NEW DELHI: Former BJP national president and former union minister Murli Manohar Joshi has raised objections to the announcement of Dushyant Gautam’s appointment as Governor of Sikkim. He has advised the government to uphold its duty of Raj Dharma before taking decisions of this nature.
In 2002, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, deeply disturbed by the Gujarat riots, had advised Narendra Modi to follow Raj Dharma. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time.
Dr Joshi, who served as Human Resource Development Minister in the Vajpayee government, has now, in much the same vein, invoked Raj Dharma in questioning the selection of Dushyant Gautam.
Without naming Modi, Dr Joshi questioned the government over the decision, asking why there was such a hurry to appoint Gautam as Governor without waiting for the investigation process in the Ankita Bhandari case to be completed, when Gautam had been an accused in the case.
Dr Joshi said that the circumstances surrounding the killing of 19-year-old Ankita had raised several questions and suspicions. Instead of ensuring a transparent and impartial investigation, he said, concealing the truth had created even more doubts.
He questioned why a proper inquiry was not conducted before the name was sent to the President, to ascertain whether the person being appointed to a constitutional office such as that of Governor faced any allegations.
Responding to a question, Joshi said he did not know whether those who appointed Gautam as Governor were unaware of the serious allegations against him. If the allegations were not known to them, he said, that would make the matter even more serious.
In a democracy, Joshi said, public sentiment must be respected. He urged the Central Government to consider what image would be created for the country if people facing allegations were appointed to the office of Governor. If scrutiny is conducted for other positions, he asked, why was the same scrutiny not carried out in Gautam’s case?
Dr Joshi said that both L.K. Advani and he himself had relinquished positions when allegations were levelled against them. Gautam, he said, should not have accepted the office until he had been cleared of the allegations. He should, on his own initiative, have come forward and said that he would not accept such a position until the allegations against him were cleared.
The dignity of constitutional offices, Dr Joshi said, must remain paramount. The demands of morality, he argued, required that Raj Dharma be upheld.
He also questioned the CBI over the delay in the investigation into the Ankita case. Before the notification was issued, he said, the President should have sought information on the matter.
Criticising the Modi government, Dr Joshi said that those in government should at least learn from Lord Ram. He referred to the episode in which Ram, responding to doubts that had arisen among his subjects, abandoned Sita.
Dr Joshi said that determining who was guilty and who was not was the responsibility of the courts. But, he added, if the CBI and the courts did not function properly, what credibility would these supreme autonomous constitutional institutions retain?
He also reminded the Modi government that L.K. Advani had resigned from his parliamentary position after his name figured in the Hawala diary controversy. He cited his own example as well, saying that after his name surfaced in connection with the Ayodhya case, he had not accepted any position.
This is the second time in recent days that Dr Joshi has criticised the Modi government. In July, during the NEET paper-leak protests in Delhi and across the country, he had come out in support of the students and advised the authorities to engage in dialogue with them rather than have them beaten by the police.
Umakant Lakhera is a Senior Journalist and Political Commentator
