Saturday, 27 August 2016

Second setback in experiments in Govt formation – Arunachal Pradesh




It would be easy to explain this off as a byproduct of the tension that the Modi Government has been having with the judiciary. However, there might be a kernel of truth in the sense that the relations between the Government and the judiciary are fraught with tension right now. The Government believes in the righteousness of what it is doing, no doubt helped by the euphoria of the massive Lok Sabha victory it got and the implied mandate by the people of India. However, it is for that very reason that the constitution of India mandates that the judiciary is a separate and equal pillar of democracy, no matter how strong the Government is. It may also be time for the government to re-look its advisers regarding the confrontation with the judiciary, the success factors of the confrontations so far is pretty low. The NJAC Bill regarding the appointments of the judges, something that the Government pushed with such a lot of effort, was reversed by the court and in a manner where there is not going to be reversal. Further issues regarding the process of appointments is being tossed back and forth, with the court very hesitant to let the Government (maybe, specifically this Government) the power that it is seeking.
Having said that, the situation is Arunachal Pradesh would have come as a shock to many. It seemed to be a settled deal, with the wheeling and dealing having happened some months earlier, and a combined Government of Congress defectors and BJP support ruling the state; and with the Assam election having gone the BJP way decisively, showing the way for the BJP to make deep inroads into the Congress ruled states of the North East. The situation in Arunachal Pradesh was not at all clear. There was a huge amount of dis-satisfaction within the Congress, and the Congress high command did not take any action to handle this dissidence. As a result, the situation grew to such a level that the dissidents were ready to walk out of the Congress and the BJP was more than willing to take these dissidents. After all, the North-East is a geographic zone that till that time had seen minimal political strength of the BJP and the chance to throw out a Congress regime would have seemed so right for the BJP – multiple political benefits of the same. Continue reading Second setback in experiments in Govt formation – Arunachal Pradesh

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