As a raucous democracy of loud and argumentative Indians, we tend to argue over everything. However, I suspect one of the things we can all agree on is that reading is a very good habit to cultivate. In fact, it is good for democracy when leading political figures demonstrate their erudition in public in times of crisis. Such as Karnataka speaker K R Ramesh Kumar, who is going through “dozens of constitutional books” in trying to make a decision on the resignation of rebel Congress and JDS MLAs.
Fascinating. I suggest to the Karnataka speaker that he should start a Facebook page and post cliff notes about all the stuff he is learning from dozens of constitutional books. The political crisis in Karnataka thus has the potential to become a great learning opportunity for the general public.
Now, I know that the Karnataka government has been through so many crises in the last thirteen months that I doubt anyone is still paying attention. The rebel MLAs have now been waiting almost a week for their resignations to be accepted. Karnataka Speaker and wannabe constitutional scholar K R Ramesh Kumar has been trying to decide during this time if the resignations are “voluntary and genuine.”
His scholarly approach to the situation has already been attracting some fanfare from local media. The Deccan Herald has a piece out by a learned “Bengaluru based political commentator” who praises how the Speaker is going by the rule book, complete with a Raghuram Rajan like photograph of scholar and speaker K R Ramesh.
It has been found that eight of the resignations of the MLAs were not in the correct format! This is what happens when public representatives don’t read enough of constitutional books.
The only thing missing now is source based reports that Karnataka Speaker is likely to become a judge on the International Court of Justice, alongside other source based reports that Raghuram Rajan is winning the Nobel Prize, becoming Chair of the US Federal Reserve, the UK’s Central Bank, the World Bank and the IMF.
Meanwhile, the Hon. Supreme Court has been acting swiftly and decisively to safeguard democracy in Karnataka.
And what did the Supreme Court have to say on this matter?
Wonderful! The Supreme Court has ordered the rebel MLAs to appear in person before the Karnataka speaker and give their resignations if they want to. During this process, the rebel MLAs will receive “adequate protection” from the Karnataka police, which can only help the speaker arrive at a fair and just conclusion.
At this point, the resignations have been pending for almost a week. This is roughly the same amount of time as the 24 hours that B S Yeddyurappa received from the Supreme Court to prove his majority last year.
Meanwhile, our much respected civil society, which is always at the forefront of protecting our constitution, is also silent.
The people of Karnataka are waiting.
I must clarify something here and very categorically so. Am I saying or implying that the supreme lords of our country, the moral lords and the secular lords are treating the Congress differently from how they treated the BJP?
I am definitely NOT saying that. Nor implying it in any way.
I am just enjoying the thrill of learning about constitutional conscience and how it is applied to different parties. To steal a line from The Simpsons:
“It’s the differences, of which there are none, that make the sameness exceptional.”
