The Indian Constitution says:
"There shall be council
of Ministers with the Chief Minister at the head to aid and advise the Governor
in the exercise of his functions except in so far as he is by or under the
Constitution required to exercise his functions or any of them in his
discretion."
It is this word - discretion
- that has been used and abused so many times - that the Article 356 has become
a notorious term in India's socio-political annals.
And it has been done mainly
by killing the institution of the Governor. A Constitutional position, something
that our forefathers had envisioned, has been rendered so toothless that it is
seen now either as a retirement job or an office to follow whatever dictum the
Union Government issues.
A mere look at the present
state Governors would be more than self-explanatory.
20 Indian states and two
Union Territories with legislatures have NDA Governors now. Three Governors are
holding additional charges of once state each. That makes overall 17 NDA
appointed Governors.
Of these 17, 14 are former
BJP politicians. The other three are known to have pro-BJP tilt - ex-CJI P.
Sathasivam (Kerala) - J.P. Rajkhowa (Arunachal Pradesh) and Acharya Dev Vrat
(Himachal Pradesh). Similarly is the case with the Lieutenant-Governors of
Delhi and Puducherry.
They are either the BJP men
and have been efficiently co-opted by the BJP - as is the case with
non-political Governors appointed by the NDA - or even with the Governors
appointed by the UPA.
Nine states still have
Governors appointed by the UPA.
Some of them are completing
their terms this year and some the next year. And none of these states have a
BJP government. Yes, the party in alliance in two states - in Andhra Pradesh
(TDP) and in J&K (PDP) - but the Governors of both of these states are retired
bureaucrats and working with bureaucrats is always easy than with politicians.
They are always amenable to be co-opted.
Andhra Pradesh Governor
E.S.L. Narasimhan, who has the additional charge of Telangana, is completing
his term next year. He is a former IPS officer and IB Director. N.N. Vohra, who
is J&K's Governor since June 2008, is a former Union Home and Defence
Secretary.
Tamil Nadu and Odisha have
strong non-BJP state governments with strong chief ministers and the BJP would
not like to have adventures here. K Rosaiah, a Congress man and the former
Andhra Pradesh chief minister, was appointed Tamil Nadu's Governor in August
2011 while S.C. Jamir, a former Congress
chief minister of Nagaland is Odisha's Governor since March 2013.
Ram Naresh Yadav, the
controversial Madhya Pradesh Governor, is an old Janata Party name though he
contested his last election on a Congress ticket. As a Janata Party MLA, he was
the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1977 to 1979.
K. K. Paul who was shifted
from Mizoram to Uttarakhand in January 2015, is again a UPA appointee. He was
appointed by the UPA Government as the Meghalaya Governor in July 2013. He is a
retired IPS officer and the former Delhi Police Commissioner.
Governors of Mizoram and
Sikkim, electorally unimportant states, have former Indian government officials
as their Governors. Mizoram's Nirbhay Sharma, who has been transferred from
Arunachal Pradesh, is a retired Indian Army official while Sikkim's Shriniwas
Patil, though an NCP MP, is a retired bureaucrat. Also, these two peaceful
north-east states don't have governments, either of the BJP or any of its ally.
All these are either retired
bureaucrats or politicians having connection with the rightwing ideologies at
some point in their life. Those who have not been amenable are in the exit zone
with their terms coming to end in coming some months.
So, those who hold the office
are directly under the control of the Union Government - willingly or
unwillingly.
And every government does so
- politicising and ruining the institution of the Governor - be it the BJP or
the Congress or Janata Party or Janata coalition!
©SantoshChaubey
