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PMs - get elected first! - The Week
T.V.R. Shenoy
()
4 May 1997
Title : PMs - get elected first!
Author : T.V.R. Shenoy
Publication : The Week
Date : May 4, 1997
Every Indian schoolchild has heard of Lord Curzon. His attempts to
browbeat the Indian nationalist movement by partitioning Bengal is
part of our history. But did you know that he was also a
participant in creating constitutional history in Britain?
In 1923 the Conservative Prime Minister Bonar Law was dying of
cancer. The Tories were split over the succession-the candidates
being the Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon, and the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Stanley Baldwin. The decision was thrust upon George V.
In a historic decision, the king opted for Baldwin. The reason, he
said, was that Curzon was not in the House of Commons, which was
"the responsible House". He was right. Ever since the Reform Act
of 1911, the House of Lords had lost the power to derail a
ministry. The Commons on the other hand, could always do so by
rejecting a money bill.
(The second reason, the king might have noted, was the instability
of the governments led by peers. Those of Salisbury and Melbourne
apart, they seemed to break up with astonishing speed.)
King George V's decision was never formally ratified by Parliament.
But his common sense decision stood the test of time. The pay-off
came in 1963, when Alec Douglas-Home renounced his peerage in order
to become Prime Minister!
In India we (allegedly) follow the Westminster model. So why is it
that the trend seems to be for Prime Ministers to come from the
Council of States rather than the House of the People?
Indira Gandhi was the first. When she won the election for the
leadership, Mrs Gandhi was in the Rajya Sabha. I remember that
someone approached the Supreme Court over the matter.
The government's defence came in two parts. First, there was no
vacancy to the Lok Sabha. Second, with a General Election just
eighteen months or so away, it would be an unnecessary expense.
At no point, however, did anyone claim that being in the Rajya
Sabha was as good as being directly elected by the people. And to
do her justice, Mrs Gandhi made it a point of honour never to try
for Rajya Sabha again.
Nor, come to that, did Narasimha Rao (the only other Prime Minister
who wasn't a Lok Sabha MP when he was sworn in). He too realised
the wisdom of winning the people's mandate.
H.D. Deve Gowda was the first to deliberately choose to be in the
Upper House. At the time, I remember, the move was widely
criticised as a "backdoor entry to Parliament".
It was nothing of the sort. (it would have been one if he chose to
sit as a MP for some state other than Karnataka-as say Dr Manmohan
Singh does for Assam.) But it was, I'm afraid, a backdoor entry to
the Prime Ministership. I said it here last week, and I am saying
again today-there is a certain moral legitimacy that comes from
facing the people. And, equally important, it is much more
practical too.
Didn't anyone find it ludicrous that Deve Gowda couldn't cast a
vote for himself after the debate on the motion of confidence? (Or,
come to that, Dr Manmohan being unable to help pass one of his own
budgets?) I distinctly heard someone yell out: "Why is the Prime
Minister still sitting here? He doesn't belong this House!" That
is the kind of petty humiliation that no Prime Minister should
face. Nor, come to that, should most senior ministers. In the
British model for instance, it isn't just the Prime Minister who is
a Commoner. So too are the responsible ministers for the
Exchequer, the Home and Foreign offices, and the Defence ministry.
I know the British left India 50 years ago. But there are some
British traditions that are still worth following. I note that the
Ernakulam and East Delhi Lok Sabha seats are vacant today. So how
about it, gentleman of the United Front? I know you are scared of a
General Election. But couldn't you manage a byelection.
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