there are lakhs of duplicate voters who have been distorting the outcomes of the elections and they must be weeded out, citing statistical data of thousands of such suspect voters from different constituencies around the state.

 

“Everyone is saying there are lakhs of such fake voters in the state, even the BJP and Ajit Pawar’s NCP are saying this… Then why are the elections even being conducted? Why the hurry for polls? Get your voter lists cleaned first. Only after this transparency, we shall know who really stands with whom,” thundered Raj, targeting the election authorities.

 

Uddhav for vigilance

Vowing to fight the voter-lists anomalies in a democratic manner, Uddhav called upon the people to ‘remain vigilant’ and verify their names.

 

“There was an attempt to register a fake online application in my name which came to light in a failed OTP Oct. 23. Was there a wider conspiracy to delete the names of all my family members? We shall pursue it legally by submitting all evidence of fake, duplicate, bogus voters. We hope to get justice,” said Uddhav.

 

He also reeled off district-wide massive figures claiming them to be repeat, bogus, duplicate voters in multiple constituencies of Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Pune, asking the masses to "wake up" or 'Anaconda' will come.

 

“Democracy is dying before our eyes… There must be strict action against these fraudsters. They are a threat to free and fair elections,” declared Uddhav, adding that he and Raj had joined hands for the people of Maharashtra and the cause of Marathis.

 

Pawar points injustice

The veteran politician lamented how thousands of citizens who have been voting for decades suddenly find their names missing from voter lists and asked who was responsible for this injustice.

 

“This is not just negligence. It's an attempt to silence the voice of the people. The voters are foundations of Democracy and if the base is tampered, then the democratic system will weaken. We are witnessing how the government machinery is being misused to benefit those in power and this is not a democracy envisioned by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, The Election Commission of India (ECI) must act without bias,” urged Pawar.

 

He made it clear that the MVA march was not for any single party, but all the Opposition parties uniting “for truth, justice and peoples’ right to vote” which no power in the world can take away and save democracy from threats.

 

Other prominent leaders who spoke-attended included: Supriya Sule, Dr. Jitendra Awhad, Jayant R. Patil, Balasaheb Thorat, M. Arif Naseem Khan, Sachin Sawant, Vijay Wadetriwar, Bhai Jagtap Satej Patil and other senior functionaries of the MVA alliance partners.

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