Uttarakhand fiasco proves BJP is the new Congress
As devastating fires raged in the hills of Uttarakhand, there was another kind of fire which kept the political class of the state firefighting.
For more than a month the hilly state has witnessed unprecedented political uncertainty which resulted in a revolt by nine Congress MLAs, imposition of President's Rule and regular hearings in high court and Supreme Court.
While none of the actors involved in this political drama have their hands clean, the prime villain in this whole story is definitely BJP. The party's defeat in the trust vote and the whole Uttarakhand fiasco is fraught with defeats and loss of face for the saffron party.
BJP is pushing India's gain from evolution of federalism back by decades
There was a time when the party ruling at Centre would dismiss every other opposition state government on one pretence or the other. This was the dark age of Indian federalism which reached its peak under Indira Gandhi.
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| BJP looked desperate in its attempt to destabilise the Rawat government. |
But with the landmark Bommai judgment, India saw an end to such destabilisation of state governments, and it was established that the only valid place for forming or falling of state governments was the floor of the Assembly.
The judgment ensured that state governments reflected the will of the people and were not held hostage to the benevolence of Centre.
Following this judgment, the stability, security, independence of state governments increased and this remarkably improved their accountability and performance. The past two decades have seen the emergence of more than a dozen excellent chief ministers who have made their states the drivers of the Indian growth story.
This was possible as the chief ministers didn't have to constantly keep looking over their backs for any destabilisation attempts by the Centre, but only had to work to secure goodwill of the people.
But today India is again being pushed back into the dark days where Centre destabilised and overthrew state governments of their rivals.
The BJP government is trying to test the patience of judiciary and people by making Article 356 an instrument of first resort rather than a tool to be used as a last resort in rarest of rare case. This insecurity and instability among state governments can seriously undermine their performances and damage India's chances of development.
The questionable way in which BJP has abused President's Rule has caused discomfort even within the NDA and parties otherwise symapthetic to BJP, like the BJD.
Every regional party is now on its guard. BJP will do well to remember that one of the prime reasons for the massive anti-Congress sentiment was the regional parties' anger at Congress' big brother attitude and destabilisation of state governments.
So today when BJP is walking down the same path, it is bound to isolate itself from regional parties and unify and enlarge opposition forces. When Modi government is in minority in Rajya Sabha, a more unified, aggrieved and aggressive opposition is the last thing it should want.
Boosted Congress's political stock in Uttarakhand
The Congress government in Uttarakhand was already four years old and not particularly popular. So, in the normal course, BJP would have won the upcoming election due to anti-incumbency.
That is why it is baffling as to what was the great urgency that made BJP so desperate to destabilise the Rawat government. Also, now Rawat can avoid answering about the failure of governance as BJP ruled the state for a month and during which the forest fires took place.
The only explanation for such mindless "shooting itself in the foot" by BJP is that it has grown so arrogant that it believes it can get away with anything by using its superior propoganda machinery. This same arrogance led to demise of Congress and many others, so can BJP's fate be any different?
BJP's scheme to topple opposition government has suffered enormous setback
BJP first abused Article 356 in Arunachal Pradesh and when the scheme succeeded there, it turned its gaze towards Uttarakhand. It was also emboldened by the lacklusture way in which courts dealt with the Arunachal Pradesh episode.
However, it forgot that Uttarkahand is not Arunachal.
A smaller state, it is proximate to the Indian heartland, and therefore, any event or issue in Uttarkhand is subjected to more public scrutiny than the ones in the distant Northeast.
So when BJP destabilised Utttarakhand, the public pressure on courts to be timely was much more as was the public condemnation of the misuse of Article 356.
Still, when it seemed like the party may get away with upstaging of Uttarkhand government, BJP camp started talking about Manipur and Himachal Pradesh being the next stage of a similar experiment. Some even suggested to apply the same trick to get rid of the Kejriwal government in Delhi.
Now that the scheme to topple Uttarkhand government has flopped so splendidly, BJP will be wary to think of doing the same at other places. Also the judiciary, by delivering real time judgments in this case, have ensured that the use of Article 356 will not become a no cost affair for Centre.
So BJP's plan of toppling opposition government has undoubtedly suffered enormous setback and puts a question mark on the wisdom of those deciding strategies in this regime.
BJP is the new master of politics of "Aya Ram, Gaya Ram"
There was a time not so long ago when BJP would cry hoarse about Congress using its money and influence to fan revolts in rival governments and buying of MLAs. But in the Uttarakhand episode, BJP has relied on the same politics of "Aya Ram, Gaya Ram" which it once protested against.
The photos of BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya managing operations from a lavish five-star hotel seems to be straight out of films which depict how democracy is reduced to buying and selling of representatives.
It is a tragedy that Modi who came to power with a historic mandate is frittering it away by engaging in the same immoral and opportunistic politics that he once promised to replace and remove.
In the Uttarkhand fiasco, BJP, under him, abused the provision, allowing President's Rule and despite using every dirty trick, emerged as a loser.
This mixture of incompetence, opportunism and despicable contempt for democratic norms and propriety is exactly why people were so disgusted with Congress and led to the demise of the party.
If BJP wishes to avoid the same fate, it would do well to do some serious soul-searching.