Just a week before the Monsoon Session of Parliament, the Supreme Court, for the second time, restored a Congress government overthrown by the Centre with the imposition of President’s rule.
The court reinstated Congress Chief Minister Nabam Tuki in Arunachal Pradesh on Wednesday, barely two months after another Congress Chief Minister, Harish Rawat, was reinstalled in Uttarakhand.
The apex court restored the Arunachal Pradesh assembly to its December 15, 2015 state, which essentially means Nabam Tuki is Chief Minister again and Steps taken by the legislature after this date are invalid.
The court also ruled that the actions of Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa, mainly advancing the date of the Assembly session and directing the proceedings during the session, were in violation of the Constitution.
The verdict prompted the Congress to declare that it had been validated in its assertion that the BJP government at the Centre is violating all Constitutional norms to overthrow democratically elected governments in opposition-ruled States. Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi tweeted: “Thank you Supreme Court for explaining to the Prime Minister what democracy is.”
Congress President Sonia Gandhi joined in, hoping that “this judgement, that firmly establishes the democratic values enshrined in our Constitution, will deter the Union Government from any further misuse of power. Those who had trampled upon Constitutional propriety and democratic norms have been defeated today”.
Former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal said the apex court verdict is a restraint on the BJP’s “blatantly unconstitutional expansionist designs to achieve their aim of a Congress-Mukt Bharat”.
“The modus operandi is simple — manage the support of a few MLAs and then approach the Governor, whose office has been completely subverted by the appointment of yes-men of the BJP, and impose President’s rule. They know it will not pass muster in Parliament or the Supreme Court but they have no respect for democracy. Let us hope this verdict will be a deterrence in their future plans for other opposition-ruled States,” Sibal said.
BJP reaction A red-faced BJP, whose President Amit Shah was inaugurating the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) with the suddenly-deposed Chief Minister Kalikho Pul, was struggling to come up with a coherent response till evening. The scramble for an appropriate official response, with consultations involving senior ministers and party office-bearers, finally resulted in an official briefing at 5 pm, when BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma criticised the verdict saying: “This is a very strange order … The person who has the majority, who is running the government presently, is being asked to be in the opposition.”
He added that the situation in Arunachal was one created by the “internal strife in the Congress”.
Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mounted a counter-offensive at the Congress. “Lecture on democracy certainly not from Congress... Sorry, Congress should just sit back and watch and introspect their earlier attempts to undermine democracy in various States,” Sitharaman said. Congress should not indulge in such statements, she added, noting that it is the same political party that had dismissed the EMS Namboodiripad government in Kerala and also imposed the Emergency in 1975.
In a week during which the government is rallying political support to push the crucial Constitutional Amendment pertaining to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the Monsoon Session, the apex court verdict has consolidated opposition unity, with most political parties describing it as a blow to the BJP-led Central government’s “authoritarian tendencies” and “unconstitutional expansionist plans”.
Other reactions JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav demanded a debate in the upcoming Parliament session over what he termed the BJP’s violation of the federal structure and its tendency to destabilise democratically elected governments in opposition-ruled States.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal went a step further to say that the “SC judgment (is) yet another tight slap on a dictatorial Modi government. Hope Modi ji would learn and now stop interfering in democratically elected governments.”
There were similar responses from the CPI(M), BJD, Samajwadi Party and other regional players, indicating a consolidation in the opposition ranks, which does not bode well for the Government’s plans for the monsoon session.
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