Why Kiran Bedi doesn't deserve to be Puducherry Lieutenant Governor

Former top cop Kiran Bedi, whose disastrous projection as CM candidate was held by many to be the reason behind the first ever loss in a state election for Modi government, has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of her political career.

Her appointment as the lieutenant governor of Puducherry has set the social media space on fire. The opponents of Modi government have had a good laugh digging out her past silly comments and tweets. Social media drubbing aside, Kiran Bedi doesn't seriously deserve to be the L-G for the following reasons:

1. Grandiose ambitions will hamper governance and cooperative federalism

The offices of governor and L-G are conceived as a passive responsibility. They are supposed to let the elected government take the lead. They must not be flamboyant or too attention seeking. That is what elected governments are for. If the appointed L-G exceeds his brief by trying to become the face of the government, conflict with the elected government won't be too long in the coming.

But Kiran Bedi had for long been a personality with grandiose ambitions and has never held back from making public statements on everything under the sun (the BJP found this too late in the day in the 2015 Delhi elections).

Even upon being appointed L-G, among her first public statements was - "My priority will be bottom-up approach. I would like to make a constable and a school teacher feel that he or she is the most important."

Now looking after teachers and constables is precisely what the elected government is for. If she is to take up the job, why did we spend crores on elections there? Her other statements also reveal a lack of appreciation of the passive nature of her job.

This definitely portends bad news for cordial relations between the elected government and L-G. Puducherry may turn into another Delhi with her becoming another L-G famous for making order null and void.

The likelihood of increased confrontation due to the assertiveness on her part will make governance a casualty and the state will be ill at ease with the spirit of cooperative federalism - which requires that the Centre and its appointed L-G allow state governments to function according to the mandate given to them by the people of the state and not sit over them as headmasters dictating school children.

2. Rejected, false fame exposed in Delhi elections

The offices of L-G and governor are constitutional high offices, which should ideally be manned by those who are respected across parties and are people of high credibility. On this parametre, Kiran Bedi fails miserably. Not only is she a member of the BJP, but her views too have shown a disturbing sense of partisanship ill-suited for a non-partisan office of L-G.

Also, as the L-G is supposed to truthfully guard the constitutional order, the candidate must be one of high credibility as well as widely respected. Bedi, who has been reduced to stuff of jokes, surely isn't that person.

Besides, a whole generation of Indians was fooled by her false claims of being the brave cop who towed away PM Indira Gandhi's convoy (It was revealed that it was not Indira's car but some car from the PM's office and the decision was taken by a sub-inspector for which Kiran snatched credit.).

So can a person whose fame is built on such lies, one who is so obsessed with fanning her own legend - so much so that falsehood is not a problem - be truthful in discharging her duties? Can she manage to control her urge to stay in the limelight?

There is also the episode of her being resoundingly rejected by the Delhi electorate. In her much hyped entry into electoral politics, Kiran Bedi as CM candidate was defeated from her own seat (which had been BJP's stronghold for years).

So in a democracy how appropriate it is it to overlook people's will and appoint those who have been outrightly rejected by them to important positions? Surely, people's judgement must count in a democracy?

3. Setting a bad precedent for bureaucracy

Partisan conduct by bureaucrats trying to secure post-retirement postings has been a curse that has wrecked governance in India.

Bureaucracy must be a neutral enforcer of the decisions of the political executive, but politically ambitious bureaucrats instead start playing games and undermining the constitutional scheme of things.

Kiran Bedi was one such politician in bureaucrats' clothing. She had a constant run-in with the UPA government during her last years. Now when such troublesome insubordinate babus are awarded for their political conduct, a very wrong message is sent out to all serving bureaucrats.

They too are incentivised to behave in a partisan manner and disobey the political executive. Following Kiran Bedi's example, all Congress-leaning babus in Modi government should try to undermine it through leaks and other forms of resistance.

4. Goes against her own past claims 

It is beyond one's ability to count the numerous times when Kiran Bedi preached about how disinterested she was to hold any powerful position. Her whole saintly iconic figure was built on this professed lack of interest in politics.

So does it behove a person who rose in the eyes of public through such rhetoric to accept a position that doesn't even have to be earned by people's mandate, and is achieved by being in the good books of the powers-that-be?

But the glee with which she warmed up to this position shows the sheer deception of her past preachings. This hypocrisy and deception further proves how unsuitable she is for the appointment.

The appointment of governors and L-Gs in India has shown how far our present politicians have failed to match the great expectations that founders of our republic placed upon them. Kiran Bedi's undeserved appointment as L-G is another chapter in this sorry story which will predictably be lost in equalising the sins of the past with the present.

It deserves to be stated again that Kiran Bedi is a disgrace who doesn't deserve to occupy the office of L-G.