The Article Of Bad Faith

The first pictures on TV screens of M. Karunanidhi, Murasoli Maran, T.R. Baalu and the top brass of the dmk being dragged by hand and foot were unprecedented in independent India—the Emergency apart. In Delhi, they stunned the political class, if only for a day. Despite the horrific scale of arbitrary arrests without warrants and the gasps of disbelief from political parties, one thing emerged very clearly: imposition of Article 356, as long as alliance politics remain, is a near-impossibility.

The arrests caught the Centre flat-footed. Two characters expected to influence the decision-making process were out of the country. Home minister L.K. Advani was on a tour of Turkey, while solicitor general Soli Sorabjee was in London. On PM Atal Behari Vajpayee's express orders, both rushed back to Delhi to take part in deliberations but as insiders admitted, much of what was said in public was not commensurate with what was being said in private. That, perhaps, saved the day for both the Centre and the state, which by then had been overwhelmed by TV footage and an avalanche of criticism.

Until the TN police's video gave the contrarian view of the arrests, opinion was dictated by emotion. Congress spokesman Jaipal Reddy first called the arrests 'undemocratic'. But two days later he said it was the Congress "which had forestalled the imposition of Article 356 in Tamil Nadu, driven as it is by democratic principles". Other potential allies of Jayalalitha like Laloo Yadav first attacked her but then backtracked. The Left felt the arrests were unwarranted but saw no question of dismissing a duly elected government.

With emotions running high, the nda government was under tremendous pressure to act. In a democratic set-up where conventions are as important as the statute books, what could it do? Dismissing a government would require ratification by both houses of Parliament, a no-win situation they were familiar with, given the Bihar experience. Some even mooted Article 355 where the Centre could play a more 'active' role in the state government.

A three-member nda team comprising its convenor George Fernandes, Akali leader Sukhdev Dhindsa and bjp MP V.K. Malhotra went to meet Karunanidhi in the Chennai central prison. The choice of Dhindsa was deliberate, the Akalis being one of the main opponents of Article 356. According to Fernandes, there was jungle law in Tamil Nadu and the arrests of Union ministers was indeed a direct challenge to the concept of federalism. But in private, Dhindsa told the prime minister that despite the arrests and the tantrums of Tamil Nadu's first lady, the situations under which Article 356 could be clamped simply did not exist in the state.

That finally became the basis of the central government's action during the course of the week. Independently, tdp leader Chandrababu Naidu, a good friend of the former Tamil Nadu CM—and also the nda government's main prop and a vocal critic of Article 356—sent Yerran Naidu as emissary to assess the situation on the ground. Yerran Naidu's report was the same: the situation was bad, but President's rule, no.

Even during the drama, people both in Delhi and Chennai were working overtime. At least two Chennai-based persons had roles to play: a columnist who edits a widely-circulated magazine and an alloy tycoon reportedly close to the bjp top brass, both of whom are also close to Jayalalitha. Their role was to play Cupid, impressing upon the respective parties to come to a solution. "The reasoning used was 'who-knows-who-needs-whom' in a constantly changing political scenario," says an MP who was in the thick of things.

Jayalalitha, not known to be nervous or to back out of a brawl, seems to be doing just that. The Centre issued a 'warning' to the state government invoking the 1988 Sarkaria Commission. Law minister Arun Jaitley quoted the relevant portion, which reads: "A warning should be issued to the errant state in specific terms that it is not carrying on with the government of the state in accordance with the Constitution." The Tamil Nadu CM got the message—one of her first acts was to rush party MP Thambidurai to Delhi where he met Vajpayee as well as Sonia Gandhi wherein old ties between the Congress and aiadmk were recalled—a month earlier, Jayalalitha had snubbed the Congress and was waxing eloquent on the pleasures of associating with the People's Front.

As far as the Centre was concerned, Jayalalitha's decision to release all those arrested was mollifying enough. It suited them not to have a confrontation without adequate parliamentary strength in the long run. In the short run, with Pervez Musharraf's trip looming large, Vajpayee's managers advised him not to get into a confrontationist mode. In a letter written to the state government, Delhi expressed its dissatisfaction with the way things were working. The Tamil Nadu chief secretary P. Shankar says the state government is 'studying' the central government's letter and a suitable reply will be sent soon. Clearly, unlike most compromises, this one suits everyone.