Thomas Cal, a proverbial American journalist once connoted. ‘One of the rationales for people detesting politics is that, Truth is seldom a Politician’s grail, Election and Power are’. Over the years this has been the stereotypic notion in the minds of the masses, I won’t hesitate to say that this isn’t false. This quote basically outlines the concepts on which I have based this article. I will be talking about this hypocritical appointment of Deputy Chief Ministers in the state of Goa.
Well, legally speaking there is no caveatic mention or even the slightest innuendo of the post of Deputy Chief Minister or for that matter even Deputy Prime Minister in the Constitution of India or any Act of Parliament. Article 164 of the Constitution only provides for a Council of Ministers headed by a Chief Minister to aid and advise the Governor. Then why would such an appointment be necessitated?
In my Analytical Capacitance the appointment of Deputy Chief Ministers or Deputy Prime Ministers is necessitated under four circumstances. One, The Government is a coalition government and its stability depends on the gratification of its allies (The Contemporary Situation in Goa). Two, the Executive is inexperienced or incapable and therefore needs a superficial advisor. (As Morarji Desai was appointed to advise Indira Gandhi). Three, the State is too colossal to be administered at ease by a single leader (As in the Case of the Yogi Adityanath Government in Uttar Pradesh) and finally four, when more than two candidates are contenders for the post from the same party (As in Rajasthan, where Sachin Pilot is the Deputy Chief Minister).
As for Goa, After Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s death the paramount question that everyone possessed in their minds was, ‘Which one of these forty men has the adeptness to take the berth as Parrikar’s Successor’. When all was said and done, a complacent answer for our inquisition was delivered when on the March 19, 2019, Pramod Sawant was sworn in as Chief Minister. Pramod Sawant, being a highly decorated statesman and also the next generation of Indian Politics would seem to be an apt successor, also taking into consideration his relation as a confidante of the late Chief Minister. But Pramod Sawant’s appointment came with many more impediments.
In Goa, without the support of Goa Forward Party and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, the BJP-led government would have to see its denouement. In order to satisfy the contemporarily acquired desire for power, their respective leaders, Vijai Sardesai and Sudin Dhavalikar were appointed as Deputy Chief Ministers. Two Deputy Chief Ministers in a bijou State like Goa, this fact itself is addling and fervently hypocritical. In retrospect this comes as no surprise; there have been several antecedent episodes with regards to the steps that political institutions take to satisfy the ‘cravings’ of their allies. But just a few days later when we had been made to believe that some certainty in the government lay ahead, our belief was broken.
Deepak Pauskar and Manohar Ajgaonkar, two ‘supposedly unwavering’ MLAs of the MGP fostered a deal with the BJP and deserted their party. The leader of the MGP, Sudin Dhavalikar, was betrayed; he was removed from his appointment as Deputy Chief Minister and entirely ousted from the Cabinet. Manohar Ajgaonkar was appointed as the new Deputy Chief Minister and Deepak Pauskar was made the Public Works Department Minister in the Goan Cabinet. Since more than 2/3rd of the MGP have defected, they aren’t subjected to re-election under Schedule 10 of the Constitution, the Anti-Defection Act. Because of this, there is no mechanism to check whether the citizens in their respective constituencies are content with or detest the decisions of their statesmen.
Apart from these on-going episodes of ‘horse trading’, there is a subject of paramount importance. Are all these ad-hoc appointments made by the Government, ‘legal’ taking into consideration the current scenario in the country? We have to consider that Elections are around the corner and the Government is following a Policy of Appeasement.
Primarily, this is an analogically non-licet appointment. According to sub clause (b) of clause 6 in Section VII of the Code of Conduct, 2019 which is issued by the Election Commission of India from the time, it stipulates that ‘When elections are announced by the Commission, Ministers and other authorities shall not make any ad-hoc appointments in the Government, Public Undertakings, etc, which may have the effect of influencing the voters in favour of the party in power’.
This appointment does certainly affect the probability of the party to fare well in the ensuing elections. If this appointment were not to be made, then there would have been no BJP-led government. The allies would repudiate, and voters would be exposed to the uncertainty and instability the current government beholds and in all probability it would have affected the outcomes of the By-Polls and General Elections in the State. This is a flagrant violation of the principles of the Democracy and Constitutional Morality.
The Government has made this decision only keeping its idiosyncratic prequisites in mind. Apart from indemnifying its victory in the ensuing elections by managing to enshroud its instability, it has also fooled it allies, the GFP and even Ajgaonkar, let alone the MGP who has to undergo the true essence of betrayal. The post of Deputy Chief Minister brings no supplemental perquisites to its beholder. Ajgaonkar and Dhavalikar still hold the same portfolios that they had held in the Parrikar Government and the real power of a minister depends on the nature of his ministry. Being a Deputy Chief Minister is nothing but a titular farce.
Statesmen should be passably tauted, something resolute, something credible. It shouldn’t indulge in ‘horse trading mechanisms’, and is expected to display honesty, dedication, a will to serve without expectations or ravenousness for power. It doesn’t seem that our current statesmen are on the same foot as me. I hope better sense prevails in the fullness of time.
