New Delhi, November 30
Faced with a stiff opposition on its decision to send a Central team to West Bengal’s Lalgarh area, the government today assured both Houses of Parliament that there was no scope for the imposition of President’s Rule following the Bommai judgment.
As opposition parties, led by the CPM, termed the government’s move as “unconstitutional and undemocratic,” Home Minister P Chidambaram stepped in to say, “Post-Bommai, there is no scope ...for the imposition of the Central rule. The move to send the Central team is entirely non-confrontational. There is no need to view it through the prism of Article 356.” Chidambaram gave the same assurance to the Rajya Sabha.
The minister’s reference was to the 1994 Supreme Court ruling where it said no state government could be dismissed without being afforded a chance to prove the majority on the floor of the House.
Assurance apart, both Houses saw an aggressive Left corner the government on the issue, with the LS seeing three adjournments and RS two. Left and SP members were the most vocal, and stormed the well in Lok Sabha in question hour. CPM’s Basudeb Acharia sought the suspension of the question hour, but was denied a chance by Speaker Meira Kumar.
He made the noise nevertheless, with the Trinamool countering him with a demand for imposition of the President’s Rule in Bengal. The BJP for its part subtly sided with the Left, despite the latter’s earlier support to the dismissal of three BJP governments in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition.
Though Leader of the Opposition LK Advani accused the Left today of double standards on the Central rule, he warned the Centre against taking the Article 356 lightly; in Rajya Sabha, BJP’s Arun Jaitley voiced the same sentiment and supported CPM leader Sitaram Yechury’s contention that the deputation of the Central team was unconstitutional. “We would like to be assured that this wasn’t done at the behest of the Congress’ alliance partner,” Jaitley said.
A cornered Chidambaram naturally was on back foot and said the team was only meant to assist law and order issues. “I have a good working relationship with West Bengal; CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya,” the Home Minister added, referring to growing inter-party clashes on the issue as the reason behind the move.
Back in the LS, the uproar was led by Acharia who denounced the government move saying every state had some problem. “Law and order is a state subject,” he reminded the Centre, accusing it of succumbing to Mamata Banerjee’s pressure.
SP’s Mulayam Singh Yadav also attacked the government warning of such moves becoming precedents. “That means you can impose the President’s Rule in any state,” he asked, while Advani said the Article 356 should only be used in the “rarest of cases and certainly not in ones stemming from law and order”.
“The constitution-makers had conceded the possibility of misusing of the Article and wanted it to be turned into a dead letter. The Sarkaria Commission had also gone into these aspects,” said Advani with CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta also objected to the Central team being sent.
