IThe time has come to remember Madhu Limaye. As we surveyed the rubble of the anti-defection law, an outstanding parliamentarian from independent India gave us a foreseeable warning. A socialist, a freedom fighter imprisoned by the British and Portuguese, a staunch opponent of the RSS, who single-handedly toppled the Morarji Desai government over the issue of ‘currency’.dual membership‘, a prolific writer in Marathi, Hindi and English and a four-time member of the Lok Sabha from Bihar, Madhukar Ramchandra Limaye He was the guardian of conscience for the Republic of India. This year is his birth centenary.
When the anti-defection law was first introduced in 1985, he was the only voice of doctrinal dissent. Starting with the famous 1967 Aaya Ram Gaya Ram An incident in Haryana, where an MLA’s ‘conscience’ forced him to switch political allegiances twice in a single day, sparked a flood of defection in India. In 1980, Bhajan Lal had joined the Congress along with all the Janata Party MLAs in Haryana. Defection was seen as a mockery of representative politics, right. That’s when someone got the idea of putting a legal ban on political defection. This fits in well with our national obsession with sanctions as a permanent solution. Therefore, an anti-defection law, in fact a major constitutional amendment, was drafted and passed with much fanfare and applause from all sections.
Madhu Limaye, then not in Parliament, stood up against major public opinion and warned the country against proceeding with a treatment worse than the disease itself. In a series of articles (law against defection In The Times of India 1985), he said that such an amendment struck at the core of parliamentary democracy. He had three objections. One, parliamentary debates would be in vain as elected representatives would not be free to exercise their discretion. Second, the institution of the ‘whip’ would promote the dictatorship of the party leaders. Third, although this law may prevent ‘retail’ defection, it will keep the door open for ‘wholesale’ defection.
Nearly four decades later, Madhu Limaye’s every apprehension has come true. We have ended up with the worst of both worlds. We have successfully curtailed the liberties of MPs and MLAs, but we have not been able to stop the most shameless defection.
Read also: Elections have become meaningless in India – BJP wins even if it loses
Choose your model – Karnataka, Goa or Manipur
The main objective of the inclusion of the Tenth Schedule in the Indian Constitution – to prevent hi-jacking of the people’s mandate through the sale and purchase of elected representatives – has remained unfulfilled. The latest drama in Maharashtra is yet another reminder of how harmless this law is when faced with a determined and powerful attempt to topple an elected government.
Over the years, we have seen many models successfully bypassing this law in complete public glare and under the nose of the judiciary. “Karnataka model”operation lotus“: get the required number of legislators to defect to the ruling party, respectfully give up their seats, win a by-election on another party’s symbol, with the help of generous bundles of cash plucked from nowhere, and a new government Goa has the good old model: wholesale trade where you can persuade the entire legislature party to switch loyalties, bypassing your own leadership, as Congress did. BSP MLA In Rajasthan. that hasn’t stopped Manipur Model Of retail trade when some legislators blatantly violate the anti-defection law, and the Speaker and the courts keep their eyes closed for as long as necessary. Finally, we have “Operation Guwahati” that might inspire a Maharashtra model: take a group of legislators and wait for others to join in to satisfy a legal requirement, while the constitutional watchdogs are asleep. Anti-defection law is a joke, a minor legal hassle that any power-broker can circumvent, as it is easy to sell or buy real estate with a ‘power of attorney’.
Worse, we have established a discriminatory system with two classes of political actors – those who can and those who cannot get away with defections. If you are a lone MP or MLA, stuck in a conscience, or with the principles or policies of your party, you have nowhere to go. The party can ‘whip’ you to submit on any issue. AAP once issued a whip that required Pankaj PushkarSo its disgruntled legislators, to vote against themselves, in favor of a motion that convicted them!
The quality of legislative debates was already declining, but the anti-defection provision has certainly contributed to turning parliamentary or assembly proceedings into a spectacle. Those who control the letterhead of the party and who can direct its chief whip control the lives of MLAs and MPs. All that was left of democracy within the party has disappeared.
However, if you are the BJP, then anti-defection is a paper formality, with some calls from the top levels of the government going to the right quarters. In addition to being a neutral referee, the speaker is an active player in the game of defection. The governor is overly jealous of persuading the unholy union. And the courts each time discover new principles and precedents to just obey, which is in line with the ruling system.
Read also: Moral, Political and Ideological Questions on Maharashtra: First Easiest to Answer, Third Hardest
Laws can’t reform politics
The anti-defection law has not only failed to cure the disease, it has actively contributed to the collapse of other constitutional offices. We have never had independent speakers (with exceptions like GV Mavalankar and Somnath Chatterjee), but anti-defection laws have made it impossible for any political party to consider neutral speakers. The institution of the governor has also become dirty. And so is the prestige of the judiciary.
Therefore, it may be a fitting tribute to Madhu Limaye in her birth centenary year to repeal the Tenth Schedule of the Indian Constitution and forget this spectacle of a law to prevent defection.
What about the problem of defection? It is certainly a threat, an insult to the electorate and the relationship between representatives and representation that democracy believes. As I argued First, the solution lies with the public, only they can punish the defectors when they next come to them for votes. If people don’t punish the defectors – Goa has gained notoriety in this regard – there is little that anyone can do about it from outside. You cannot vaccinate democracy against the people. You can turn to politics to improve policies in any field, but to whom do you turn to improve politics? In a democracy, the people are the answer.
Laws can sometimes help people make up their minds (as with disclosure requirements for candidates), or protect some minorities from the excesses of majoritarianism, but in the last instance, laws help people maintain democratic norms. cannot replace. No law can ensure honest candidates, or compel a political party to implement its election promises, or to secure democratic functioning within political parties. Looking for surefire legal remedies to reform politics deadly temptation,
Yogendra Yadav is one of the founders of Jai Kisan Andolan and Swaraj India. He tweeted @_YogendraYadav. Thoughts are personal.