Once again, Cong’s Rajasthan MLAs prove that elected representatives obey party managers

The Rajasthan Government on Thursday evening suspended internet services in the Amer area of Jaipur district for 12 hours, till 9 am on Friday. One would be anxious to know what happened in that locality. Riots? Some major violent protest? An imminent threat from jihadists? Fear of bomb blasts planned by terrorists? Well, none of the above. The unfortunate people of this area have been deprived of the services because, hold your breath, Congress MLAs are residing here after their return from Udaipur; and the Congress Government in the State is afraid they would be poached upon — figuratively, that is. Evidently, Congress bosses in Jaipur apprehended that their political rivals (read the BJP) would enchant the MLAs, thus dimming the prospects of the ‘grand old party’ in the Rajya Sabha election. As if the MLAs were not the elected representatives of people but some naïve damsels in a rural idyll who ought to be shielded from the evil influences of politics! “Now it should be clear to them (BJP) that they can’t disintegrate the unity of Congress through their actions. The Congress is intact and together the party will win all three seats tomorrow. After voting you can count, Congress will have all 126 votes,” Congress leader Raghu Sharma said. “Intact”, but how? Corralling people’s representatives in a makeshift prison? For however grand and chic a hotel or resort may be, if those living there don’t have the freedom to move around and interact with others, it is still a prison.

Senior leaders of the Congress — or, for that matter, of other parties — have no compunctions in locking up people’s representatives. In fact, they take pride in doing that; they feel happy and confident. So, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said, “We are winning all three seats. We want the results to be such that no one would even try to win here. All of us stand together. The BJP is scared.” Over the years, a weird ecosystem has developed in the political arena; it is premised upon the disempowerment of the elected representatives, be it parliamentarians or MLAs. In a parliamentary democracy like ours, the executive is responsible and answerable to the legislature (comprising MPs and MLAs); in practice, however, it is the other way around, as elected representatives have to obey the diktats of party managers — on pain of facing the whip. The judiciary, functioning in this ecosystem, is also unable to protect the rights of elected representatives. So, the Bombay HC rejected the pleas of NCP leaders Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh seeking permission to visit Vidhan Sabha and vote in Rajya Sabha elections. This is despite the fact that there are precedents of lawmakers coming out of jail and exercising their franchise. Isn’t it ironic and tragic that the elected representatives in the largest democracy of the world are treated like chattel and deprived of their free will and the right to vote?