In Karnataka’s political shenanigans, hard to separate the guilty and innocent

The story of Keechaka, commander of Virata’s forces, his lust for Draupadi disguised as a maid in Virata’s palace, known there as Sairandri, her quest for justice in Virata’s court and the eventual killing of Keechaka by Bhima, disguised as a cook, Nala, is indeed among the episodes in the Mahabharata that can be used for lessons in jurisprudence. I have loved watching Keechaka vadham in Kathakali performance many times and remember how Bhima, by killing Keechaka, ended up exposing himself and his brothers in disguise.

The Pandavas and their wife, Draupadi, were to stay incognito for 12 moons after 12 such years in exile before they could return and claim their kingdom. The brothers took distinct roles for this in King Virata’s court; Draupadi as maid, Bhima as cook and wrestler, Arjuna teaching dance to the princesses, Yudhisthir as a courtier, Nakula as keeper of the King’s horses and Sahadev minding the cattle. Bhima killed Keechaka on a day almost at the end of the prescribed 12 moons incognito and Pandu’s sons were almost exposed.

If the deceased was Keechaka, holds Shakuni, the killer ought to be Bhima. Well, it does not call for rocket science to convince that the rounds of resignations from membership of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly by Congress and Janata Dal (S) MLAs on Saturday are part of a design and BS Yedyurappa is the force behind. It is, as Sherlock Holmes would say, elementary dear Watson!

But then, the point here is not to blame Yedyurappa for his acts. Orchestrating dissidence among MLAs is a game that leaders, particularly those who expect to become chief ministers with some accretion in numbers in their legislature party, had taken a passion to since the late 1960s. It began since 1967 more specifically in Uttar Pradesh, with Charan Singh, elected a Congress MLA in March 1967, led several dozen of his followers in the legislature party to the opposition SVD in April that year, to become the chief minister.

Thereafter Haryana witnessed several such comings-and-goings and the chief minister’s office there and elsewhere in northern India ended up with revolving doors (in the metaphorical sense) with MLAs switching parties, sometimes many times the same day. The amendment to the Constitution and the Tenth Schedule (to contain laws against defections) in the 1980s made things different. Karnataka, however, witnessed such passages even then and it was then that the Supreme Court, in 1994, decided on the SR Bommai case.

The judgment, indeed, set stringent terms against comings-and-goings by MLAs and along with the terms set by the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, it appeared impossible to manipulate governments to fall and have revolving doors for the chief minister’s offices. Karnataka, then, may have been where one of the distortions upon our constitutional scheme were sought to put to rest. The Tenth Schedule was fortified further to ensure that party hoppers did not have the cake and eat it too. They were, in some sense, forced into staying committed to the party from which they were elected notwithstanding the numbers such turn-coats could muster. Earlier, they could escape disqualification by mustering one-third of the legislature party to switch sides.

Well, the members of our political class have established that it does not require rocket science expertise to distort all good intentions behind the Constitution and its various amendments and particularly the Tenth Schedule. Such ingenuity is on display in Bengaluru and shows that ethics and democratic values cannot be ensured by mere legislations. Such values call for commitment and conviction to stay on without being destroyed.

The fact is the game being played in Karnataka is designed in the following manner. The BJP with 105 MLAs is indeed way short of the majority mark in the state assembly with 225 members. The half way mark here is 113 and the Congress-Janata Dal (S) combine has 118 members; this includes the two independent MLAs who have since joined the ruling coalition. With the anti-defection law (Tenth Schedule of the Constitution) as amended being what it is, the BJP cannot turn itself into a majority even if it finds 13 MLAs from the ruling combine cross over to its side.

The sad part is that it has now found 13 MLAs who are willing to desert their respective parties even if it means losing their membership in the assembly. They could have remained MLAs even if they defected if it was happening before 1985, the year the anti-defection law came into place; but not any longer. But then, there are such numbers who seem to not care loss of membership of the House. They seem to be convinced that being members of the assembly is not worth the commitment to their party and a better world awaits them. For now in Mumbai where they have gone to and in the comforts of an expensive resort in the city amidst the Mumbai monsoons.

The city is famed to draw wealthy sheikhs from the West Asian deserts to enjoy the monsoons even while those who normally live there suffer disruptions due to heavy rains. Be that as it may. Something ought to be lost for some good. And about a dozen MLAs, after giving up their membership in the legislative assembly deserve a holiday in Mumbai. They must also stay away from Bengaluru to escape pressure from their former parties and even allurements to positions of power in return to their return to the fold. All because state governor Vajubhai Vala is not in town for the next couple of days.

The game is that their resignation, a sacrifice on the face of it, of their membership from the Vidhan Sauda, renders the House strength to 212 MLAs. With 105 MLAs of its own and a lone BSP MLA, whose demand will now go up many folds, the BJP can stake claim to power. But then, this ought to be preceded by the assembly speaker accepting the resignation by the ‘rebels’ before the House is ordered to be convened by governor Vala with orders that chief minister HD Kumarasamy prove majority support.

In other words, with genuine doubts having emerged now over the government’s majority in the assembly, governor Vala, on Tuesday, could ask Kumarasamy to prove his majority. A lot rests with the speaker on whether the ‘rebels’ will remain members or not and this will also depend on whether they stick to their decision of supreme sacrifice (of giving up the wealth and privileges of being MLA with almost four years left of their term) or change their minds. He may, as per the law, decide to delay decision on the letters received at his office and also stagger it.

And a lot of decisions will be taken by a lot of people after a lot of negotiations, and governance will remain in limbo for a long time from now. A lot will be discussed and as we read the Virata Parva in the Mahabharata, all of those and their acts therein were just as much they were unjust.

Keechaka, after all, did not know that Sairandri was Draupadi and hence he ought not have fallen for her. Draupadi, ought not to have called on Bhima to save her from Keechaka because she must have thought of the consequences it will have upon their incognito existence. And King Virat, who lent them space not knowing who they were and exposed himself to the wrath of the Kauravas, ended up a victim. The point, then, is all were right and all were wrong in some way or another.

The developments in Karnataka, as they have unfolded until now and will unfold in the coming days, will end without helping anyone to declare one set of the players as guilty and another innocent.

But then, it is possible to come to terms that legislation, ordinary or constituent, will not help preserve moral and ethical values; nor will this help save constitutional democracy. And the point is democracy will survive and deepen only in a society that considers it an ethical question and not a phrase in political science or a slogan.