WRONG REMEDY [First amend constitution of political parties] GT Editorial November 27, 2001
The resolution moved by Member of the Rajya Sabha, Shantaram Naik in the House calling for a Constitutional Amendment to regulate the formation and functioning of coalition governments is not the right remedy. A remedy is needed when one has an ailment and the problem lies not so much with Naik's suggestion, as with his assumption that coalition governments are a problem. In our opinion, coalition governments reflect the diversity of interests and aspirations of the Indian people and any attempt to regulate and tame this expression would result in dictatorship of the largest party in the coalition, in this case the Congress. India has moved from one party rule to multi-party democracy, mainly on account of the failure of the Congress to accommodate regional interests. Soon after independence, a need was felt for a strong Central government to protect the independence of the country and take it forward. Sixty years after the tri-colour was first raised on the Red Fort in New Delhi, that need has dissipated. It has been replaced by new dreams and ideas springing mostly from states, which have grown more confident economically and politically. The timing of the resolution leads one to conclude that Naik's resolution springs, not so much from the need to manage coalition governments, but from the strong stand taken by Left Parties on the nuclear deal. In that sense, it is opportunistic. There is no need to amend the Constitution simply because political parties cannot settle their differences. >From to , the Congress loomed large over India like a colossus. It was almost like one-party dictatorship. Since then, India has moved towards multi-party coalitions. The BJP was the first to realize the hard fact that one-party rule was no longer a possibility. The Congress took much longer to come to terms with coalitions. In fact, one wonders if it really has. Although political stability is the bedrock on which economies flourish, artificial stability through an amendment is not tenable. Politicians will find another way of beating the system. Take the example of Goan politicians, who not only defeated the purpose of the Tenth Schedule, but also laid waste every attempt to amend it. It is a supreme irony that those who introduced the Tenth Schedule were also the ones who tore it to pieces by encouraging defections or splits for the sake of personal gain. In fact Goa has witnessed so many splits and defections that political parties can no longer be identified on the basis of ideology. So, if amendments to the Constitution did not succeed in putting an end to defections and splits, how will it help regulate coalition governments? Political parties in India are a bunch of contradictions. While professing to believe in the merits of democracy, all of them function as dictatorships with no internal elections. For example, the constituencies committees of a party are never allowed to elect their candidate for an Assembly or Parliamentary elections. That decision is always taken by the High Command. A similar situation was faced by the United States of America when the party candidate for the presidency was selected by the tip leaders. This led to the system of primaries, that is, elections to select party candidate for the presidency. Hence, if one has to legislate then legislate in favour of democracy not dictatorship. One must remember that political instability is not a result of defects in the Constitution. It is a product of serious degradation in political parties. It is the constitutions of political parties that need to be amended, not the Constitution of India. COMMENT-1: To, The Editor, GT-Panjim. Sir, Re: YOUR EDITORAL - WRONG REMEDY - GT 27, 2007 It was a breath of fresh air to read your above editorial. We, at Goa Su-Raj Party, do absolutely agree with you when you say that 'It is the constitution of the political parties that need to be amended, not the Constitution of India'. We also agree with you when you say 'Constituencies committees are never allowed to elect their candidates for assembly or parliamentary elections, that 'that decision is taken by the High Command' However, we would like to point out to you that this new-generation political party cannot be clubbed with other political parties. At GSRP, the system adopted is that the CWC/s (Constituency Working Committee/s) which comprises of VRs (Village Representatives- one for every village), elect among themselves a President and a Secretary. The President, for all practical purposes, is the Party's candidate for the assembly elections with the Secretary filing as a Substitute. Further, this party says 'NO SECOND TERM' for MLAs. This is made possible because the party does not allow holding of dual- posts. Therefore, if the CWC President gets elected as MLA, he cannot occupy the CWC President's seat. The new CWC President will be the next candidate. However, the incumbent MLA can contest the 2nd and final Term only if the incumbent CWC President agrees. As for Parliamentary elections, this party has gone on record to write to the Election Commission of India that it is necessary to reform the Electoral system of the Country in the following manner:- -National Parties with NATIONAL RECOGNITION banned from contesting local Assembly Elections. -Regional Parties, like-wise, banned from contesting Parliamentary Elections. The outcome of this will be : (1) The National and the Regional Parties will help one another in the election of their respective candidates for the respective elections. (2) Those persons getting elected to the Parliament will be erudite persons, knowledgeable of the national as well as international affairs and not regional loudmouths who go to the parliament and make a mess out of the sensitive national deliberations over national and international affairs with regional ulcers. (3) Interference of National Parties in local/regional affairs/matters will be eliminated leaving the regional parties to work for the welfare of their respective states in their own way to realize their cultural and economical-advancement dreams. COMMENT-2: [This only for Internet-readership] During the last Assembly elections in Goa (June-2007), we had a very serious disagreement with the editor of the Gomantak Times (Derrick Almeida) when we were told that GSRP does not have any relevance in Goa's elections, a response to our query as to when would the GT publish our particular press statement ( re- our breaking off our electoral alliance with the UGDP because of the re-entry of Babush Monserrate into the UGDP- that having ben our condition for the alliance, in the first place). When asked for clarification as to what the editor meant by saying that GSRP did not have relevance in Goa's elections, the editor went on to explain GSRP's 2002 election contest, the aggregate vote count of 1500 for 8 candidates, as well as GSRP's 2005 (Taleigao by-elections) and the vote count of 207. When asked what this had to do with publishing our press statements, he said that it showed the party's irrelevance. In other words what he was trying to tell us is that 'why waste news-space by publishing press-statements of irrelevant political parties?' Our immediate reaction and the answer to him was: 1- That the editor was incapable of understanding Goa's political scenario. That politics was not all of HUMOUR COLUMNS on Sundays 'Weekenders'. 2- That people who do not have political acumen cannot understand long-term ideals of political parties and get impressed with short term gains. 3- That he should throw our press-statements out of the window. 4- Better still, that he should flush them down the toilet. With today's editorial, we believe that the editor has done his POLITICAL home-work well and has come out with a distinction. We congratulate him for that. But, having read the editorial and its political wisdom, we tend to believe that it has come from the desk of Prabakhar Khandeparkar rather then from the desk of Derrick Almeida. goasuraj ----------------------------------------------------------------- GOA needs a 'REVOLUTION' if it is to see better days. Goasuraj is that revolution. It needs your support. email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: www.goasu-raj.org Ph: 2266111 - (M) 9890470896
