In the country’s multi-party polity, the role of Governors under the Constitution has been a sensitive aspect of Centre-State relations. Given that some Governors have in the past played a partisan role during moments of political instability, and some have been accused of using Raj Bhavans for political ends, the need to appoint as governors eminent personalities who would be above the political fray rather than active political functionaries, has been advocated to remove a major irritant. The National Democratic Alliance government had a golden opportunity to demonstrate its democratic credentials while appointing new Governors. It could have chosen eminent personalities outside the political realm in line with the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State relations and moved away from the beaten path of turning Raj Bhavans into rehabilitation homes for over-the-hill politicians. However, with a remarkable sense of conformity with the spoils system put in place by the Congress, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is also treating gubernatorial office as a retirement benefit for its veterans. All the five new Governors appointed by it, for Uttar Pradesh (Ram Naik), Gujarat (O.P. Kohli), West Bengal (Keshari Nath Tripathi), Chhattisgarh (Balramji Dass Tandon) and Nagaland (Padmanabha Acharya), were actively associated with the BJP. The youngest of them is 78 and the oldest 87, making a mockery of retirement imperatives.
The fact that five political functionaries closely linked with the BJP have been appointed as Governors reflects poorly on the willingness and ability of major political parties to bring about meaningful change in the political culture. If there are two outstanding features of the political events that have stood out in recent times, it is the upsurge in popular sentiment in favour of accountability in public life, and the yearning for positive changes in the way public affairs are conducted. The major parties are far from fulfilling these requirements, although they manage to win elections promising change. There are indications that the next round of appointments could also involve some political functionaries, even though a few names drawn from the bureaucracy could also be cleared. The key Sarkaria recommendation — that a Governor should be someone eminent in some walk of life, and should not be one “who has taken too great a part in politics generally, and particularly in the recent past” — continues to be ignored for reasons of realpolitik. Having blamed the Congress for the degeneration of many institutions, the present regime could have avoided this egregious bad practice entrenched in the political system.
