Congress calls it ‘murder of democracy’, plans to move court
Congress calls it ‘murder of democracy’, plans to move court
A day before the scheduled floor test of the Harish Rawat government in Uttarakhand, President’s Rule was imposed by the Centre in the hill state, citing a constitutional breakdown in the wake of a rebellion in the ruling Congress. Attacking the move, the Congress said it was a “murder of democracy” and said it would challenge the decision in court.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to let his “love of power overrule the people’s mandate”, but the Centre said that continuance of the Rawat government was “immoral and unconstitutional” after March 18 when Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal declared the Appropriation Bill “passed” in controversial circumstances without allowing a division sought by 35 MLAs, including nine rebel MLAs of the Congress.
President Pranab Mukherjee signed the proclamation under Article 356 of the Constitution dismissing the state government and placing the Assembly under suspended animation on Sunday morning. The Centre later appointed former CRPF director-general Prakash Mishra and former Union culture secretary Ravindra Singh as advisers to aid Uttarakhand governor K.K. Paul run the administration.
Condemning the imposition of President’s Rule in the state, Mr Harish Rawat said the PM’s hands were dipped in the “blood” of the “trampled” aspirations of the people and alleged Central rule was the result of a “premeditated conspiracy” hatched by the Centre to dislodge a democratically-elected Congress government in the state. He claimed the BJP was “thirsty for his blood” right from the day he assumed office on February 1, 2014 and did not want his government to stabilise.
Welcoming the imposition of President’s Rule, former chief minister and rebel Congress leader Vijay Bahuguna said the Rawat government needed to be dismissed as it was involved in “corruption”.
The Union Cabinet held an emergency meeting Saturday night presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who cut short his visit to Assam to return to New Delhi for this purpose. The Cabinet considered several reports received from the governor, who described the political situation in the state as “volatile” and had expressed apprehensions over a possible pandemonium during the trial of strength in the state Assembly on Monday.
The purported CD of the sting operation done against the chief minister that was in the public domain was learnt to have been factored into the Cabinet’s decision, which considered it as a case of “horse-trading”. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley is believed to have briefed the President late on Saturday night explaining the rationale for the Cabinet’s recommendation. The Union Cabinet met amid reports that the Speaker had disqualified the rebel Congress MLAs that would have helped the beleaguered Rawat government in the floor test. With the dismissal of the Rawat government, Monday’s confidence vote has become infructuous.
“There can be no better example of the implementation of Article 356 (imposition of President’s Rule)... There was complete breakdown of the Constitution in Uttarakhand. There were very good grounds for the Union Cabinet to recommend President’s Rule in the state... The chief minister had lost majority on 18th (March) and his continuation was unconstitutional and immoral,” Mr Jaitley said on Sunday.
Without naming Mr Jaitley, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said “people will not spare those in the Cabinet who are well versed with the law and still took the decision”. He also asked: “What constitutes a constitutional breakdown Were there riots in the state Who will say whether the Finance Bill (in the Uttarakhand Assembly) has been passed or not The Speaker of the Assembly or Jaitley... Then they say that there was a sting. First you conduct a fabricated sting and then you impose President’s Rule.”
Reacting to the Centre’s decision, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said: “It’s a blatant and brazen display of authoritarian, anti-democratic and anti-constitutional mindset of the Modi government.” He said the Centre’s action was a “grim reminder of the threat the democratic institutions of the country are facing”, and accused the Modi government of having “breached all records in trampling democratic norms and constitutional traditions”. He also recalled that earlier the Congress-led Arunachal Pradesh government was also “toppled by sheer abuse of power and money”.
Referring to the March 18 Assembly proceedings, Mr Jaitley said that in the 71-member Assembly, 67 members, excluding the Speaker, were present, out of whom 35 wanted a division of votes on the Appropriation Bill. The division was sought in writing in advance by 35 members who also voted against the bill, despite which the Speaker declared the legislation as passed, he said.
The finance minister said that governor K.K. Paul had also said he had “serious doubts” over what happened in the Assembly on March 18 and said his report had been a key factor in the Cabinet’s decision.
The Appropriations Bill empowers the government to draw funds for expenses from April 1 and if it is defeated on the floor of the House, the government has to resign.
In Dehradun, Mr Rawat alleged there was a money deal to lure the Congress rebels, adding: “Some people say it is Rs 1,000 crores, some say Rs 500 crores.” He said the BJP had decided not to let his government stabilise from the day he took over and “slashed my head” as the first opportunity presented itself. “The way we were being given repeated threats since yesterday, the way the governor was publicly issued a threat at a press conference in Delhi, it was clear that things were moving towards this eventuality. That the BJP was thirsty for my blood was clear from day one. They had decided at the very outset that they won’t let the Harish Rawat government stabilise,” he said.
Denouncing the imposition of President’s Rule, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the development was a “throttling of democracy” and one which “goes against the letter and spirit of Constitution”. He also questioned the timing, given that it was done when the floor test in the Assembly was “just hours” away.
