Nothing comes close to explaining the state of politics in the largest democracy in the world, India than the elections held for Legislative Assembly in Karnataka this month. Irrespective of who becomes the chief minister of Karnataka and which party is in power, democracy is the biggest loser. Anytime there is an election in India, I tell myself I will not quote the alleged Winston Churchill’s quote on India’s being given right to self-determine its government. I find it could be intellectually lazy but after seeing the events unfold I had to kick myself and use that quote. Though there is no concrete evidence of Winston Churchill saying this. However, whoever did should have had a time machine.
“Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters; all Indian leaders will be of low calibre & men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles.”
Here is how the events unfolded.
- None of the parties involved contesting won enough seats to get a single majority to run the government. Of the total of 222 seats,
- BJP won 104 seats
- Congress won 78 seats
- JDS+ won 38 seats
- Others won 2 seats
- None of the parties above had any pre-election coalition.
- Immediately after noticing that they will not get majority and BJP might not either, Congress which had more than twice the number of seats as JDS presented a devious proposal to JDS. They offered to form a government with the JDS leader H. D. Kumaraswamy as the chief minister. H.D. Kumaraswamy is the son of the JDS party head H.D. Deva Gowda. This is not illegal but just breaks fundamentals of democracy.
- BJP which was the single largest party was asked to form for the government by the Governor of Karnataka. The Governor of Karnataka Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, who is supposed to be a neutral leader and the constitutional head of the state is actually a BJP party member. The new government was asked to prove it’s majority in the assembly in 15 days.
- BJP formed the government with B. S. Yeddyurappa as the chief minister. The septuagenarian announced that he will be able to prove his majority. This is quite brazen considering the only way he can prove majority if people elected for the other parties agree to him being the Chief Minister. Is this an open statement that he will bribe the opposition MLAs or just the impunity enjoyed by politicians? Either way, he cannot be prosecuted legally.
- The next action done by the Congress and JDS party heads was to round up their MLAs, move them to another state and keep them under guard. This act of locking up the elected legislators was done under the pretext of protection. This is an open case of kidnapping and house arrest. I also wonder if this is an admission that elected officials can be bought. There was a bigger case in Tamil Nadu a few years back, so these acts have political precedences to an extent that it can be considered normal. However, at what point can this be considered as a violation of habeas corpus? These acts can’t be proven illegal as both law and lawmakers have morphed into a single corrupt system.
I am sure there will be more drama unfolding in the coming days. Congress which has lost power might form the government under a JDS Chief Minister or Yeddyurappa might buy off some MLAs to prove majority. Either way, there is going to be no legal grounds to prosecute them. Sadly, this wasn’t the first time this has happened and definitely won’t be the last. The moral police in the mainstream media have made it to a secularism vs fundamentalism fight. Unfortunately, both parties are on the same side here. It is a fight between political impunity and democratic values. The loser is the people.
Demystifying a skeptic's world 