ET Report
jammu, May 29: The BJP is a party that ruthlessly flouts rules in one state and agitates in another to make the concerned constitutional authority follow the rules strictly to uphold the constitution and legislature. In UP, for example, the state unit of the BJP stood solidly behind the state Governor Ram Naik, who the other day sent back the list of candidates recommended for nomination to the state legislative council by the ruling Samajwadi Party and requested him to follow the rules. The Governor, among other things, sought to know "if the candidates fulfilled the constitutional obligation of being eminent persons from the field of dance, music, art, culture, social work and literature".
The UP government had recommended nine names - Jitendra Yadav, Ram Vriksha Yadav, SRS Yadav, Sanjay Seth, Lilawati Kushwaha , Kamlesh Pathak, Rajpal Kashyap, Arshad Mehmood Ranvijay Singh - all close relations of the ruling clique. None of them fulfilled the qualifications for nomination to the legislative council. The moment the state governor Ram Naik, who is also from the BJP, sent back the file to the Akhilesh Yadav Government for clarifications, the state unit of the BJP upped its ante against the SP government and urged the state governor to accept only that proposal which upholds the constitution and the laws governing nomination to the legislative council. The UP Government has not yet responded to the governor's quarries. It is taking time.
Contrast the stand of the UP BJP unit with the J&K unit of the BJP and one will find the contradiction between them as far as the issue of nominations to the legislative council is concerned. It was on April 9, 2015 that governor NN Vohra nominated eight members to the legislative council after the state government reportedly responded to his queries and clarifications. After Raj Bhavan cleared the names, the Law & Parliamentary Affairs Ministry notified that the Governor had nominated Zaffar Iqbal Manhas (PDP), Ashok Khajuria (BJP), Vikramditya Singh (PDP), Romesh Arora (BJP), Saifu-Din Bhat (PDP), Ajatshatru Singh (BJP), Muhammad Khurshid Alam (PDP) and Surinder Mohan Ambardar (BJP) as new members to the House.
All, barring one who fulfilled the qualifications, were not constitutionally eligible for nomination but the BJP and the PDP got their list cleared. There were reports that the J&K Governor cleared the file after "instructions from someone in the Centre". It should not be difficult to understand why J&K Governor cleared the file knowing it full well that the state constitution bars political nominations to the legislative council.
The rules regarding nomination to the legislative council in J&K and UP or for that matter in all the states with bicameral legislatures are the same. The J&K Constitution, like the Indian Constitution which is applicable to all the states of the Union, says that "(Eight) members shall be nominated by the Governor, not more than three of whom shall be persons belonging to any of the socially or economically backward classes in the state, and the others shall be persons having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of matters such as literature, science, art, cooperative movement and social service" (P. 20).
All this should expose the J&K BJP and establish that it is not a party with a difference. It is a party that promotes rank opportunists and persons who are committed to only themselves and not the people. |
