During
the 20th century, democratic constitutionalism was typically threatened
by autocrats who staged a coup or declared a state of national
emergency. Convicted of misusing government funds, this is whatIndira Gandhidid
in 1975: Within hours the prime minister’s political opponents were
deprived of their liberty, and newspaper editors of their electricity
supply. Today there is no declared State of Emergency, nor are tanks
rolling on the streets of Delhi. And yet, in an unprecedented press
conference in January this year, four senior judges of the Supreme Court
announced that India’s democracy was under threat. In April, the main
Opposition party launched a “Save the Constitution” campaign. Is our
democracy really ailing?
Unlike
their naked-fisted counterparts of the 20th century, autocrats of the
21st century — in Hungary, Poland, Sri Lanka, the US, Turkey, Venezuela
and elsewhere — have used stealthier, incremental tools to undermine
constitutionalism. Constitutionalism looks to independent institutions —
the judiciary, election commission, corruption and human rights
watchdogs, attorneys and auditors general, investigative and prosecution
agencies — to check the most dangerous branch, that is, the political
executive. Political parties are allowed to play the game we called
democracy freely, even aggressively. But they must not cheat, they must
accept the decisions of these checking institutions, and they must not
change the rules of the game for partisan advantage.
Instead
of challenging democratic constitutionalism outright, the latter day
autocrats appropriate its vocabulary even as they undermine it. Rather
than an all-out assault, they chip away at constitutional institutions.
Each covert micro-assault keeps just on the right side of legality and,
when isolated from the broader context, appears relatively
unthreatening. Checking institutions, mindful of choosing their battles
carefully, often tolerate these micro-assaults, until they are
eventually captured by party loyalists. The war is lost even before the
big battle worth-fighting-for materialises. Creeping authoritarianism
destroys democratic constitutions not with a full-frontal assault, but
with a thousand paper cuts.
Is
India in the throes of creeping authoritarianism as well? One of the
most rigorous, global, comprehensive data sets on the health of
democracies (the Varieties of Democracy or “V-Dem” dataset) compiled by
independent social science experts might provide an answer. In this data
set, the Electoral Democracy Index tracks the health of political
competition between parties, the freeness and fairness of elections, and
the ability of civil society to influence politics. The Egalitarian
Democracy Index tracks the degree to which different groups of citizens
enjoy democratic rights and the country’s resources equally. The Free
Expression Index tracks the degree of freedom of media, academic and
cultural expression. And the Judicial Independence Index tracks the
level of independence of the judiciary and its control over the
executive. A higher score indicates a healthier democracy, while a lower
score signals authoritarianism.
As
the graph clearly demonstrates, India’s electoral democracy index score
rose sharply with the inauguration of its 1950 Constitution, and —
except for two exceptions — broadly remained stable. This is no mean
feat. While many post-colonial states succumbed to dictators, the Indian
army stayed in its barracks. Presidents did not dismiss prime
ministers. Elections were mostly regular, free and fair. Political
parties gracefully left office after losing elections. Judicial
declarations of unconstitutionality of laws were generally respected.
These are things Indians should be proud of, even while criticising the
country’s flawed institutions and their inadequate attempts to deliver
on the promises of independence (a shortcoming made painfully visible by
the bottom-most line charting India’s consistently low Egalitarian
Democracy Index).
All
four V-Dem measures dropped sharply during Indira Gandhi’s imperious
career in the 1970s (the first vertical line marks the start of the
Emergency). With a few honourable exceptions, most checking institutions
capitulated to her whims. The Emergency ended only when a
mercifully-misplaced overconfidence in her own popularity led Indira
Gandhi to go to polls in 1977. After her staggering defeat, the
succeeding Janata government strengthened constitutionalism by making
declarations of Emergencies harder. India’s democratic scores were
revived, and remained more or less steadfast until recently (although
some signs of vulnerability were already apparent under UPA-II).
For present purposes, the health of our Constitution since 2014 — when theNarendra Modigovernment
took office (denoted by the second vertical line in the graph) — is
particularly concerning. Barring the Indira years, the country is worse
off on every single index since 1953. The decline is steady along all
indicators, although the free expression index’s nosedive in the graph
is especially dramatic. The government’s battles with the judiciary have
intensified only recently, so the judicial independence index is likely
to follow suit once the 2018 figures are in. Admittedly, attempts to
reduce such complex phenomena to numbers is imperfect. Neither can all
changes be attributed to the central government. Yet, a trend away from
the constitutional checks and towards a creeping authoritarianism in
India over the last few years is undeniable.
Indira
Gandhi’s authoritarianism was of the older variety — hard to deny and
harder still to defend. Nations can sleepwalk into creeping
authoritarianism of the 21st century because of its stealthy
incrementalism. Whether constitutional guardians are able and willing to
resist institutional capture, check executive power, and protect
opposition and citizen’s rights will ultimately determine the fate of
Indian democracy.
The writer is an associate professor in law at the Universities of Oxford and Melbourne.
[What has by now become abundantly clear, if anyone had any
doubt about it, that the RSS/BJP is least squeamish about “morality”,
“democratic norms” and all that.
So is its core constituency.
(One
should just keep in mind the way the Babri Mosque had been demolished
despite categorical assurance given to the Supreme Court to the
contrary.)
And, not only its core constituency, it, apparently, applies to a sizeable number of Indians, across the class divides.
Once,
Devi Lal, the Dy. Prime Minister at that time, having been asked by a
journalist to comment on the allegation that he was indulging in
nepotism - “bhai-bhatijabad”, in the exercise of his office, he just
rudely shot back: Main mera bhai-bhatija ka khayal nahin rakhunga to kya
tera bhai-bhatija ka khayal rakhunga!? (For anybody that’s the most
natural thing to do, in fact an obligation to discharge.)
He was a pretty popular leader then, albeit, with a defined group.
And, he must have had been pretty sure in his mind that his own constituency would empathise.
That’s the “morality” of large sections of Indians.
It’s, apparently, our ancient heritage, which “modernity” has failed to erase off, in fact, has further aggravated, in patches.
The
relevant point here is what more tricks, under the given circumstances,
may make their appearances from out of the bag of tricks of the evil
duo?
One’s, of course, trying to buy up enough number of newly elected MLAs, using hundreds of crores.
It’s already being widely talked of.
In case these attempts do not succeed to the required extent, then what?
Would they try to kidnap some MLAs, on the way back?
Would the vehicles transporting these meet with accidents or get held up on the way back?
Would some other methods be devised to block their entry?
Or
on the floor of the House, taking the alibi of an engineered ruckus,
the Presiding Officer, from the BJP, would suspend/expel sufficient
number?
Or they’d just accept the inevitable, in apprehension of strong adverse public reactions?
Or something else?
Let’s wait and watch.
In the meanwhile:
《Protesting
against Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala’s “collusion with the BJP”, by
inviting BS Yeddyurappa to take the oath of office despite falling
short of the required mandate, the Congress party is observing a ‘Save
Democracy Day’ across the country. The party will hold protests across
state capitals and district headquarters.》
In
a matter like this, detailed hearing is required in order to decide as
to whether action of the Governor in inviting respondent no.3 to form
the Government was valid in law or not. Since it may consume substantial
time and the final decision cannot be given immediately, we deem it
proper that Floor Test to ascertain the majority of one or the other
group is conducted immediately and without any delay. Though the
Governor in his letter dated 16.05.2018 inviting respondent no.3 to form
the Government has given him 15 days’ time for proving the majority on
the floor of the House, having regard to all the circumstances of this
case, we are of the view that such a Floor Test be conducted tomorrow
itself i..e. on 19.05.2018.
Since
the elected Members of Legislative Assembly are yet to take oath as
specified in Schedule III of the Constitution and the Speaker is also
yet to be elected, the Court ordered that the following procedure be
followed for conducting the Floor Test.
Pro-tem Speaker shall be appointed for the aforesaid purpose immediately.
All the elected members shall take oath tomorrow (19.05.2018) and this exercise shall be completed before 04.00 p.m.
The Pro-tem Speaker shall conduct the Floor Test on 19.05.2018 at 04.00 P.M. in order to ascertain the majority.
Adequate
and sufficient security arrangements shall be made and Director General
of Police, State of Karnataka will himself supervise the said
arrangements so that there is no lapse on this count
whatsoever.>>]
Breaking: Supreme Court orders #FloorTest for Karnataka Assembly at 4 pm tomorrow [Read Order]
In a major development, the Supreme Court today ordered that a floor test for the Karnataka Assembly be held tomorrow at 4 pm.
By
this order, a Bench of Justices AK Sikri, SA Bobde and Ashok Bhushan
has effectively stayed the decision of Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala
to grant BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa 15 days time to prove majority in the
House.
The Court proceeded to direct that the Floor test be held tomorrow at 4 PM.
In
a matter like this, detailed hearing is required in order to decide as
to whether action of the Governor in inviting respondent no.3 to form
the Government was valid in law or not. Since it may consume substantial
time and the final decision cannot be given immediately, we deem it
proper that Floor Test to ascertain the majority of one or the other
group is conducted immediately and without any delay. Though the
Governor in his letter dated 16.05.2018 inviting respondent no.3 to form
the Government has given him 15 days’ time for proving the majority on
the floor of the House, having regard to all the circumstances of this
case, we are of the view that such a Floor Test be conducted tomorrow
itself i.e. on 19.05.2018.
Since
the elected Members of Legislative Assembly are yet to take oath as
specified in Schedule III of the Constitution and the Speaker is also
yet to be elected, the Court ordered that the following procedure be
followed for conducting the Floor Test.
Pro-tem Speaker shall be appointed for the aforesaid purpose immediately.
All the elected members shall take oath tomorrow (19.05.2018) and this exercise shall be completed before 04.00 p.m.
The Pro-tem Speaker shall conduct the Floor Test on 19.05.2018 at 04.00 P.M. in order to ascertain the majority.
Adequate
and sufficient security arrangements shall be made and Director General
of Police, State of Karnataka will himself supervise the said
arrangements so that there is no lapse on this count whatsoever.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi undertook that no policy decision will be taken till the Floor Test is conducted.
Similarly, ASG Tushar Mehta appearing for Karnataka government stated that no Anglo-Indian member will be nominated.
Read a detailed account of today’s hearing here.
Read Order
[Order]
Read Letters written by BS Yeddyurappa to Governor
Yeddyurappa Shakes up Karnataka’s Top Bureaucracy as Cloud Hangs Over His Govt
The top level reshuffle includes the transfers
of the advocate general of the state, senior police officers and the
additional chief secretary to the chief minister.
BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa after being sworn in as the Karnataka CM in Bengaluru on May 17, 2018.
Bengaluru: Wasting no time, Karnataka’s new chief
minister BS Yeddyurappa on Thursday transferred several senior IAS and
IPS officers in the state just hours after being sworn-in.
The top level reshuffle includes the transfers of the advocate general
of the state, senior police officers and the additional chief secretary
to the chief minister. A communique issued by the Governor’s House in
the evening stated that Prabhuling K Navadagi has replaced Madhusudhan R
Naik as the state’s advocate general with immediate effect.
The government also appointed M Lakshminarayana, who was the additional
chief secretary of public works department, as the additional chief
secretary to the chief minister. It also notified that his position will
be equivalent to the additional chief secretary in the home department,
a step up in stature.
The top brass of the police department has seen the biggest shakeup till now, with for senior IPS officers being transferred.
According to an official notification, senior IPS officer Amar Kumar
Pandey, who was serving as Additional Director General of Police,
Railways, has been made the ADGP of Intelligence.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Karnataka State Reserve Police
Sandeep Patil will be the DIG, Intelligence. Bidar Superintendent of
Police D Devaraja has been transferred to Bengaluru Central division as
the deputy commissioner of police.
Superintendent of police in anti-corruption bureau S Girish has been transferred as DCP of Bengaluru North East Division.
Yeddyurappa has transferred the officers despite the cloud of
uncertainty over his minority government. He is currently the sole man
in the Karnataka Cabinet and his swearing-in-ceremony at the Raj Bhavan
was also a low-key affair, with him being the only one to take oath.
The legal battle over his chief ministership is also not over as the
Supreme Court will once again take up the Congress-JDS petition
challenging the Karnataka Governor’s decision to invite the BJP to form
the government first.
During the pre-dawn hearing on Thursday, the apex court had made it
clear that it won’t stay the swearing-in but it would be subject to
outcome of the petition in the court on Friday.
The BJP has been asked to produce the letter it gave to the Governor
citing support of majority MLAs on the basis of which the Governor
invited the party into power.
But this has not stopped Yeddyurappa from taking major decisions. His
first act after taking oath was to announce that his government will be
waiving off all farm loans up to Rs 1 lakh for farmers in the state.
“I had promised the farmers of the state one thing - that I will waive
loans up to Rs 1 lakh in nationalised banks. I have informed the same to
the Chief Secretary. They will give us the information by today evening
or tomorrow morning. And I will fulfill my promise by tomorrow or day
after. I promise this to the farming community once again,” he told
reporters.
Also Watch
Karnataka Government Formation : What can BS Yeddyurappa do now?
Assam BJP MLA, Family Served ‘Doubtful Citizen’ Notices
As per the notices, Kishore Nath along
with his family members, who are residents of Ward 28, have been asked
to appear before Foreigners’ Tribunal judge to prove that they are
citizens of India.
Guwahati: A BJP legislator from Borkhola
constituency in Assam along with several members of his family have been
served notices by the Foreigners’ Tribunal, suspecting them of being
“doubtful citizens”.
The Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) No 1 on Friday sent notices to the MLA
from Barak Valley, Kishore Nath, his wife Nilima Nath, four brothers —
Matilal Nath, Pradip Nath, Jagdish Nath, Manik Nath — and sister-in-law
Rakhi Nath, the BJP legislator said.
As per the notices, Kishore Nath along with his family members, who are
residents of Ward 28, have been asked to appear before an FT judge to
prove that they are citizens of India.
Stating that he and his family were indigenous citizens of India, Nath
said he will move court with the requisite documents to prove his
citizenship. The BJP legislator blamed the previous Congress government
in the state for having instructed the tribunal to randomly pick out
names for serving such notices.
Nath has apprised the Speaker of the Assam Assembly about the FT notice served to him and his family, sources said.
A series of protests have rocked Assam over the Citizenship Amendment
Bill, 2016, with locals fearing it would breach the clauses of the Assam
Accord which states that all the illegal foreigners who came to the
state after 1971 from Bangladesh, irrespective of their religion, have
to be deported.
The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act,
1955 to make illegal migrants belonging to six communities — Hindus,
Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — eligible for Indian
citizenship after six years of residence in the country.
Congress’ Protest Over Pro Tem Speaker ‘Hoax Objection’: Prakash Javadekar
The Congress-JD (S) combine is
contemplating approaching the Supreme Court to challenge Governor
Vajubhai Vala’s decision to appoint Bopaiah as the pro tem speaker,
arguing that he is not the senior most MLA.
File photo of Union Minister Prakash Javadekar.
(Photo by Burhaan Kinu via Getty Images)
New Delhi: Union minister Prakash Javadekar on
Friday defended senior BJP MLA K G Bopaiah’s appointment as the pro tem
speaker of the Karnataka Assembly to conduct the crucial floor test on
Saturday and dismissed the Congress’ protest over it as a “hoax
objection”.
Javadekar, BJP’s Karnataka Assembly polls in-charge, also noted that
Bopaiah was given the same responsibility by the then governor in 2008.
Bopaiah, who as the speaker of the Karnataka Assembly had disqualified
16 MLAs and bailed out the B S Yeddyurappa government ahead of a
no-confidence vote in 2010, was appointed the pro-tem speaker on Friday.
“K G Bopaiah was appointed as pro tem speaker even in 2008 by the then
Governor. That time Bopaiah was 10 years younger than what he is today.
The Congress is thus raising hoax objection. The appointment of Bopaiah
Ji is as per rules and regulations,” Javadekar tweeted.
“When Rameshwar Thakur as Governor had appointed Bopaiah as pro tem
speaker of Karnataka in 2008, Congress didn’t object. In Jharkhand, when
a junior MLA was appointed, Cong leader A M Singhvi defended it in
court. Now they are objecting. This is Congress hypocrisy,” he said.
The Congress-JD (S) combine is contemplating approaching the Supreme
Court to challenge Governor Vajubhai Vala’s decision to appoint Bopaiah
as the pro tem speaker, arguing that he is not the senior most MLA.
Bopaiah, who was the speaker between 2009 and 2013, is considered close to Yeddyurappa.
The Supreme Court had in 2011 quashed Bopaiah’s decision to disqualify
16 MLAs ahead of the no-confidence motion which had ensured the survival
of the Yeddyurappa government.
The apex court had then said that basic constitutional values and
principles of natural justice were not observed by Bopaiah in
disqualifying the 11 rebel BJP and five independent legislators.
Javadekar also expressed confidence that the BJP will prove its majority in the Assembly tomorrow(Saturday).
The party has won 104 seats and needs the support of at least seven more
MLAs to secure a majority in the 222-member assembly. H D Kumaraswamy
has won from two seats, thus bringing down the number of MLAs to 221.
File photo of Janardhana Reddy (left) with Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa. (GETTY IMAGES)
Bengaluru: The Congress party on Friday
released a sensational audio clip in which mining baron Janardhana Reddy
can be heard trying to lure a Congress MLA by offering to make him a
minister so that he “can make 100 times more money”.
In the audio clip, Reddy, who is close to BS Yeddyurappa, speaks to
Raichur Rural MLA Basangouda Daddal, a prominent leader of the Valmiki
community. Daddal was previously a member of the Badavara Shramikara
Raithara (BSR) Congress, the party floated by Reddy aide B Sriramulu in
2011 after the split in BJP over the mining scam.
Reddy repeatedly claims that he will arrange a one-on-one meeting for
the MLA with the party’s national president Amit Shah. Daddal can be
heard saying that he can’t switch sides now as the Congress had given
him a chance when he was at the lowest point after leaving the BSR
Congress.
But Reddy insists that the bad times are over, and the good times are
here. “There is no doubting that you have lost a lot by believing in us.
But I am telling you, you will grow a 100 times more,” Reddy says.
“Directly we will make you meet the big man. I will make you speak to
him… you will make 100 times the wealth you made so far,” he adds.
The audio clip, released just a day before BS Yeddyurappa takes a floor
test, comes as a major embarrassment for the BJP. HRD minister Prakash
Javadekar, who is also the BJP’s Karnataka in charge, said that the
release of the audio tape was another “dirty trick” by the Congress.
“People are coming to us themselves. This is because we have people’s
mandate. We condemn it. Releasing these CDs means Congress is going to
lose tomorrow,” he said.
News18 cannot independently verify the veracity of the contents of the tape.
Below is a translated version of the conversation:
Janardhana Reddy (purportedly): Is it Basanagouda? Are you free?
Basangouda Daddal: Yes it is me.
JR: Forget all that has happened before, forget all the bad things. I am
telling you, that my good time has begun. And I will arrange a meeting
with the national president and you can speak to him one-to-one and we
can take the next step.
BD: No sir, when I was on my last leg they made me MLA.
JR: I will tell you one thing. BSR time we had very bad time when we
formed the party, where there was a lot of opposition. There is no
doubting that you have lost a lot by believing in us. But I am telling
you, you will grow a 100 times more. Shivanagouda Nayak became a
minister because of me. Today he is strong and able to look after
himself. It all happened because of me. Raju Gowda also benefitted
because of me.
BD: Yes.
JR: It was your misfortune that it was our bad time. Today Shivanagouda
winning is not useful. You will become minister. Did you understand?
Directly we will make you meet the big man. I will make you speak to
him… you will make 100 times the wealth you made so far.
BD: I am sorry sir. I was on my last leg when they gave me a ticket and
made me win. In such a situation I cannot betray him. I respect you…
With just a day left for the trust vote, allegations of horse trading
and poaching are flying thick and fast. Congress leader Siddaramiah said
that its MLA Anand Singh was “abducted” by the BJP and taken to Delhi.
Former home minister Ramalinga Reddy alleged that BJP leaders have been
calling the MLAs incessantly to try to bribe them.
Earlier too, JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy had claimed that BJP leaders were
offering Rs 100 crore to lure the party’s MLAs. The Congress and JDS
had shepherded its MLAs to Hyderabad on Thursday night to prevent any
desertions.
DD 162/5(20.0)
CSK (YET TO BAT)
IREW 0/0(0.4)
ZIMW (YET TO BAT)
INDW 94/1(18.3)
SAW (YET TO BAT)
2-min read
Karnataka Government Formation : What can BS Yeddyurappa do now?
