Defending once again his decision to dissolve the Assembly following the competitive claim to government formation by the PDP and the People’s Conference, the Governor Satya Pal Malik said his decision to do so was his own. Malik said he would have been compelled to form the government of Sajad Lone had he listened to New Delhi. Speaking at a pre-convocation academic conclave of ITM University in Gwalior the Governor also reiterated his charge about the possibility of the horse-trading had he allowed either of the government formation bids to succeed.
Taking a higher moral ground, Governor said that he refused to allow the government formation as he didn’t want to go down in history as the “dishonest man”. We already know the Governor’s explanation for the dead fax machine at his office, citing Eid Milad-un-Nabi holiday for his inability to receive Mehbooba and Lone’s letter, but his rationale for denying the PDP a chance at government formation has an even more unbelievable ring to it. For the horse-trading didn’t seem to apply to the grand alliance among the PDP, NC and the Congress. In their case, the parties had around 56 seats to form the government, twelve seats more than the majority. So, there was little need for them to poach on other parties to get the required majority.
True, the PDP had been roiled by internal rumblings for the past several months. About five of PDP lawmakers had raised a banner of revolt following the fall of the PDP-BJP coalition government in June. However, two MLAs had later returned to the party fold. It is thus difficult and also unfair to question the loyalties of the other PDP members to their party. Prima facie, the grand alliance appeared very well placed to succeed. And anyway, things would have become clear during the floor test whose outcome neither central government nor the governor had the right or authority to pre-judge.
However, in a Freudian kind of slip, the Governor has revealed the alleged plan to install Sajad Lone as the Chief Minister with the backing of the potential defectors from the PDP and the other parties. Though he has since denied that New Delhi used any pressure or “any kind of intervention,” there are few takers for the statement in the country. But along the way also, the Governor’s defence of his conduct in dissolving the Assembly has acquired a ring of truth. Both Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti have lauded him for acting with responsibility and not letting a government born out of the break-up of the other parties be installed. In the entire exercise, though, if anything appears in a bad light, it is the democracy in J&K. The November 21 events once again prove that democracy in the state is less about the wishes of the people and more about preferences of New Delhi. Only a party preferred by New Delhi can rule the state.
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