The manner in which the Congress government in Goa brazenly manipulated the confidence vote in Panaji on Monday to ensure its survival is shameful and shocking. Deprived of the numbers yet determined to remain in power, the Congress showed scant respect for constitutional procedure in carrying out the confidence vote. Speaker Pratapsinh Rane prevented three MLAs – whose withdrawal of support from the government last week precipitated the present crisis – from voting on Monday. While the Congress dissident among the three MLAs had failed to follow Assembly procedural rules, the other two were well within their rights in withdrawing support to the Congress-led coalition government. They should have been allowed to participate in the trial of strength. Their disqualification by the Speaker is therefore illegal and grossly unfair. To doubly ensure the Congress’ victory in the confidence vote, Mr Rane cast his vote in the government’s favour although under the Constitution, the Speaker of the House does not vote except on rare occasions when there is a tie. There was no tie in the vote on Monday.
The Congress “victory” on the floor of the Goa House on Monday is a pyrrhic one. It has come by damaging the country’s constitutional procedures and democratic institutions. The manipulation of the confidence vote has won the Congress at best a short lease of life. The numbers are with the opposition BJP and it is a matter of time before the Congress government collapses. However, much depends on Governor S C Jamir’s next move. Will the Governor allow his former political affiliations with the Congress to determine his decisions? Will he act like Speaker Rane to shore up the political survival of the Congress government or will he discharge his responsibilities under the Constitution to uphold its procedures? As Goa’s Governor, Mr Jamir has made politically partisan decisions in the past which resulted in the dismissal of the BJP government in 2005. His record does not bode well for the unfolding crisis in the state.
It is the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party that has the numbers in the Goa Assembly. Governor Jamir should therefore invite the leader of the Opposition, Manohar Parrikar, to form the government. The grievous damage done by the Speaker has to be undone if the country’s democratic institutions are to remain credible. The Governor should rise to the occasion.