Pleasure of the ‘Goa’rner

Goa’s swaying palms and the golden sands suggest peace and quietude that is belied by the tumultuous events in the corridors of power. No sirree, Bob! … Goa’s politics is anything but tranquil at the moment!!

People have been concentrating a lot on the Governor’s and the Speaker’s actions. They should of course be studied and analysed. I’ll do that in a moment. But the real drama began last week with the curious incident of a party merging with the BJP and its members defecting a couple of days later. This is the action that kickstarted a series of events that eventually led to the downfall of the BJP government in Goa. On the face of it, it seems highly probable that the decision by UGDP (S) to merge with the BJP was just a ruse to circumvent some provisions of the Anti Defection Law. Even allowing for stupidity, that comes naturally to most politicians today, I cannot think of any other reason for (even) a political party to switch sides twice within two days. If you ask me, this was Congress placing its pieces on the chess-board before the end-game.

Lets move forward and consider the role of UGDP. With only one member in the Assembly, one would’ve thought that any move to change affiliations would have been made keeping that lone member in the loop. But as it happens, that lone member, Mathany Saldanha, was in Spain when his party made that move. Now I don’t know what kind of give and take (horse-trading is too noble a term for politicians. I would prefer donkey-trading!) took place after that, but Saldanha returned from Spain on a high-horse claiming he was not a weather-cock to change sides… and stuck with BJP. Now what the hell was this?! Taking the chess analogy ahead, Saldanha was merely a pawn used by Congress and BJP.

Ok. Now we’ll see how SC Jamir, the Goa governor entered the picture. Jamir had left for Nagaland on Friday, 28^th Jan. But the extraordinary events forced him to return to Goa the very next day. With an apparent reduction of 4 in the BJP numbers, the Parrikar government had apparently been reduced to a minority government. Now, it is not unheard in India, for a minority government to exist and function effectively. In fact, the Narasimha Rao government was not a majority government when it launched the much-celebrated economic reforms in the early nineties. But this was obviously not a consideration for King Jamir who proclaimed, on TV, that the Government had no choice but to prove its majority on the floor of the house. And when advised by the CM to convene a special session to do so on February 3, Jamir pro-actively forced the government to carry out the show of strength on Feb 2. Why the haste, Mr. Jamir? Trying to prevent donkey-trading?? If you could turn a blind eye to the goings-on of the last week in which legislators changed sides daily, surely you could’ve acted on the CM’s advice and convened the special session on Feb 3!

On February 2, there emerged two Grand Masters… Vishwas Satarkar (Speaker, Goa Assembly) and SC Jamir (Governor, Goa)… and a pawn, Philip Neri Rodrigues (Independent). Someone filed a petition with the Speaker that Rodrigues had joined BJP in Oct 2002 and as such, his defection should lead to his disqualification from the House. Amidst chaotic scenes in the Goa Assembly, Satarkar ruled in favour of the petitioner and ordered disqualification of Rodrigues. And when Congress members saw their trump card being rendered useless, formed a physical barricade around Rodrigues to stop the House marshals from evicting the disqualified member out of the House. This just shows that both sides were equally afraid of losing the vote and had banked on one man… Rodrigues! While chaos reigned in the Assembly, Satarkar asked the members to vote on the confidence vote and after a quick count ruled that the government had won.

Now that should’ve laid the matter to rest. But Congress was having none of it. Instead to asking the Speaker for a re-vote, they marched off to complain to the Governor, like a kid who’s candy has been snatched away by a bully! And to top this action, the Governor, acting on hearsay… I repeat, hearsay, dismissed the Parrikar Government. And when the Congress immediately staked claim to power, asked Pratapsinh Rane to take oath as the CM at 11:30 PM on the same day!!

Wow!!… this was Jamir in a hurry!! First of all… he acted merely on hearsay and took absolutely no time to deliberate on the matter before dismissing the government. If he was so very concerned about the irregularities in the actions of the Speaker, he could’ve ordered a fresh vote ofconfidence! Also, in dismissing the Government, he chose to punish the government for the actions of an individual who was not a part of it!! This is most irregular and irresponsible on the part of the Governor!! Then, Jamir showed unusual alacrity in inviting Rane to take the oath at nearly midnight on the same day (night??). Why?!! … I ask again… Why the haste, Mr. Jamir?! Surely… Parrikar could’ve acted as the caretaker CM till the next day at least!! Or were you afraid that the night would bring with it a fresh bout of donkey-trading and the Congress would lose the wafer-thin majority it claimed to enjoy?!! And the icing on the cake is that Jamir has still not given the Rane government a fixed time frame to prove its majority on the floor of the house! Amazing!! … quite a change of heart, isn’t it?! Suddenly the hasty man relaxes!!

After these incidents, the BJP has gone to town decrying the ‘murder of democracy’ by a ‘partisan’ Governor. Agreed… that the Governor was partisan. But so was the Speaker!! I wonder why BJP is so quiet on that aspect of the events!!

As for the Governor… well! he has been torn to shreds in the media by big guns like Soli Sorabjee, Harish Salve, etc. Former AG, Sorabjee says the governor’s action was “patently illegal“. Illegal??… I don’t think so! Article 164 of the constitutution of India states…

164. Other provisions as to Ministers.- (1) The Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minster, and the Ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor:

Provided that in the States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, there shall be a Minister in charge of tribal welfare who may in addition be in charge of the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and backward classes or any other work.

(2) The Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the State.

(3) Before a Minister enters upon his office, the Governor shall administer to him the oaths of office and of secrecy according to the forms set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule.

(4) A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the Legislature of the State shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister.

(5) The salaries and allowances of Ministers shall be such as the legislature of the State may from time to time by law determine and, until the Legislature specified in the Second Schedule.

[emphasis mine]

And Article 163 states that…

163. Council of Ministers to aid and advise Governor.- (1) There be a Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister at the head to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his functions, exceptin so far as he is by or under this Constitution required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion.

(2) If any question arises whether any matter is or is not a matter as respects which the Governor is by or under this Constitution required to act in his discretion, the decision of the Governor in his discretion shall be final, and the validity of anything done by the Governor shall not be called in question on the ground that he ought or ought not to have acted in his discretion.

(3) The question whether any, and if so what, advice was tendered Ministers to the Governor shall not be inquired into in any court.

[emphasis mine]

As we see from the above articles, the governor has the right to dismiss the government when it stops giving him ‘pleasure’ and this can be done entirely on his discretion. And as such, these actions cannot be questioned! But while Jamir’s actions do not violate the letter of the law, but they commit a cold-blooded murder of the spirit of the law!! And that is clear for all to see! His actions smack of palace politics and they do not seem too different from the dismissal of the Nepalese government by King Gyanendra… an event that has been severely condemned by The Government of India… which is led by Congress!! Irony at its very best!!

The gubernatorial office and the discretionary powers it enjoys may be an issue for some debate. But I feel that the real issue here is the way Governors are appointed and sacked by the Central Government. What the states end up with, in the name of Governors, are ageing politicians who have been associated, thus far, with the party/ideology in power. And it is no wonder that they act the way they do in a crisis that needs their intervention.

Meanwhile… as the action shifts to Delhi and Maharashtra (actually the Goa bench of the Mumbai High Court), Goa’s palms will continue to sway in the breeze, its sands will continue to sparkle in the sunshine and the rave parties will continue along the beaches…

PS: In case you need it, here’s a quick update to bring you up to speed on the chronological sequence of events…

Thursday 27 January 2005: Micky Pacheco merges his party, UGDP (Secular), with the ruling BJP. This action boosts the BJP’s house strength to 21 in the 40-member house. On the same day, Manohar Parrikar, Goa CM, strips Babush Monserratte of the Town & Planning ministry.

Friday 28 January 2005: Monserratte quits the cabinet. Rumours mills have been active for over a month with reports that Monserratte was planning a defection from BJP to topple the state government.

Saturday 29 January 2005: Rumours become facts. BJP government’s house-strength suddenly reduces by 4. Monserratte and Isidore Fernandes resign from BJP. And Sudin Dhawalikar (MGP) and Philip Neri Rodrigues (Ind) withdraw support to the government. As if on cue, Congress immediately stakes claim to form the government.

Sunday 30 January 2005: Goa governor, SC Jamir, tells TV reporters that he proposes to ask the Parrikar government to prove its majority in the Assembly now that it has been reduced to a minority.

Monday 31 January 2005: Mathany Saldanha, the lone UGDP MLA in the Goa Assembly returns from Spain and claims he supports the BJP government even though his party sent a letter to the governor withdrawing support to the government. Boosted by this, Parrikar asks Jamir to convene a special session of the state assembly on Feb 3 to allow him to prove his majority.

Tuesday 01 February 2005: Governor, SC Jamir promptly convenes the special Assembly session on Feb 2. Apparently, the numbers are BJP : 17, Congress led ULP : 18.

Wednesday 02 February 2005: The D-Day arrives. Enter Vishwas Satarkar, Speaker of the Goa Assembly! He takes up hearing on a petition to seek the disqualification of Philip Neri Rodrigues, the independent legislator who switched sides. Provisions form the Anti Defection Act are claimed to have been breached. The Speaker subsequently disqualifies Rodrigues and asks the house marshals to physically evict him from the House. Pandemonium ensues. The Speaker puts the confidence motion to vote and after the voting, announces that the Parrikar government has won the vote. Congress leaders rush to the Raj Bhawan and complain to the Governor that the Speaker has acted as the stooge of the government. SC Jamir acts on this complaint by signing the order to dismiss the BJP government led by Manohar Parrikar. Conveniently, Congress immediately decides to form the government. SC Jamir is exceedingly prompt in swearing in Congress leader, Pratapsingh Rane, as the new Chief Minister of Goa at 11:30 PM. In a coup of sorts, Goa has a new government less than twelve hours after the old government has ‘won’ a confidence vote!!