07-31-2007, 01:20 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>A crime in Goa </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
This is assault on democracy
T the utterly shameless manner in which the Congress has subverted the Constitution and made a mockery of legislative rules in Goa with no other purpose than to retain power in that State by propping up a discredited Government that has lost majority support has not comes as a surprise. After coming to power at the head of a disparate coalition at the Centre in 2004,<b> the Congress has repeatedly short-circuited democratic norms - with the help of pliant Governors eager to please the party 'high command' - to prevent the BJP and its allies from coming to power in the States. </b>We need to recall the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly even before its newly-elected MLAs had been sworn in followed by the imposition of President's rule and the installation of a minority Government in Jharkhand despite the BJP and its allies having a clear majority to see Monday's happenings in Goa in the right perspective. Such is the Congress's craving for power that it can stoop to any level and take recourse to the foulest of means; if in the process democracy suffers a body blow and the Constitution is rendered meaningless, so be it. There is something in the Congress's genes that propels the party towards committing such gross misdeeds - which the party's drum-beaters later brazenly justify with a straight face - regardless of the consequences. In the past, the Supreme Court has on more than one occasion rebuked the Congress for subverting the Constitution to either grab or retain power in the States; the last time the Congress found its face blackened was when the Supreme Court held its imposition of President's rule on Bihar as unsupported by both logic and law. Before that, the Supreme Court had to intervene to unseat an illegitimate Government in Jharkhand. These are only two examples of the judiciary preventing the butchery of democracy by the Congress.
The Congress-led Government in Goa has clearly lost its majority which now vests in the BJP-led Goa Democratic Alliance. Constitutional propriety and the directive issued by Governor SC Jamir - who was instrumental in dislodging the BJP Government in that State earlier and replacing it with a Congress regime comprising turncoats - demanded that the Speaker should have ensured a proper vote on the floor of the Assembly to test the Government's strength before taking up any other issue. Instead, he first disallowed two MGP legislators, who are part of the BJP-led alliance, and a Congress MLA, whose resignation from the party has not yet been accepted, to participate in the confidence vote. In other words, he shifted the goal posts and then asked for a voice vote - rather than a division - which turned out to be a bogus exercise: Amid the din, the Speaker was heard declaring that he had voted for the Government. The proceedings should, in all fairness, be struck off the records if only to prevent other presiding officers from emulating this affront to the Constitution. <b>Mr Jamir can yet redeem himself by throwing the Speaker's report into the nearest wastepaper basket - its rightful resting place - and sacking the Kamat Government which deserves ignominy and more. By swearing in a BJP-led Goa Democratic Front Government, he will restore faith in democracy and prove that he is not entirely bereft of scruples. If this does not happen, the BJP and its allies must take the issue to the courts and make an example of the Congress's deceit. To allow the party to go unpunished for holding the Constitution in contempt would only further whet the appetite of those who don't believe in democracy.</b>
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The Pioneer Edit Desk
This is assault on democracy
T the utterly shameless manner in which the Congress has subverted the Constitution and made a mockery of legislative rules in Goa with no other purpose than to retain power in that State by propping up a discredited Government that has lost majority support has not comes as a surprise. After coming to power at the head of a disparate coalition at the Centre in 2004,<b> the Congress has repeatedly short-circuited democratic norms - with the help of pliant Governors eager to please the party 'high command' - to prevent the BJP and its allies from coming to power in the States. </b>We need to recall the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly even before its newly-elected MLAs had been sworn in followed by the imposition of President's rule and the installation of a minority Government in Jharkhand despite the BJP and its allies having a clear majority to see Monday's happenings in Goa in the right perspective. Such is the Congress's craving for power that it can stoop to any level and take recourse to the foulest of means; if in the process democracy suffers a body blow and the Constitution is rendered meaningless, so be it. There is something in the Congress's genes that propels the party towards committing such gross misdeeds - which the party's drum-beaters later brazenly justify with a straight face - regardless of the consequences. In the past, the Supreme Court has on more than one occasion rebuked the Congress for subverting the Constitution to either grab or retain power in the States; the last time the Congress found its face blackened was when the Supreme Court held its imposition of President's rule on Bihar as unsupported by both logic and law. Before that, the Supreme Court had to intervene to unseat an illegitimate Government in Jharkhand. These are only two examples of the judiciary preventing the butchery of democracy by the Congress.
The Congress-led Government in Goa has clearly lost its majority which now vests in the BJP-led Goa Democratic Alliance. Constitutional propriety and the directive issued by Governor SC Jamir - who was instrumental in dislodging the BJP Government in that State earlier and replacing it with a Congress regime comprising turncoats - demanded that the Speaker should have ensured a proper vote on the floor of the Assembly to test the Government's strength before taking up any other issue. Instead, he first disallowed two MGP legislators, who are part of the BJP-led alliance, and a Congress MLA, whose resignation from the party has not yet been accepted, to participate in the confidence vote. In other words, he shifted the goal posts and then asked for a voice vote - rather than a division - which turned out to be a bogus exercise: Amid the din, the Speaker was heard declaring that he had voted for the Government. The proceedings should, in all fairness, be struck off the records if only to prevent other presiding officers from emulating this affront to the Constitution. <b>Mr Jamir can yet redeem himself by throwing the Speaker's report into the nearest wastepaper basket - its rightful resting place - and sacking the Kamat Government which deserves ignominy and more. By swearing in a BJP-led Goa Democratic Front Government, he will restore faith in democracy and prove that he is not entirely bereft of scruples. If this does not happen, the BJP and its allies must take the issue to the courts and make an example of the Congress's deceit. To allow the party to go unpunished for holding the Constitution in contempt would only further whet the appetite of those who don't believe in democracy.</b>
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