Uncooperative federalism: Kiran Bedi bullying Puducherry’s elected government harms Indian democracy
Modi once called it the Delhi Sultanate. But today, he has become a mirror of the Congress' tendency to overcentralise power.
Former police officer and Bharatiya Janata Party member Kiran Bedi fought to be Delhi’s chief minister in 2015, only to be swept aside by a massive Aam Aadmi Party win. Instead, she was assigned to another Union territory by the Modi government. In May 2016, Bedi was appointed the lieutenant governor of Puducherry.With a democratically elected government, one would assume being Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry would be a largely ceremonial post. Bedi, though, has made it clear she had other plans. The lieutenant governor’s role “is of an administrator,” she told the Press . “And a functioning lieutenant governor. Not a figurehead, as they [Puducherry government] want me to be. For they said so in their last meeting. I told them please read my responsibilities as specified as an administrator”.Bedi is legally correct. However, her actions might fall short of what is democratically ethical. Given that Puducherry has a duly-elected government, the fact that its government is run by a person appointed by New Delhi is a disenfranchisement of its electorate.
Delhi redux
If this case seems familiar, it is because it is. Ever since Arvind Kejriwal was elected chief minister, the Union government has been fighting a bitter battle with the Delhi government over how much power the territory’s elected Assembly enjoys over the affairs of the National Capital Territory. The legal question at the core of this was settled by a August, 2016 ruling of the Delhi High Court, which came down on the side of the Union government. The judgement made it clear that Delhi was still a Union territory – not a state – and the lieutenant governor was to act as the administrator. In effect, the Delhi High Court made it clear that the appointed lieutenant governor outranked the democratically elected government of Delhi.In Puducherry, the tussle between the lieutenant governor and the chief minister started with the popular messaging app, Whatsapp. On January 2, Puducherry chief minister V. Narayanswamy had barred bureaucrats from using social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Twitter for official communication citing security concerns, since the servers were located outside the country. On January 5, Bedi overturned the order, arguing that using email over WhatsApp was “retrograde”. “WhatsApp comes right on your phone as an sms, while in e-mail, unless you open your account, you won’t be able to read the message,” wrote Bedi.Both the chief minister and Bedi were making up excuses. Email is no more secure than Whatsapp, as the chief minister argued. and as anyone who has used a smartphone would know, it’s pretty easy to get push notifications for emails in much the same way as instant messages.The real reason was a mirror of the one in Delhi: who would bureaucrats report to. Bedi has been communicating with officers using Whatsapp, even suspending one for accidentally posting an obscene video on an official Whatsapp group. By banning Whatsapp for official purposes, Narayanswamy hoped to hinder Bedi’s power. Bedi, of course, was quick to nip this attempt in the bud, making it clear that social media would be an acceptable medium to carry out official communication. To make the matter crystal clear, she even posted her decision on social media, tagging the prime minister
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