Kapil Sibal's Show and the Supreme Court Verdict
- Indira Gandhi and the Systemic Undermining of Institutions
- Constitutional Role vs. Political Puppetry
- From Ram Lal to Article 356: A Pattern of Misuse
- BJP is Not Alone – The Malady Began Long Before
Justice Katju’s Call for Historical Honesty
Justice Markandey Katju analyses the weakening of the Governors' roles in India. He says the crisis predates the BJP, tracing its roots to Indira Gandhi's centralisation of power.
Who is responsible for the malady?
By Justice Markandey Katju
There was a video discussion on Kapil Sibal's show 'Dil Se with Kapil Sibal' on the recent judgment of the Indian Supreme Court in State of Tamil Nadu vs Governor of Tamil Nadu, regarding the role of Governors of Indian states
I have written an article on the judgment, which is below :
Kapil, who is a dear friend of mine, and the panelists on his show, Justice Patnaik, former Judge of the Indian Supreme Court, Justice Murlidar, former Chief Justice of Odisha, and Dushyant Dave, former President, Supreme Court Bar Association, threw all the blame for Governors becoming puppets of the Central Government and behaving in an unconstitutional manner on the BJP, which has been in power since 2014.
I regret to say that all the distinguished persons on the show were somewhat economical of the truth. Let me explain.
The first Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, respected institutions ( Parliament, the judiciary, the bureaucracy, etc ) and traditions.
However, his daughter Indira Gandhi, who became Prime Minister in 1966, did not, particularly after the judgment of the Allahabad High Court in 1975 which declared her guilty of corrupt election practice, set aside her election to Parliament, and declared her ineligible to contest for 6 years.
In fact after this judgment, she went crazy, imposed a fake 'Emergency' in which numerous people were arrested and jailed for long periods on trumped up and concocted charges, and many other misdeeds committed. She gradually subverted all institutions and made them pawns who had to function as per her dictates. Parliament was made into a rubber stamp and most of its members mere minions. The judiciary lost its independence by having 'committed'' judges.
And Governors of states were made puppets and kowtowers who had to dance to the tune of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, not follow their constitutional duties.
Under the Indian Constitution, the Governor of a state is appointed by the President of India. While ordinarily he has to act on the advice of the Chief Minister, sometimes he has to act on his own discretion, e.g. when there is a hung assembly after an election, or when he has to report to the Central Government under Article 356 of the Constitution whether the constitutional machinery in the state has broken down.
The Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President. Under Art 156 of the Constitution, the use of words “during the pleasure of the President” denotes that the Governor's term can be terminated at any time when the President withdraws his pleasure. This Article does not mention any ground on which the pleasure of the President may be withdrawn. Governors have been removed only due to a change of the ruling party forming the central government without citing any substantial and just reason. For the removal of the Governor, the Constitution does not provide the system of impeachment as it is provided for the removal of the President.
No doubt in BP Singhal vs Union of India, 2010 the Supreme Court observed :
'' “Governors cannot be removed with the change of power at the Centre or for refusing to act as the government’s agent, or for being out of sync with its ideology. Change in government is not a ground for removal of Governors to make way for others favoured by the new regime. Governors could only be removed under rare and exceptional circumstances for valid and compelling reasons and not in an arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable manner for being, out of sync with the party in power at the Centre ''
However, this decision is followed more in its breach, and Governors not toeing the line of the Central Government have promptly and invariably been sacked by the President of India, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister.
As stated above, Indira Gandhi made Governors of states mere puppets, flunkeys, and figureheads, who had to blindly follow her every command.
Thus, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Ram Lal, sacked the Chief Minister NT Rama Rao in 184 at the behest of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, although Rama Rao had a huge majority in the state legislature, but was not willing to crawl before Indira Gandhi.
After the collapse of the Janata Party Government in 1979, when Indira Gandhi again became Prime Minister in 1980, she promptly sacked Governors appointed by the Janata Party and installed her own, pliable Governors. Thus in October 1980, Tamil Nadu Governor Prabhudas Patwari, an appointee of the Janata Party government, was shown the door by the Indira Gandhi government, and not even given the option to resign.
Similarly, August 1981, Rajasthan Governor Raghukul Tilak was removed from office by the Indira Gandhi government under similar circumstances
Many more such examples can be given of Indira Gandhi making Governors of states her lackeys, servitors, vassals and factotums. She often sacked state governments which she did not like, getting false reports under Article 356 from state governors that the constitutional machinery in the state has broken down, and the governors loyally and shamelessly gave such false reports.
Thus the malady of Governors becoming yes men, pliable tools, toadies, and puppets of the Central Government had begun long before the BJP came to power, and was really started and developed into a fine art by the Congress Government led by Indira Gandhi.
Throwing the entire blame on the BJP, as the participants in Kapil Sibal's show have done, and turning a Nelson's eye to what was done by the Congress under Indira Gandhi, is a half truth, and presents a one sided, slanted, and partisan view.
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge, of the Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman, of the Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own)
