The Hindu : When will the Centre intervene?

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Friday, Apr 26, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

When will the Centre intervene?

By Anjali Mody

As the nation counts Gujarat's dead, the BJP counts its votes. It will, next week, support a censure motion on West Bengal (under Rule 184) to buy the Trinamool Congress's support in the Parliament debate on Gujarat. The BJP is cutting deals to defeat a resolution tabled by the Opposition that expresses grave concern at the failure of the administration to ensure the security of the minorities, and calls on the Centre to take all steps to protect them.

The Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Pramod Mahajan, said gleefully that the resolution was too vaguely worded. It spoke of the failure of "the administration" and made no reference to either the State or the Central Government. This would allow members of the NDA alliance, who were uncomfortable about the Government's position on Gujarat, and even the wavering TDP to vote with it. The Prime Minister too suggested that it was just a numbers game; he had called for a vote of confidence. If it is about numbers, the Government does have them. But whatever construction the Government puts on it, this is no mere numbers game. The Deputy Speaker's decision to allow the discussion under Rule 184 made it abundantly clear that the litany of technicalities raised by the Treasury Benches could not hide the responsibility of the Centre in the continuing carnage. The Deputy Speaker made a pointed reference to the obligations of the Central Government under Article 355 of the Constitution.

Feeble voices in the Rajya Sabha had raised this issue more than a month ago. But the demands for the head of the Gujarat Chief Minister appeared to deflect attention from the Centre's responsibility. When Parliament meets to debate Gujarat on April 30, the questions that must be asked are: has the "administration" in New Delhi failed to ensure the security of the minorities, especially in Gujarat? Did it employ all the powers vested in it by the Constitution to protect the State from internal disturbances and to ensure that its Government acted in accordance with the Constitution?

There may not be a blueprint for how a Government in New Delhi responds to unique situations that arise in different States. But the Constitution is its guide and even its narrowest interpretation suggests that the Centre has an obligation to ensure the rule of law and the protection of the rights of all citizens.

The NDA Government, in fact, has a record of invoking the Centre's powers of intervention under Article 355, and the ultimate exercise of this power — President's Rule — under Article 356 in incomparably less serious situations. The Home Minister, L.K. Advani, routinely sends off "fact-finding teams" and threatens State Governments with dismissal to placate irate NDA allies. Indeed, Mr. Advani has defended such action — in Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu — in the past, saying it was "the duty of the Centre, under Article 355, to protect States against internal disturbances". But the Home Minister and Gandhinagar MP does not feel that the Centre needs to intervene in Gujarat when there is irrefutable evidence of the organised mass killing of people of a single faith, allegations of a Chief Minister directing the police to do nothing to hurt people of another community, evidence of political interference in the law and order machinery, a damning record of administrative failure, first in preventing the violence and then in providing relief, well-documented evidence of police culpability and after six weeks, a still rising graph of arson and killing. So when will this Government intervene?

It intervened in Bihar, following the massacre of 12 Dalits. The Centre pronounced the Rashtriya Janata Dal Government unfit to govern. It dismissed the Government headed by Rabri Devi. It imposed President's Rule but was forced to revoke the decision because it failed to get the backing of the Rajya Sabha where it is in a minority. It sent a team to West Bengal after Mamata Banerjee turned up with a bag of bones, claiming they belonged to dead Trinamool Congress members.

It intervened in Tamil Nadu, threatening President's Rule and demanding the resignation of the then Governor, Fatima Beevi, issuing directives to the State Government on the treatment of Union Ministers, the violation of civil rights and the freedom of the press. In Maharashtra, the then Law Minister, Ram Jethmalani, was asked to review legal provisions which might allow the Centre to intervene to meet the demand of three Shiv Sena Union Ministers that it issue a directive (under Article 355) to the Maharashtra Government not to arrest the Sena chief, Bal Thackeray. Mr. Thackeray was charged with inciting communal hatred through his writings in the party mouthpiece `Saamna'.

Yet, in Gujarat the Centre has chosen not to intervene. The BJP-NDA will survive April 30. And also Narendra Modi, in all likelihood. But every day they continue in office is a blow to India's claim to being a secular, democratic republic.

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When will the Centre intervene?