Malik’s swipe at PM puzzling
In a first, Meghalaya governor Satyapal Malik has not been shy to publicly revile Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And yet, has not been summarily ejected from the constitutional office he holds at the pleasure of the government. This open defiance of constitutional protocol cannot but cause surprise and dismay. For constitutional purists, the development can only be described as a shock.
At the level of politics, the underlying meaning of the flagrant challenge to the PM’s authority suggests the inference that deeper — and mysterious — forces may be at work at the highest levels of government, the ruling BJP, and not improbably also the RSS, which is the centrepiece of the Hindutva universe.
The governor recently chose a public meeting to declare the PM “arrogant” and having no sympathy for farmers. To spice things up Mr Malik gave purportedly exact quotes of the PM which show him up as self-serving and crass.
The governor — who loses no opportunity to identify himself with farmers — also noted that he had “a fight within five minutes” of meeting the PM on account of the latter’s supposedly unsympathetic attitude toward farmers. However, projecting the cause of farmers or any section of society, and on their behalf starting a fight with the PM, is no part of a governor’s brief, which is limited to reporting to the Centre whether the state he technically heads is being run constitutionally.
Remarkably, after traducing the PM, the governor recounted his meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah who apparently told him that Mr Modi was “going mad” and being misled by all sorts of people. In a subsequent clarification he noted that the home minister’s attitude was “not disrespectful” toward the PM, but retracted not a word.
In 1990, even a weak PM such as V.P. Singh, dependent on a host of parties for mere survival, had little hesitation sacking Jagmohan as J&K governor in an unexpected move. In contrast, Mr Modi, in the saddle with more than 300 MPs of his own party, and deemed by his followers to be the “best” and “the strongest” PM ever, appears to have silently pocketed the insult thrown his way by a mere governor. This can hardly be salutary for governance.