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The art of choosing Governors

Harish Khare

It is about time Raj Bhavans were restored as a source of constitutional sagacity and statesmanship.

ACCORDING TO the political grapevine, the Centre is once again attending to the task of filling up vacancies in various Raj Bhavans. Unsurprisingly, the names making the rounds include "veteran" Congress leaders. Over the decades, the Raj Bhavans have been used by various political parties as the parking place for leaders who had become passé and needed to be provided for or for those leaders who had become a bit of a nuisance and needed to be exiled out of the contentious political arena.

It is a different matter that of the current names doing the rounds, at least two — M.L. Fotedar and Margaret Alva — are distinctly disinclined to remove themselves to gubernatorial mansions. An old Gandhi family loyalist, Mr. Fotedar has repeatedly declined to take up governorship but his name continues to surface as a possible nominee for this or that Raj Bhavan. Because the Congress leadership has been unwilling to accommodate him in the Rajya Sabha, he has very becomingly refused the offer to retire himself to a Raj Bhavan. Ms. Alva, too, reportedly does not want to give up the joys and the frustrations of party politics.

These individual cases apart, the issue that needs to be addressed is the need to de-politicise the office of Governor. The kind of politicians who get appointed to the Raj Bhavan will have to be judged in the wider context of the imperative to recoup the institutional prestige of this high constitutional office. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil owe it to the country to make wholesome choices.

Almost a year ago, at the Governors' Conference, the President told the gathering that "you have to decide whether you rise to be a First Citizen or remain caged in the confines of your political or any other ancestry. If you continue to nurture certain affiliations, many will hesitate in approaching you with suggestions and problems." On his part, the Prime Minister exhorted the Governors "to rise above partisan politics while discharging your constitutional obligations. In doing so, you are the sole judges of what is right and wrong; of what is mandated to you as per the Constitution and what is not; and, what do people perceive your actions to be."

Nobody can be sure whether all these pious exhortations at the Governors' Conference have produced any salutary effect, either on the Governors or on those who make the gubernatorial appointments. The polity remains partisan, and the political leaders and parties remain unmindful of constitutional proprieties. If anything, the role of the Governor has become even more critical in the wake of the unresolved office of profit controversy. Article 192(1) has the potential of becoming a dangerous tool in the hands of a politically inclined Governor.

How then can the constitutional sanctity of the office of Governor be preserved? It is not sufficient to suggest that politicians should not be appointed. There is no guarantee that a non-political appointee would necessarily have a controversy-free gubernatorial innings. For instance, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, T.V. Rajeshwar, is a former Director of the Intelligence Bureau and has performed with distinction as Governor in other States, but he has been accused by the Samajwadi Party leadership of being biased. Similarly, the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, S.K. Singh, is a distinguished former Foreign Secretary but he is resented by the elected government for not always signing on the dotted line. Or, the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, General S.K. Sinha, a respected retired army officer, got involved into a running battle of wits with the Mufti Mohammed Sayeed Government.

At the same Governors' Conference, the Vice-President provided a different perspective. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat observed: "You have advised the Governors to desist from politics but it is not possible in the present scenario because when appointments are made on political grounds one can neither keep distance from politics nor can one create confidence in the minds of people that Governors are keeping themselves above politics.

In this situation, it is necessary to see that the appointment of Governors is not made on political considerations. I do not say that political leaders should not be made Governors but persons so appointed must decide that the day they take oath of the Constitution as Governors, they will take decisions in an impartial manner on the basis of the provisions conferred upon them by the Constitution. Only then the situation may improve."

This advice is relevant as the UPA Government tries to make the gubernatorial appointments. The Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister should be able to say no to unworthy suggestions, if any, from the All India Congress Committee establishment. It is about time Raj Bhavans were restored as a source of constitutional sagacity and statesmanship. To begin, with a convention needs to be developed that no one can hope to have a political career after a stay in a Raj Bhavan.

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