Governing guideline

Editorial
Indian Express. 17 March

As the investigations carry on into allegations of police trigger-happiness in Nandigram, and the government makes reparations for the loss of life and injury and does so in an environment charged with intra-Left Front bickering and national politicking — all-party inspection teams parachuting down from New Delhi — Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee should be able to look at Raj Bhavan without any doubt. The governor has a role — the high constitutional functionary can have a calming presence in such times. But, and with due respect to Governor Gopal Gandhi’s motivation, it is arguable whether his statements have had that effect.
Let us re-emphasise: a governor is no rubber stamp. But equally, it is best and indeed crucial that he does not appear to join a policy debate. Whether he is seen to be doing so, whether his statements can be interpreted as indicating such an intervention is hugely important, particularly at a time when political tempers are running high. It is possible to argue that Governor Gandhi’s statements after the Nandigram incident haven’t quite passed this test. Why is it that gubernatorial assessment of the situation seemed to be coming close to interrogating the state executive’s course of action? If the public expression of “a sense of cold horror” appeared somewhat unhelpful in terms of soothing emotions, the urging later that the transition from agriculture to industry should be a “happy one” came unfortunately close to being read as a corrective prescription. The issue here is not at all whether Bhattacharjee was right or wrong, or the desirability and pace of certain economic policies. The important point is that gubernatorial statements cannot be seen to be making value judgments on what are completely executive decisions. The matter would have been different of course, had constitutional issues been involved. There, governors have a clearly defined role.

A constitutional culture is healthy if all functionaries acknowledge limits, even those that have not been formally put into writing. Governor Gandhi is undoubtedly