Today
is indeed a sad day for any Keralite who has any positive feelings towards
democracy. Democracy is a delicate political system. Unlike other political
systems that depend on the supremacy of a group or individual, the democracy
depends purely on the respect for the rules of the game. If any side decides to
refuse to respect those rule by which democracy functions, either that group
has to be contained, or the democracy meets with an untimely death.
Let us
say, a political party that lost the elections refuses the elected members to
meet and legislate or conduct other business of governance. What will happen to
the governance? Will democracy survive without governance, for long? In democracy,
it is not expected everyone to trust or support everyone else. The opposition
is bound to distrust and attack the ruling party and its ministers. However,
the system requires that the opposition should allow the ruling side to govern.
Having
said that, let us now consider what happened today, in Kerala assembly. There
were certain allegations of bribery against the finance minister of Kerala, Sri
KM Mani. The allegations were raised by certain bar owners who had an axe to
grind against the government, in connection with the cancellation of bar
licenses in the state. No direct evidences are placed in the public domain to
the fact that Mani had indeed collected bribes from the bar owners. What have
been presented as proof is the talks, telephonic and otherwise, among the leaders
of bar owners and others. Be that as it may, the matter is under investigation
and the High Court itself has examined the matter, stating that it will
intervene in the investigations, if and when the need arises.
The
opposition took a stand that since the Finance Minister is tainted and alleged
to have compromised the sanctity of budget making, he will not be allowed to
present the budget. A legitimate demand, I must say, for an opposition to make.
However, how should the ruling side have responded to this demand? Should they
concede and ask someone else to present the budget, even as the FM is watching?
Can that even be legally possible, considering the fact that FM is not supposed
to disclose the budget, even to his colleagues? Should they ask the FM to
resign? If the Chief Minister expresses a trust deficit in his FM by asking
someone else to present the budget, can he allow that FM to continue? It is
virtually impossible to do so.
Next
option is for the Chief Minister to ask the FM to tender resignation from the council
of Ministers. But again, how can he do that? There are allegations against many
ministers including the Chief Minister. As per the law, allegations alone does
not disqualify anyone from acting as a Minister. We should remember, we have people
accused of rape, riots, and murder serving as ministers even in the union
council of ministers. Can the FM be singled out and asked to resign, based on
mere allegations from interested parties? If the Chief Minister demands
resignation from his minister wouldn’t that amount to accepting the veracity of
the allegations? Please note, the Chief Minister is on record that the
allegations are unfounded.
A
Minister can continue in power so long as the Chief Minister has confidence in
him. A Government and Chief Minister can continue so long as they enjoy the
confidence of the majority of MLAs in the assembly. It is very clear in the present case that
Kerala government enjoys the confidence of the majority of MLAs, and Mr. Mani
enjoys the confidence of the Chief Minister. In such a case, so long as Mani says he is
innocent and not willing to resign, nobody can force him to resign at least
until and unless a court decides to charge him for a criminal act.
The opposition’s choices are
limited. They can either bring a no-confidence motion against the government,
or purse the allegations in an appropriate legal process. It is not a principle
of democratic functioning that a minister should enjoy the confidence of the opposition
to be able to continue or function as the minister. If that was indeed the case, no minister or
ministry will ever be able to function. Therefore, it was not democratic for Kerala’s
opposition parties to declare that they will not allow Mr. Mani to present the
budget. They can demand so, for sure, but they cannot enforce such a demand.
After all, in a democracy the opposition should have its say and the government,
its way. Otherwise, no government will ever be able to function.
Raising an impossible demand is a
sure way to ensure failure of a struggle. There was no way for the government
(for reasons discussed above) to have acceded to the demand of the opposition. That forced the opposition to resort to undemocratic
means to achieve their unreasonable demand. The result was unprecedented
violence and shame in the Assembly of Kerala. In any legislative body, the chair of Speaker
is deemed to represent the dignity and authority of the house. The opposition
in Kerala, in order to prevent Mani from making the budget speech brazenly
attacked the Speaker’s chair. The Speaker was prevented from entering the Assembly,
his chair for removed and thrown, all his equipment and computer broken, in a
display of utmost contempt for legislative assembly, the Speaker, and
democracy!
The situation forced the Speaker
and the Government to adopt shortcuts in presenting the budget, by adopting
undesirable tactics. Of course, one can blame the government for adopting those
tactics like FM reading out a few words from a newly allotted seats in the
second raw and then placing the budget on the table of the house and the
Speaker giving permission to the FM through symbolic gestures. However, a
government is left with no other choice but to adopt such measures under the situation
as it can neither agree to the demands of opposition nor avoid presentation of
the budget.
The opposition did not even stop
there. The lady MLAs from opposition ranks were seen physically pushing ruling
party MLAs in their attempts to reach the FM to stop him from presenting his
record 13th budget, in this 13th Assembly of Kerala, on
this Friday, the 13th (I am glad that FM did not believe in the bad
luck associated with 13th). In one case, a lady MLA was seen biting
a ruling party MLA for blocking her from proceeding towards the Chief Minister’s
seat!
I must also state that
the behavior of many ruling party MLAs was also not contributing to the dignity
of the house. Taunting the rampaging opposition MLAs or celebrating their
symbolic success was not in the good taste.
The budget will eventually get
passed, with or without a proper debate. The dignity of the House and democracy
has suffered. Mani may or may not be guilty of the alleged acts, as the courts will
eventually decide. But to try and countermand the popular mandate given to a government,
for a period of five years, through violence and physical intimidation will
only destroy the delicate democracy. It will not be in anybody’s interest
including the opposition parties indulging in such acts.
I sincerely hope the better sense
will prevail among all, and the Kerala assembly will regain its decorum at the earliest.
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