With Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approving imposition of President’s rule in Arunachal Pradesh, which is facing political turmoil, after defection of elected Congress MLAs alongwith Independents joining hands with BJP has shown the desperation of saffron party’s get some hold in the north east which otherwise has a very minimal representation. Though one may term it unconstitutional or not, the party has managed to break a Congress-ruled state and has created rift within the ruling party there. BJP has been trying very hard to get a foothold in the north-east region by adopting the Chanaky Neeti of Sam, Dand and Behd to achieve its target. The way President’s rule was imposed by ‘buying’ Congress and Independent MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh, saffron party leadership has shown that it can go to any extent to really make Bharat a Congress Mukt Rajya. Arunachal Pradesh was rocked by a political crisis on 16th December last year as 21 rebel Congress MLAs joined hands with 11 of BJP and two independents to ‘impeach’ Assembly Speaker Nabam Rebia at a makeshift venue, in a move branded as “illegal and unconstitutional” by the Speaker. The House has 60-member strength. The bizarre turn of events, saw opposition BJP and rebel Congress MLAs congregated in a local hotel to “vote out” Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and to “elect” a rebel Congress MLA in his place but the Gauhati High Court intervened to keep in “abeyance” decisions taken at the rebel “session”. Angry over the Governor’s action in calling a session of the Assembly bypassing the government, the Congress had paralysed the Rajya Sabha for two days during the winter session. In Arunachal High Court, Justice Hrishikesh Roy observed prima facie the Governor’s decision to advance the Assembly session to 16th December, 2015 for taking up the impeachment proceedings against the speaker was in “violation of Article 174 and 175 of the Constitution”. The Supreme Court has referred a batch of petitions on the Arunachal Pradesh crisis to a Constitution Bench. The Chief Minister has also written to President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking intervention to “uphold” the Constitution in the face of the “unprecedented murder” of democracy and “bypassing” of a democratically-elected government by Governor Jyoti Prashad Rajkhowa.
