Jumping Ship |
One of India’s most influential leaders, YB Chavan, had variously held important positions like that of the Defence Minister, Home Minister, Finance Minister, External Affairs Minister, and also the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He had propounded extensively on the unhinged phenomenon of partyswitching as had become rampant in the 1960s and 70s with the “Aya Ram, Gaya Ram” case (Haryana legislator, Gaya Lal, had infamously switched three parties in a single day!).
Chavan had worryingly commented, “Politics is the art of the possible ~ but defections make it the art of the profitable.” This curse of amoral politics was not unique to any one specific national or regional party, but cut across the Indian political culture. Various means from the proverbial “stick” to the “carrot” were dangled to trigger party-hopping. Attempts to fix this were initiated with the introduction of the 52nd Constitutional Amendment (1985), adding the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution. The Anti-Defection Law aimed to prevent political instability, curb “horse trading” and essentially protect the voters’ mandate. But stability still eluded Indian politics. The wily politicians became even more creative, brazen, and institutionally organised, to beat the provisions.
From mass resignations instead of defections (e.g., Madhya Pradesh in 2020), invoking the 2/3rd merger rule (Karnataka 2019, and most recently in the Rajya Sabha with AAP MPs), delays by Speakers of the House to disqualify members, re-election via a reset button, voluntarily giving up membership, to even judicial delays ~ the possibilities to beat the system are seemingly infinite and manageable. This effectively leaves the politicians with the only effective recourse of answering to their own conscience, otherwise the constitutional provisions can practically be overridden.
The wise politician of constitutional morality, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had lamented, “Power without principles is like a body without a soul,” whilst musing about opportunistic party-switching. This is not to suggest that the elected........