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June Ank 2018 Curve Editorial : The Hypocrisy of the RSS and BJP Exposed in Karnataka Mahi Pal Singh With the swearing in ceremony of H.D. coalition, and only two independent members left Kumaraswamy as the Chief Minister of unaligned, the only logical and democratic step Karnataka after a high voltage political climax left for the Governor was to invite and anti-climax the matter has reached its logical Kumaraswamy to form the government. and democratic conclusion. When the results of But that was not to be. Kumaraswamy the state legislative assembly declared on 15th declared his intention to meet the Governor at May, 2018 threw a hung house with the 5.30 p.m. in the evening to stake his claim to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) getting 104, the form the government. The BJP immediately Congress 78 and the Janata Dal (Secular) 38 swung into action and B.S. Yeddyurappa, its CM seats out of the 222 seats out of the 224 for candidate, outsmarted him and went to meet the which the election was held, it became clear Governor at 5 p.m.and staked his claim to form that only a coalition government could be formed the government as the leader of the single largest in the state. For that to happen in a legitimate party in the assembly claiming that in such a way it was clear that two of the three parties situation that is the practice, very conveniently would have to come together. Though the three forgetting that that practice was not followed parties had fought the election against each by the same BJP in Goa, Manipur and other, under the circumstances of a fractured Meghalaya, where the Congress was the single mandate, it was mandatory that they should largest party in the last elections, and it formed forget the election-period rivalry and think of a governments there by luring/bringing along common ideology and programme so that two members from other parties to gain majority after of the three formations could come together. It being sworn in as Chief Ministers. The Governors is obvious that the Congress and the JD (S) have there, who happen to be the (former) leaders of a common ideology of Secularism and they were the BJP and members of the Rashtriya the natural coalition partners to form the next Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), sided with the BJP government. This they did and the Congress on and invited its leaders to form governments there. its own declared that they would align with the They exercised their ‘discretion’ in favour of not JD (S) and accept H.D. Kumaraswamy as the the single largest party but the BJP which was coalition leader and the next Chief Minister. The not the single largest party in any of these three offer was accepted by Kumaraswamy also and states, nor had any other group declared its the matter was sealed as far as they were intention to lend it support in forming the concerned even before the Election Commission government before the BJP candidates were formally declared the election results. Since the sworn in as Chief Ministers. The whole BJP had only 104 seats, seven seats short of manipulation was done thereafter to prove the majority mark of 111 (since the house had majority on the floor of the house. only 221 members as Kumaraswamy had been In the case of Karnataka, the same BJP took declared elected from two seats), as against the a diametrically opposite stand and there also the 116 (+ one of the BSP) of the Congress-JD (S) Governor, Vajubhai Vala, who also happens to June 2018 THE RADICAL HUMANIST 3 be a former minister under Narendra Modi’s from 15 days to 4 p.m. on 19th May 2018, a Chief Ministership in Gujarat and also a staunch little less than 3 days. This direction of the RSS member, out-rightly favoured the BJP Supreme Court was an indirect comment on the candidate, B.S. Yeddyurappa inviting him to take partisan behaviour and democratic impropriety oath, which he did on 17 May, as the next CM, committed by the Governor. Diametrically also giving him 15 days’ long time to indulge in opposite ‘discretion’ shown by the Governors horse-trading with a free hand and prove his of Goa, Manipur and Mizoram on the one hand majority on the floor of the house. It is true that and by the Governor of Karnataka on the other under Article 164 (1) the Constitution gives the also highlights the need for codification of this Governor the authority to “appoint the Chief ‘discretion’ so that it is not arbitrary, biased and Minister” and under Article 163 (2) his partisan, and against democratic propriety. After ‘discretion’ ‘shall not be called in question on the all even the Governor is a public servant and ground that he ought or ought not to have acted hast to observe the rules not only of in his discretion’ but the choice of inviting anybody constitutional propriety but is also bound by to take oath as the Chief Minister is based on the democratic norms. He too must not only be fair assumption that he will invite a person who in his and unbiased but also appear to be so. Not only opinion can provide a stable government in the the Governors but also all other people in non- state. Basing their argument on the ‘discretion’ political constitutional posts are supposed to shed of the Governor, the whole battery of the their political associations at the time of assuming spokespersons of the BJP and the RSS who such posts, but some people, including members appeared on various TV channels justified the of the RSS, find it difficult to do so. action of the Governor. All of them conveniently As a result of the Supreme Court ruling, the ignored the question of propriety and democratic newly appointed Chief Minister had to face the norms which only exposed their hypocrisy of house for a confidence vote earlier than what saying different things in spite of circumstances his mentors in the BJP and the RSS had planned, being similar. For Vajubhai Vala also the directions which of course he did not seek as he knew of his political bosses were more important than that he did not have the required numbers, and political propriety because of which he had to resigned after 55 hours of becoming the CM. close his eyes to everything which even an The master manipulators of the BJP failed to ordinary citizen could clearly see – about who cobble up the required numbers by hook or crook enjoyed a majority in the assembly. as had been their practice earlier because However, when the Governor formally invited perhaps the time proved too short for them to B.S. Yeddyurappa of the BJP to take oath as show their manipulative abilities. the next CM, the Congress and the JD (S) After the coming together of the Samajwadi leaders approached the Supreme Court the night Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party during the before the swearing in. A bench was immediately two parliamentary bye-polls for Gorakhpur and constituted which heard the case from midnight Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh, the two BJP VVIP till the next morning. Realizing the urgency of constituencies vacated by Yogi Adityanath, the the matter and taking note of the arguments and CM, and the other vacated by Keshav Prasad copies of letters of support presented by the Maurya, the Deputy Chief Minister, and coalition parties to the Governor, in its judgement comprehensively defeating the BJP candidates though the bench did not grant stay on the there, it is a good sign that the Congress and the swearing in, it reduced the deadline of proving JD (S) came together in Karnataka to defeat the majority on the floor of the house drastically the power-grabbing designs of the BJP there. 4 THE RADICAL HUMANIST June 2018 The non-BJP, non-communal, secular parties are greatest show of unity after 1996. It must have realizing the importance of coming together to unnerved the BJP leadership come as it did pave the way for a broader non-BJP alliance before the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and for the 2019 general elections. This is manifest Chhattisgarh assembly elections due at the end from the presence of almost all the non-BJP of this year even before the decisive 2019 party leaders at the swearing in ceremony of parliamentary general elections as it certainly H.D. Kumaraswamy. This coming together of has a definite potential to wipe out the BJP from all the secular forces of the country was the the country. More Tributes to Justice Sachar: Justice Rajindar Sachar – an Unbeaten Fighter of Human Rights Gautam Thaker While Rajindar Sachar was the National and democratic rights of not only the minority President of PUCL before two decades, rare but that of all the backward classes of India. I memories of having worked closely with him have had a rare privilege of working with a noble for the cause of Human Rights and Civil Liberties man, concerned with the issues facing the clearly emerge on the memory line even to-day, people, for over two and a half decades now. after his demise. Perhaps most of to-day’s Having talked once or twice in a month, he citizens tend to recognize him merely as an certainly gave guidance and directions on the authority to draft a report during the tenure of crucial issues. Whenever a conference was the U.P.A. Govt. on the social, economical and organized in Ahmedabad either by the PUCL or educational condition of Muslim community.
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