Constitutional bodies under threat
The governments functioning and dealing with constitutional bodies has come under a scanner
Kanchan Basu
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Rule ñ 1 was the good period when Atal Behari Vajpayee governed this nation as the Prime Minister (1999 ñ 2004) with the support of more than 20 political parties of the country with his best caliber and expertise. The people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir rate his period of governance as the best one as the people still rate him as a good Prime Minister.
During his time as the Prime Minister, National Conference led by Dr. Farooq Abdullah remained as the NDA partner from 1999 to 2002 in which his son Omar Abdullah was the Minister of State (MOS) in Ataljiís cabinet. It was during Ataljiís time, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed formed the Coalition Government in the State with the support of Indian National Congress (INC).
Ataljiís Government really laired well and delivered the goods to the people in the right earnest. At that point of time, Atalji did not allow the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to interfere in his Governmental Affairs. Their intervention remained as the negligible one because of which the Muslim Minority of the country had developed the true faith over him particularly in the valley.
It was believed that RSS Headquarter was not happy with the working of the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee but it was he, who commanded the respect and honour from the general masses of the valley.
Even after his death, the leadership of the valley centric political parties and the various trade organizations mourned his death and paid their rich tributes to him. They described Atal Behari Vajpayee as their true friend and the most trusted leader of the country who took various steps in building good relations with Pakistan.
Since 2014, NDA ñ II Rule under the Prime Ministership of Narender Modi, is adopting a dictatorial way as the opposition political parties are fragmented totally and their numbers in the Lok Sabha are inadequate to give the befitting reply to the misdeeds and the inactions of Modi Government.
Without any fear, Prime Minister Narender Modi is having the free field in marching ahead with his adamancy and the authoritarian way of functioning at the centre. Just recollect your memories, it is important to mention here that in Lok Sabha Elections in 2014, Narinder Modiís charisma prevailed all over the country and finally BJP on its own remained successful in attaining the absolute majority in the Lok Sabha and its strength of MPs crossed more than 336 under the banner of NDA and its opponent political parties and their allies could not even cross 100 seats in Lok Sabha.
Rather the INC and its partners were reduced to a skeleton under UPA. The reason was that UPA- II was hit with the various scams as also and its lack of ability to govern in a way that was required to run a developing nation like India.
Having seen no positive results due to the ëDemonetizationí of the currency notes of Rupees 500 and Rupees 1000 and the implementation of the GST in the country, the people of the country are showing their great resentment against Modi Government which is increasing day by day, Due to the Demonetization the Banking sector was hit badly to a large extent resulting into the banks facing the liquidity problems.
At the moment INC is gaining momentum across the country which is of great concern for them in view of the Lok Sabha Elections 2019. It has increased its numbers in Lok Sabha from 44 to 63 which remarkable indeed. On the contrary, BJPís numbers stand decreased from 289 to 272 in Lok Sabha which clearly shows that its popularity is declining day by day to the maximum extent which is certainly considered as a big jolt to BJP.
On the RSS dictates from Nagpur, Modi Government is pumping RSS oriented officers to various Constitutional Bodies in governing and controlling their affairs fully thereby making the authority erosions in these bodies.
Under the ongoing Modi regime, various Constitutional Bodies are under threat to their very existences as their functioning is being controlled by the Union Government led by Narender Modi and their powers are being diluted to the maximum extent. Their authoritiesí erosions are on the cards and they are being governed by the Central Government indirectly.
These Constitutional Bodies are: RBI, NABARD, ECI, CAG, GST, National Council, Apex Court, NIA, CBI and other institutions. Here, I would like to mention that on the Demonetization issue the Modi Government had not allowed Reserve Bank of India to act freely and independently and its Governor was totally sidelined as it had not happened earlier in the country since Independence.
Another, important instance is there that in the independent Judicial history of the country, the Lordships of the Apex Court had not come openly in addressing the Press conference and that too in its premises and made the allegations against their Chief Justice and the Government of India.
Hopefully, it was settled in a short span of time otherwise, it was a big challenge to the working of the Judiciary in the country. At the same time, it is very essential to describe here that every now and then, there is interference in the working of the Apex Court as has been witnessed in the case of Article 35A pending for adjudication.
The Apex Court should be given the free hand to deal with the matter firmly but frequent interventions by the Government of India were observed these days. When the hearing in the case was started 2017, the Union Government prayed before the Apex Court that the hearing in the said case be deferred in view of the fact that it had appointed an Interlocutor Daneshwar Sharma for seeking to resolve the Kashmir issue and at present more than a year or so has passed, Daneshwar Sharma had not be able to crack the hard nut ñ Hurriyat Conference as yet.
The Apex Court agreed to the contention made by the GOI before it and deferred the hearing for long. The said case was listed for August 06 and was further deferred for August 31 for hearing by the Apex Court. This time again, the Governorís Administration prayed before the Apex Court that hearing in the said case be deferred further as the State Government is conducting the Municipal and Panchayat Polls in the months of October, November and December in the state.
The Apex Court accepted the prayer of the State Government and deferred the hearing further in the case and the said case was listed for further hearing in the second week of January, 2019.
The way the present government is managing the affairs it can be said that parliamentary democracy is under threat itself. For the success of the parliamentary democracy in the country, it is essential that there should be a strong system of checks and balances that means that the existence strong opposition is a must.
The need of the hour is that there should be some unity among the other political parties besides Congress, of course in giving the tough resistance to the right wing parties to seek power once again.
(The writer is based in Kolkata. He contributes to Kashmir Vision)
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