'Naatak' in Karnataka

“Murder of democracy”. That’s the phrase going around to describe what’s followed the results of the elections in Karnataka. While it accurately describes the actions of the BJP camp; it also applies to the actions of others.

Let’s see why:

-         Was the Governor biased in ignoring the joint claim of the Congress and JD(S)? Yes. Was he biased in allowing the BJP a ridiculously large period of 15 days to prove its majority? Absolutely.

-         But little of what the Governor did was illegal. Exercising his “discretion” in deciding whom to call first (Largest party first in Karnataka; whoever claims to have the numbers in Goa), while discretionary, is still legal. Which raises the question: Why hasn’t any party at the Center ever framed clear, unambiguous rules on the topic? The Congress never did it, nor did the BJP or the regional parties that were part of various coalitions at the Center. Why? Because they want this discretionary power available to be (ab)used when they are in power at the Center.

-         By what stretch of imagination would it be a reflection of the verdict if we end up with a Chief Minister from JD(S), a party that got just 37 of 222 seats?

-         If the Congress, the party with a clear majority last time, fell to a nowhere-near-majority count this time, doesn’t it mean people voted it out? If they still sneaking into power via a post poll alliance with JD(S), isn’t that a “murder of democracy” too?

-         Sure, post-poll alliances are quite common across the country. But isn’t violating the verdict? Plenty of votes for the JD(S) would be from people who despise the Congress (similar reasoning applies to any alliance parners), so isn’t an alliance between the two after the polls a violation of what people voted for (or against)?

-         We call for our legislators to vote their conscience on policy matters, not just follow their party stance. By that token, why is it OK for parties to hold MLA’s prisoner in resorts OK?

-         Conversely, if you don’t hold them in resorts, MLA’s won’t vote their conscience. They’ll just vote for whoever pays them more. How is that democratic?

There are no “right” answers here, regardless of what follows and who eventually comes to power. Gopalkrishna Gandhi, governor of West Bengal, feels the problem lies in the fragmentation of votes with so many parties. His suggestion?

“The lesson of the Karnataka Kanda is this: the parties opposed to the BJP and RSS’s ideology must work together from the word go.”

This doesn’t solve anything: it just shows Gandhi’s political leanings (anti-BJP). He’s basically recommending alliances between people/parties that hate each other: Siddaramiah and HDK, Nitish and Laloo, Akhilesh and Mayawati, Mamata and the communists…

Ultimately, the likes of Trilochan Sastry are right when he says that we need find ways to reform the electoral system since hung verdicts are all too common and lead to weird bedfellows who can’t agree on anything. Because the purpose of democracy is this:

“If we get good governance from whoever form the government, then the people won. Otherwise some political party has won.”