On Wednesday, when the Raj Bhavan’s missive reached the offices of political parties, polling was still underway in Maharashtra. What are the pre-poll alliances, Governor Mohammed Fazal demanded to be told, and where exactly will they stand, post-poll? The unsuspecting party chiefs are not the only ones taken aback by the unprecedented request. It rings odd to all those who are acquainted with the way in which the Constitution defines the governor’s role. The governor has a role to play in swearing in a new government. He or she even has some discretion to exercise in situations where the verdict is fractured — a situation all pollsters predict in Maharashtra. But Governor Fazal’s attempt to dive into the electoral process before the last vote is counted, before it was even cast, is — to put it mildly — disturbing.It isn’t as if there were no forewarnings. The charitable might point out that Governor Fazal has refused to adhere to the narrow ribbon-cutting view of his office. But his ceaseless enthusiasms have repeatedly provoked worries about the perils of populism in Raj Bhavan. They have raised concerns about institutional overreach. Picture this. On an average, the governor shoots off one letter every two days to the government. He has written nearly 300 in two years, advising the chief minister on a range of issues. He has been known to freely pitch the weight of his constitutional office behind campaigns to force the government’s hand on specific issues, for instance to legalise prostitution. He sat on a controversial Bill passed by the legislature, and set up a committee to monitor political interference in police transfers. Of course, the elected government isn’t always right. But the power to enforce a course correction certainly does not lie in the Raj Bhavan.In the present instance, perhaps we need to think of ways of making the negotiating and bargaining between parties in the wake of a hung verdict more transparent. Perhaps we need to show more light on the deal-making that goes on in political backrooms in an age of coalitions. But these are tangles for the political process to resolve. Maharashtra’s untidy politics is only going to be made messier by a maverick in Raj Bhavan who wants to be king.
