Karnataka: BJP’s base camp of reality

May 21 2018


Looks like it is a one-off reassertion of democracy in India’s southern climes, with the punch-drunk BJP having to accept being licked, what with Yeddyurappa had to resign as CM of Karnataka, after being foisted to the post, post-haste by a sleight of hand by the party which seemed unassailable after its massive win at the Centre in 2014. The bravado of party boss Amit Shah and his so-called electoral magic is licking the dust now.
Questions that had been raised about the Constitutional validity of the Karnataka governor ushering a minority party to power on the grounds of its being the single largest party. The Opposition had taken the issue to the Supreme Court, under a ‘soft’ chief, which had disallowed. We may well remind you of our former President, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, who had propounded this theory of inviting the ‘single largest party’ to form the government. It may be recalled that Dr Sharma’s standing as a legal expert was beyond reproach. After all, he had done his LLM from Cambridge University and his PhD from Harvard.
However, it seemed patently unconstitutional of the apex court to give Yeddyurappa a full fortnight to prove his party’s strength in the Assembly.
The bench of Justices A K Sikri, S A Bobode and Justice Ashok Bhushan had earlier dismissed a petition against the CJI, known to be close to the BJP. Thus, though it seemed that the constitution of the bench had been advantageous to the ruling juggernaut at the Centre, its Karnataka decision (of giving the BJP just two days to prove its majority) has firmly reaffirmed democratic norms in the country.
The BJP seemed weak-kneed in the legal amphitheatre, with the Congress running its battery of legal top guns such as Salman Khurshid, Abhishek Manu Sanghvi, Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram, whereas the BJP limped around with just Mukul Rohtagi and Tushar Mehta, who are legal mercenaries merely working for fees.
The BJP ought to learn several lessons from being matted in Karnataka. Especially that when you are at the top of power, even unsurpassable mountains seem like mere small hillocks, but when you are forced to confront them, they bring you down to the base camp of reality!

 
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