MOVING TOWARDS A COSTITUTIONAL CRISIS?
With the Union Government behaving in the
typically callous manner as succinctly expressed in the Telugu axiom: “taamboolaalu
icceasaam, tannuku caavanDi!” [As for
us we have fixed it, now it is for you all to fight over that!] – not caring a bit for the more-than two-month old mammoth
mass movement to keep up the unity of Andhra Pradesh raging in Seemandhra, it
seems the Telangana Tangle is getting more complicated and difficult to solve. We
even apprehend that a constitutional crisis may engulf the country if the Seemandhra
MPs and Union Ministers, responding to the popular opinion there, intensify
their obstructionist tactics – going even to the extent of withdrawing support
to the Central Government which now stands on a slender majority of 3 only and
also inciting other UPA partners to do so. But even otherwise, the inexplicable
adamance of the Union Government/ UPA Chairperson towards the people’s movement
in Seemandhra and their efforts to speed up the much-hated partition of Andhra
Pradesh without paying regard to the well-established conventions and the
federal spirit of our polity, may create a constitutional crisis and lead to
their downfall, confirming the accursed proverbial situation – vinaaSakaalea vipareeta buddhii [perverse designs
arise in ruinous times]. To our knowledge, no bill
for division of any province has ever been prepared, let alone it being moved, until
and unless the concerned State Assembly first passed a resolution in favor of
such division or partition. This healthy convention cannot be given a go-by –
it would be just like the President of India ignoring the convention of
inviting the leader of the largest party/front to form the government and appointing
some lackey and giving time and facility to him to later horse-trade and win a
vote of confidence. Also, the special provision regarding Andhra Pradesh
embodied in Article 371-D cannot be just wished away and no partition can be
constitutionally valid without its repeal/amendment; that needs a
constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds majority vote in both Houses of
the Parliament which seems impossible now. And we always pointed out that by
following the wise recommendations of the Srikrishna Committee, the problem can
be solved without any heartrending partition of the State. §§§
