The widening spat between the Non-BJP ruled State Governments and Governors

The recent spats between the Non-BJP ruled State Governments and Governors have increased substantially over the last few years. The Tamilnadu Governor's commencement speech in the first session of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly sparked a controversy as the TN Governor alleged to have altered, deleted, and added words on his own to his speech notes made by the State's ruling DMK-led Stalin Govt. for the Governor.

Although this is not the first time that a governor has departed from the state cabinet-approved commencement speech, what was unprecedented was the TN governor's walkout from the assembly after the state CM - M K Stalin moved a resolution that condemned the Governor's deviation from the prepared speech text.

India has recently witnessed the examples of Delhi, Kerala, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu governors who have shown an unnecessary interest in making provocative or controversial speeches in the name of doing their job or at the expense of fulfilling their constitutional duties. Mostly, the administrative functions of the State, such as the appointment of the vice-chancellors of the State Universities or the reformation of a policy or a new policy formation, have witnessed the Governor's intervention. Hence, the opposition or non-BJP-ruled state governments have accused the ruling BJP of inventions in the State matters through the governors as the governors are appointed by the Union Government.

Notably, the constitutional notion of state governors holding a non-partisan position concerning the political functioning of states has come under severe pressure on occasions where Non-BJP ruled state governments have found the governors to be highly partisan towards the union government in many cases.

Eventually, it is essential to emphasize that it will ultimately be the citizens who will be the worst affected by these unnecessary power games. On one side, it does not suit the very nature of the Indian Democracy, which has been a vibrant and popular democratic setup. Such immature moves would not only weaken the foundation of the Indian Democracy. They would also give a wrong message to the young generation and mislead the people who have elected the state governments. On the other side, it piles up the High Courts and Supreme Court cases, which are already struggling to deal with the advanced pendency of cases.