What the Tenth Schedule signifies
Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is equally dominated by his unrivalled popularity and broad national appeal. Examples can be cited at the regional level too: Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, the Thackerays in Maharashtra, Mayawati in the context of the Bahujan Samaj Party.
National and state elections, in that sense, appear to have become quasi-presidential in nature. And so, while the tendency of critical masses of legislators to jump ship at crucial moments has not changed substantially since the enactment of the Tenth Schedule in 1985, the political backdrop has evolved significantly. In the 1990s, and arguably extending until the election of PM Modi, we witnessed an era of unstable coalition governments — the United Front governments, and then that of the first National Democratic Alliance and United Progressive Alliance.
In that era, the pragmatic objective of providing some stability to the coalition precariously stitched together would have further increased the perceived relevance of the Tenth Schedule.
Today, things look very different. The lack of intra-party democracy and the uber-dominance of certain political leaders is only one aspect. The lack of public debate and reasoned decision-making on the most critical issues of the day is conspicuous. Polarisation and the proliferation of fake news on social media have only compounded the problem. In this radically-changed political context, the broader argument being made today by former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot — on the value of outspoken dissent within political parties — has greater resonance. We need more stirrings within political parties, and within governments, not less.
Consider the presidential primary contest in the United States, for example, where prospective nominees of the Republican and Democratic parties must necessarily engage in a rigorous and extended state-by-state process before even emerging as candidates for the general election. Or, if it is felt that a proper analogy may be made only to parliamentary systems, take the intense contests for leadership in the prominent political parties in the United Kingdom.
The Tenth Schedule doesn’t directly impede intra-party democracy or deliberative decision-making. The point is that the factors impeding the success of India’s parliamentary democracy are less attributable to straying legislators (dubious though their motives may be, and unsavoury though the spectacle might be) and more to deep-seated systemic challenges.
Irrespective of the Tenth Schedule, there are grave dangers these broader challenges pose to our democracy. These cannot be ignored.