After Uttarakhand, the Supreme Court today has restored the Congress government of Arunachal Pradesh and called the governor’s action illegal. This is seen by many as a ‘crackdown on the centers ‘undemocratic’ manner of usurping power from smaller states’.
Earlier in January this year, in what many would term as a bizarre and sensational turn of events, the central government had told the Supreme Court that the ‘recurrent insurgency’ coupled with threats from China were the reasons for imposition of the President’s Rule in Arunachal Pradesh. The center justified its proclamation of Presidents rule of 26 January as “absolutely legal and valid.”
The Center also talked about the Congress-led government losing majority in the assembly.
The Congress party, in the past, had accused the BJP-appointed governor, Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa of not allowing Tuki to prove the majority in the assembly because of his unconstitutional intervention.
Rajkhowa, in an extraordinary move, appointed the deputy speaker (a known Congress dissident) to hold the assembly session asking him to initiate the impeachment process of the Speaker on priority. The leader of the dissident faction, Kalikho Pul, was sworn in as chief minister on 19 February, with the support of the rebels and 11 legislators of the BJP.
Reacting to todays SC decision, the Congress CM Nabam Tuki told NDTV that,”It is a victory of democracy, the law has protected us and protected our country.”
Although the current CM, Kalikho Pul seemed confident as he said,”The government is run by numbers. The court doesn’t run the government, numbers do. My government will remain.”
An elated congress vice president, Rahul Gandhi took to twitter to express himself. He also took the opportunity to take a swipe at the PM.
