The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : The Centre was right

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 26, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

The Centre was right

It was not the first time since the election that Nitish Kumar tried to cobble together the numbers. So the charge that the Centre moved to dissolve the Assembly to prevent the formation of a JD (U)-led Government is unfounded. Even if an NDA Government had been formed, there was a good possibility of the dissident LJP MLAs losing their membership under the anti-defection law. If that had happened, the House would have been thrown into another deadlock and an election would have become inevitable. What the Centre has done is to by-pass a fruitless democratic ritual.

T. Karthikeyan,
Madurai, T.N.

Without going into the merits or demerits of the dissolution, it can be said that people get the government they deserve. In spite of frequent media reports on the RJD misrule, it remained in power in the State for 15 years. And when it looked like it was finally on its way out, the people gave an indecisive verdict. How can the Governor or the Centre be blamed for the situation the State is in?

V.K. Sharma,
Hyderabad

The Centre's move was right because no party had a majority or was able to cobble together the required numbers even after three months.

N. Sethuraman,
Chennai

It would have actually been interesting if the NDA had come to power in Bihar. All the independent legislators would have been offered a Ministry. So would have been the rebel LJP legislators. This would have more or less exhausted the 15 per cent quota of Ministries admissible under the rule. The legislators of the JD (U) and the BJP would have been left seething with discontent, and they would have rocked the government in the not-too-distant future.

Donald Ariel,
Langley, Canada

The Bihar episode raises not only constitutional questions but moral issues as well. LJP legislators won their elections on an anti-BJP, anti-RJD platform. Hence neither the party nor its legislators had the people's mandate to support one or the other of the two political camps. What actually happened was even worse — LJP legislators being wooed away to a nearby State. It is time we had electoral rules preventing such distortion of the people's mandate.

K.X.M. John,
Kochi, Kerala

The developments in Bihar are a consequence of unprecedented growth of local political parties. At this rate, the day is not far off when there will be no majority party and all will be minority parties. As the two-party system is not feasible in such a diverse country as India, there should be a pre-electoral coalition and all the allies should be bound by it for five years.

D.C. Yadav,
Bangalore

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