People's Democracy

EDITORIAL

BJP’s Somersault In Parliament 

THESE are indeed strange and difficult times for India’s parliamentary democracy. The opening day of the monsoon session of parliament was disrupted by the principal opposition, the BJP-led NDA. They marched into the well of the Lok Sabha, demanding suspension of the question hour in order to discuss the issue of price rise while their own adjournment motion on the Mumbai blasts was to be taken up immediately after the question hour. On the very next day, in the Rajya Sabha, they did a political somersault. They tried (though mercifully failed) to disrupt the house on the ground that a discussion on the Mumbai blasts was to be held before the listed discussion on price rise. In the event, the question hour had to be abandoned. The glaring inconsistency in their position in both the houses only reflects the common objective of seeking to disrupt parliamentary proceedings. Apart from hoping to grab some media attention, such disruption is aimed at delaying the adoption of legislation on the `office of profit’ issue. Such a delay the BJP/NDA seeks in the hope that in the meanwhile the Election Commission will proceed with its notices to various MPs on this issue, thus disqualifying them. Such disqualification in turn, they hope, will create political instability, adversely affecting the UPA government’s continuance.

This became all the more clear when the BJP-led NDA, having disrupted the parliament, marched to the Rashtrapati Bhawan and sought to involve the president in their partisan political battles. Readers will recall that on the office of profit issue, the president had sent back the earlier legislation to parliament for reconsideration. With the union cabinet deciding to bring back the same bill before both the houses, the president cannot but have to give assent forthwith when it is adopted and sent him back. All well-known legal constitutional experts have opined that the constitution is unambiguous on this count.The BJP/NDA has, however, reportedly urged the president to seek the opinion of the Supreme Court on the constitutional validity of this bill. Such a presidential reference to the Supreme Court is permissible under article 143 of the constitution. However, such a reference can only be done on the “aid and advise of the council of ministers.” Clearly, this is not the case in the present instance. The BJP/NDA is, thus, urging the president to wilfully violate the constitution and act independently of the council of ministers. This is nothing less than asking the president of India to lead a constitutional coup against the UPA government. 

A similar instance occurred once our country’s history. In December 1986, the then president of India, Giani Zail Singh, received the postal bill adopted by parliament when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister. Zail Singh was not satisfied and literally sat on the bill till he demitted office in July 1987. The entire political spectrum, including the CPI(M) which was vehemently opposing the policies of the Rajiv Gandhi government, rallied together to decry the president’s action as undermining India’s republican democracy. In his memoirs, Zail Singh confesses that he did not return the bill since if it was passed by both houses again, he could not withhold assent. Those who quote this reference in order to justify a constitutional coup will do well to note that even Zail Singh had admitted that the Indian constitution was unambiguous that the president cannot withhold assent when a bill is returned to him after adoption by parliament. 

A few weeks earlier, in these very columns, we had detailed our position on the entire issue of office of profit (People’s Democracy, April 2, editorial). In the immediate, the parliament must legislate this bill to include the offices that are today excluded in order to ensure that a large number of MPs, cutting across all political parties, will not be disqualified. At the same time, the parliament must constitute an empowered committee that must examine all the connected issues and draw up unambiguous definitions on which are the offices of profit. In the meanwhile, the BJP/NDA’s diabolic game plan to subvert India’s parliamentary democracy must be defeated.