A code for governors

Governors are once again in the news. This, perhaps, is inevitable. A change of guard in New Delhi, brings with it the temptation to install 8220;friendly8221; incumbents in the various Raj Bhavans of the country. Eminences get pushed out or pulled in, depending on their equations with the party in power at the Centre. This has, sadly, been the case for a number of years.

The BJP has now assumed the high moral ground on the issue, with its leaders petitioning the president against the UPA government8217;s reported move to remove governors perceived to be close to the BJP. Its stand that the Constitution provides for a five year term for governors 8212; 8220;during the pleasure of the president8221; 8212; and that the president cannot withdraw his pleasure arbitrarily has merit. But it nevertheless must be stated that the six years of NDA rule also witnessed some extremely partisan appointments. Several party and sangh parivar faithfuls, as governors, have brought discredit to their high office, undermining both the Constitution and political practice in the process. Over the last six months, this newspaper has highlighted several instances of gubernatorial high-handedness and partisanship, whether it was M. Rama Jois8217;s biased tone in his Republic Day address, M.L. Khurana8217;s attempts at shoring up his political profile by holding public durbars, Bhai Parmanand8217;s open appeal to an audience to vote for Atal Bihari Vajpayee. And now has come news of the cloud over Goa8217;s Raj Bhavan presided over by Kedar Nath Sahni.

Which brings us to the vital observation made by the Sakaria Commission that people in active politics 8212; especially leaders of ruling parties 8212; should not be appointed as governors. This post should not be considered as an extension of a particular government8217;s patronage network. Of course, this principle can be restated till we are blue in the face, even as Central governments happily carry on appointing their favourites as governors. Therefore we need here to reiterate another principle, a non-negotiable one: that once people are appointed as governors, they must in every way be above partisan and egregious conduct. Only then do they earn their right to a full term in office. We urgently need to keep politics out of our Raj Bhavans and bring expertise, integrity, independence into them.