Our Shame overshadows Our Glory?

Despite all the mismanagement, inadequacy of preparations and allegations of mega-size corruption that at one stage threatened the very holding of the XIX Commonwealth Games in the Capital, the Games have on the whole gone off well till now and as we approach the end of the sporting event indications are that the Delhi CWG would go down as quite successful not just for India (which has been able to win a record number of gold medals thus exceeding its gold-tally at the Manchester Games in 2002) but for all other participants as well.

The India-Australia Test match at Bangalore too has witnessed our ace batsman Sachin Tendulkar exhibiting his best performance taking his aggregate for the year so far to 1194 runs at an average of 99.5—Sir Donald Bradman’s career average was 99.94.

Against this backdrop of our achievements in the sporting arena what has been the experience on the political front in the past few days? While sportsmen and women by their feats have doubtless made the nation proud, politicians of different hues have once again exposed their ugly face and brought down our parliamentary democracy to a new low. In the same city of Bangalore where Tendulkar was piling up runs on October 11, the members of the Karnataka Legislature were jostling with one another as well as the marshals on the same day; and to cap it all, the Speaker called the police inside the Assembly to remove the Opposition legislators and restore order (something most shameful and an affront to our democratic functioning besides being unprece-dented).

The Speaker’s actions have naturally come under close scrutiny. Apart from calling in the police, he took the rare step of disqualifying 16 MLAs (five Independents and 11 BJP members) even before the vote of confidence was taken up in the House arguing that the anti-defection law was applicable against them as they were about to vote against the BJP in the Assembly. This was done post-haste even before the trust vote in order to declare that the incumbent government had won a majority in the Assembly. The fact is that the anti-defection law comes into force only after an MP or MLA has defied the party whip and voted against the party he/she belongs to on the floor of the House. Instead the Speaker acted in anticipation; and amid the din that followed did not even call for a division but ruled that the trust motion has been passed by voice vote, a decision which has been mired in controversy. Not only that. The concerned Independent and BJP MLAs were not permitted to enter the House before they barged into the Assembly. These are not simple issues. The Speaker must be held accountable for these measures (including and most notably the calling in of the police).

In the circumstances the State Governor, H.R. Bhardwaj, who has been accused by the BJP top brass as being a “Congress agent†, recommended the State Ministry’s dismissal and imposition of President’s Rule in Karnataka after terming the B.S. Yeddyurappa Government’s survival in the floor test (as per the Speaker’s ruling) as “unconstitutional†. This too was perceived as a hasty step and the Congress leadership, heading the UPA Government at the Centre, disapproved of his recommendations especially since Bhardwaj had not waited for the Karnataka High Court’s verdict on the petitions of the disqualified MLAs. So the Governor made a tactical retreat and came out with the “offer†to allow a fresh majority test in the Assembly on October 14 to the Yeddyurappa Government. After initially attacking the Governor the BJP, following a meeting of its core group in the Capital, seized upon Bhardwaj’s “offer†and thus the second floor test will take place tomorrow in the State Assembly.

Whatever the outcome of the latest floor test in the State Legislature, the Karnataka events have raised disturbing questions relating to the partisan roles of the Assembly Speaker and State Governor, the propriety of calling the police within the Assembly precincts, the extent of money that has changed hands, the operation and efficacy of the anti-defection law. Much will depend on the ruling of the Karnataka HC on the issue of disqualification of MLAs even before the trust vote.

The disgraceful scenes on October 11 in the Karnataka Assembly have shamed all of us who repose our faith and trust in parliamentary democracy. The sooner we are able to forget this shameful episode and turn a new page, the better. But for that to happen remedial measures must be worked out at the earliest and rank partisanship eschewed on all sides. These steps do not brook the slightest delay.

October 13 S.C.