By Binoy Viswam
Under the RSS-BJP rule the office of governors is becoming more and more undemocratic and conspiratorial. The meaning and spirit of federalism is routinely violated by these governors’ office in many parts of the country. Uninterrupted functioning of the state governments is hindered by the unjustifiable interventions of the governors. The Constitution discusses about the powers and duties of the governor elaborately. From Article 153 several provisions are incorporated by the framers of the Constitution with the proclaimed purpose of a healthy Centre-State relation. However, many a time the political agenda of those who run the show at the Centre have undermined the novel scriptures attached to the governors’ office. The tendency of powers to centralise everything, often try to make the governor as an instrument to impose its wishes.
In 1959 this tendency of high-handedness went up to the extent of dismissing the first ever communist government of Kerala by invoking article 356. From then onwards more than 115 times this article was used by various central governments to impose their authoritarian rule in various states. The makers of the Constitution envisaged the governor to perform as a meaningful link between the Centre and the states. Mutual understanding and respect between governments at the Centre and the State is an ideal situation that helps both the entities. The RSS controlled ruling dispensation at the Centre is in a frenzy to overshadow everything of our federal structure. For them the states and the state government are to be treated as their orderlies. This has created tedious challenges in the realm of Centre-State relations. In many states, the governor questions the well-structured advancement of the state for their political ends.
The BJP government has made it a practice to hand-pick governors of their choice. Political wisdom of statesmanship is not a criterion for the BJP in selecting the governors. RSS supporters with undisputable loyalty to its ideology are becoming incumbents of the Raj Bhawan/Raj Niwas in different states. In a matter of few days, these ‘Swayamsevak governors’ convert their Raj Bhawans into a camp office of the BJP. The prescriptions of partisan politics prepared by BJP heavy weights are put into practice by such kind of governors. They seek and act as if they are deputed to the states to fulfil the whims and fancies of the BJP in the concerned states and the Centre.
Governors in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab have been acting as the political stewards of the BJP violating the basic doctrines of democracy. Not so long ago, in several states after the election governors were deployed to install BJP governments with cooked up majority. Bypassing the single biggest political formation in hung assemblies, BJP leaders were allowed to form the government. With this political patronage from the ‘Constitutional Head of the State’ BJP could easily manage the required numbers through horse-trading. It is shameful to see governors, who are supposed to perform the task irrespective of political considerations competing each other to become ‘more Christian than the Pope’.
Arif Mohammed Khan, the governor of Kerala is doing everything possible to become number one in this race. His only aim seems to be the appeasement of Modi-Amit Shah combine. In a state like Kerala where democratic norms are held in high esteem, every now and then, the governor attempts to dig up controversies. The ‘comparatively new convert of the RSS’ is creating opportunities to prove his ideological loyalty and political subservience to the Sangh Parivar. He believes that confronting the only Left Democratic government in the country is the easiest way, to find a place in the good books of the Parivar. He stoops to any low in his politically motivated tirade against the left government. The latest controversy about a seminar in 2019 organised by the Kannur University. Arif Mohammed Khan had no hesitation to call the vice chancellor, a renowned academic, ‘a criminal’. The internationally acclaimed historian Dr Irfan Habib was also targeted by the governor by using unexpected words from such a high office. By all means the governor is trying to fill the vacuum for the BJP, which has no representation in the legislature of Kerala. It maybe useful for his political ambitions, but unworthy for the office that he holds.
In the course of last so many decades, the country has discussed about the relevance of governorship. It was the growing tendency of the ruling circles at the Centre to make the Raj Bhawan/Raj Niwas as a tool in their hands that has triggered this discussion. With the ascendance of the RSS-BJP to power, the authoritarian tendency has grown to many-fold. This has resulted in the unconstitutional arrogance of governors, as it is seen in many states. In this background, the relevance of the question has re-emerged with more seriousness: “Is the governor’s office necessary for the country to uphold its federal principles?” Experience tells us that it is not necessary. The CPI and other left parties have raised this question before the country, much in advance. In the coming days, this debate will be taken up by wider democratic forces. (IPA Service)
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