Rediff On The NeT: Pal says it was murder of democracy, non-BJP group claims majority


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February 23, 1998

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Pal says it was murder of democracy, non-BJP group claims majority

Jagdambika Pal, who was divested of the chief ministership of Uttar Pradesh by the Allahabad high court order, has termed the way he was removed as "murder of democracy".

"It must be the only incident of its kind in which a chief minister, who was duly administered oath, was removed in such a manner," he remarked while talking to newsmen in a room in the state secretariat which was next to the one in which Kalyan Singh assumed charge as chief minister.

Pal said it was a conspiracy against him. He also accused the bureaucracy of the state of being partisan.

Visibly upset, Pal said the right thing for Singh to do would have been to assume charge of his office only after the governor had directed the chief secretary of the state in this regard, as the high court has given the directive to the governor.

In reply to a question, he said he would file a special leave petition as a matter of right.

"It was highly undemocratic," he commented, adding he wished to appeal to the Supreme Court and the judiciary as a whole to render him justice.

As Pal was talking to reporters some of the officers came and asked them to leave the room.

In a reaction, the Congress said it respected the judgment of the Allahabad high court on the dismissal of Kalyan Singh government, but made it clear that non-BJP parties commanded majority in the Uttar Pradesh assembly.

Talking to newspersons, party spokesperson Surinder Singla said the governor had adequate powers to act under Article 164 of the Constitution and that the party would not support the demand for recall of governor Romesh Bhandari.

He said the Kalyan government was sustained through defections and it had to fall under its own weight. Another anti-democratic method deployed by the BJP was to misuse the office of the speaker to delay a decision on the disqualification of BSP MLAs. A decision in this matter would have brought down the Kalyan Singh government much earlier, he said.

Asked whether the Congress would challenge the Allahabad high court verdict, Singla said the Congress was not a party to the litigation. He also made it clear that the Congress would always support a non-BJP government wherever it was not in a position to form a government on its own.

In Mumbai, samajwadi Party chief and Union Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav said his party will not allow the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies to succeed in grabbing power at the Centre.

Yadav, addressing an election meeting at Kurla in north-central Mumbai in support of the Republican Party of India candidate Ramdas Athawale, said the parties which do not respect the right of minorities and Dalits have no right to rule the country.

He lambasted the BJP and its ally Shiv Sena for what he alleged was their policy to initiate communal disharmony.

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