In the case of Manipur, the ruling party at the Centre encouraged defection and appointed a former Congress MLA as the chief minister. In Goa, though the ruling BJP clearly lost its majority, it managed to form the government by encouraging defections from the Congress party. In Maharashtra, though Shiv Sena-BJP combine won the majority, the Sena was compelled to part ways and form the government with the help of NCP and Congress, as the BJP failed to keep its promises by insisting on its choice of chief minister. The BJP went to the extent of misusing the governor’s office in an unbecoming manner by forcing him to announce formation of a government under Fadnavis in undue haste one fine early morning. The attempt failed miserably and the government fell as it had no majority.

The heinous practice began with horse trading in Karnataka assembly where the Congress party and Janata Dal (Secular) formed a government. It was under the leadership of the tainted B S Yediyurappa that the defections were encouraged, assuring ministerial posts and other incentives to the defectors. Finally the BJP forcefully managed to form its own government.

In Gujarat assembly, during Rajya Sabha elections, desperate attempt was made to defeat Ahmed Patel of Congress party by alluring cross-voting and defections, but the game was foiled by the intervention of the Supreme Court. Now by making a few Congress MLAs resign, the same thing is being repeated by the ruling BJP in Gujarat.

The latest is the episode in Madhya Pradesh, where 22 MLAs from the Congress Party were taken away to Bengaluru and the Congress party was compelled to take its MLAs to Jaipur. Leader of Congress Jyotiraditya Scindia defected and was given a Rajya Sabha seat. It is understood that he has been promised a seat in the central ministry.

In this background itis worth mentioning that the first Communist government elected in1957 had a slender majority of two MLAs but could not be toppled through defection. Ultimately then the Congress government used Article 356 to topple the government. After that, the subsequent governments at the Centre are misusing Article 356 to dismiss elected state governments.

It is also worth mentioning that in the year 1998, the then central government under the leadership of Atal Behari Vajpayee could not get the majority to survive and lost by one vote. In the light of the above unfortunate antidemocratic development in the present times driven by lack of conviction and commitment to ideology is a real threat to democracy.

India is a federal state with multi-party system and diversity. Hence to use power either of the state or money power or incentives to encourage defections to topple elected state governments is a practice which threatens democracy, and hence has to be condemned, fought against and defeated.

The present ruling party and its mentor R S Sare desperately trying to have a forced uniformity under the garb of cultural nationalism and believe that any diversity or difference of opinion is a threat to national unity and go to the extent of calling all opposition parties as anti-national or anti-majority. For them getting simple majority in elections settles all issues of difference of opinion and diversity and gives them a mandate to suppress or oppress opposition.

Such tyranny of majority is a real threat to democracy and ushers in an era of fascism. Democracy is a system which celebrates diversity and difference of opinion, and hence our first prime minister late Jawaharlal Nehru had called for unity in diversity and for more than 60 years, India did march on with that concept. Hence even organisations like RSS which criticized and worked against that idea were allowed to work. But now all this is becoming a history, as shamelessly and with impunity the present ruling dispensation is trying to dismantle elected governments and is trying to suppress the Opposition. Thus, the real democracy as visualized by Constitution is under threat.

There is another side to this. Opportunism is rampant as elected representatives seek profits or benefits without caring for ideology or commitment. To discourage this trend, we had anti-defection law but it is not working. Hence it is time to re-look at that law and introduce new changes which will discourage such opportunistic defections in the interest of healthy democracy.

When we are writing about this threat to democracy, we get the news of our former chief justice Ranjan Gogoi, who just retired, being nominated for Rajya Sabha by the government. This is highly objectionable as it raises a question mark on the independence of Judiciary. Hence it is time to relook at the proposal that top government officers and judges must not be allowed to hold any post of profit at least for three years from their retirement date. Such practices are being followed in many democratic countries. It is a way to assure independence of Judiciary and an independence of decision-making by the government authorities.

We agree with the remark made in one newspaper editorial regarding Madhya Pradesh crisis: ‘The governor’s preemptory demand that the chief minister prove his majority on one day’s notice delegitimises the idea of a minority government, as if Madhya Pradesh would suddenly be struck a plague of locusts or some such calamity if it suffered even a brief period of minority rule. If the government has lost its majority, the proper way to establish that loss of legitimacy is by the Opposition moving a no-trust motion against the government, not by imperious gubernatorial intervention.

The society where in its leaders are not ready to stand for principles and commitments and resort to opportunism will not be able to fight for strengthening of democracy. (IPA Service)