Factionalism and defection in party organization seems to be rampant in India. The BJP is facing a crisis in Karnataka as a result of the faction-ridden State party unit there. The Congress President Sonia Gandhi as recently as last week also admitted to this by sending a strong message to her partymen that they must shed “all manner of factional behavior”. In fact no political party can sustain for long if there is no unity and discipline in the party rank and file. However, no political party can escape the scourge brought about by such nuisance and political immorality. At one level it can lead to instability of governments besides frequent and expensive election. All this will have an adverse impact on development, the economy and the general state of affairs. At another level, factionalism tends to create power centres that could be detrimental to leadership and decision making. Still worse is the case of party ideology becoming a mockery at the altar of power and pelf. And it is not unusual to see people hopping from one party to the other just for money and position. Probity in public life is a thing of the past and today’s politics is a pure case of the Machiavellian saying that ends justify the means and where politics is guided exclusively by considerations of expediency.
All this is also having an adverse impact on our parliamentary democracy and the way it is meant to function—with civility and time honored practice. Just take for instance, the latest drama happening in Karnataka politics. According to news report, nine Ministers loyal to former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa have tendered their resignation from the government. Strange as it may sound, the resignation has been submitted not to the present CM DV Sadananda Gowda but to their ‘big boss’ Mr Yeddyurappa. Similarly, when MLAs resign these days, out of fear or party loyalty, they actually submit their resignation not to the Speaker but to their party bosses. So you see, this is what is happening to our parliamentary democracy where factional leaders are becoming law unto themselves while the constitutionally recognized CM or the Speaker is helpless. In recent years, not just in Karnataka but across the country, more of such unconstitutional practices have been developing. Even in the so called Congress high command culture, those in government will actually submit their resignation not to the Prime Minister but to the Congress President, in this case Sonia Gandhi.
This is an anomaly of present day politics where you do not play by the rules but rather you can play to your own fancy. On this count perhaps we need to mention the so called ‘resort-politics’ that has come to be associated with Karnataka and the likes of former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa. This is basically horse trading with creativity to ensure better result. So what we have nowadays is MLAs being paraded in resort or five star hotels rather than in front of the constitutional authority—the Governor. There is a joke going around that Karnataka MLAs have been in and out of resorts, planes and luxury buses for a few years now. As rightly mentioned such kind of “resort-politics” is the most open and vulgar evidence of horse trading in Indian politics and goes to show the complete disregard for our parliamentary democracy and how money power is subverting our systems. Such kind of Machiavellian politics is harmful for our parliamentary democracy. Something to reflect upon as India commemorates the 60th anniversary of the first sitting of Parliament.
