Chennai: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday reached out to her Tamil Nadu counterpart, M.K. Stalin, over the phone. During the call, she expressed her support for Stalin’s letter to non-BJP ruled states asking them to pass resolutions in their respective assemblies — like the one in Tamil Nadu — urging the Union government to fix a timeframe for governors to approve Bills passed by the legislatures.
In a tweet, Stalin said that Mamata had expressed her “solidarity and admiration for our initiatives against the undemocratic functioning of Governors in non-BJP ruled states and suggested that all the Opposition CMs meet to decide the next course of action.”
Mamata is the third CM in the country to support Stalin’s initiative. Earlier Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal and Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan had expressed their solidarity with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief.
“Joint action against Governors’ moves that curtail State Govts’ functioning and threaten our federal principles is imperative. Thiru @mkstalin’s proposal for coordinated efforts in this regard is highly appreciated. Responded offering full support for future actions (sic),” Vijayan said in a Tweet on 18 April.
On 15 April, Delhi CM had endorsed Stalin’s initiative in a tweet. “We condemn the actions of Centre and its representatives to usurp and constrain powers of non-BJP state governments,” he wrote.
He added that the AAP government in Delhi was also to “table a resolution in Delhi Vidhan Sabha urging the Centre to fix time limits for Governors/LG to carry out their functions.”
Speaking to ThePrint, DMK spokesperson A. Saravanan said that the central government is using the office of the governor to stall governance in Opposition-ruled states. “Three CMs have supported our move and we hope that all the Opposition-ruled states will support us and ensure that governors act within their constitutional rights,” he said.
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TN assembly passes resolution against governor
On 11 April, the Tamil Nadu assembly had passed a resolution against Governor R.N. Ravi and urged the Union government and President Droupadi Murmu to fix a time limit for governors to give assent to bills passed by legislatures.
The resolution in the assembly came following Governor Ravi’s remark that when a bill is withheld it means it is “dead”.
Post the resolution in the assembly, it was seen that Ravi had given his assent to the controversial Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Bill, 2022, but 13 other bills remain pending.
In his letter to the Opposition-ruled state CMs, Stalin had said: “Some Governors today are indefinitely holding various Bills that have been duly passed by the State Legislatures and sent for approval, which brings the respective State administrations to a standstill in such areas.”
Opposition-ruled states vs governors
Apart from Tamil Nadu, tussles between the governors and non-BJP ruled states have been witnessed in states like West Bengal, Telangana, Kerala and Delhi.
On 11 April, three of the 10 pending bills held by Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan were given assent mere hours before the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear a petition filed by the state government against her.
In Kerala, too, there has been a tussle between the governor and the state government.
Kerala governor Arif Mohammed Khan, like Tamil Nadu’s R.N. Ravi and Telangana’s Soundarajan, is accused of sitting over bills passed by the assembly. Last year, the Kerala assembly tabled a bill to remove the Governor from the post of chancellor of universities, said media reports. Another bill tabled this year takes away the powers of Lokayukta. These await Khan’s assent.
Stalin’s unified fight
The Tamil Nadu CM’s letter comes at a time when he has been calling for a united Opposition front to fight the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The DMK has already managed to host two events that became a platform to bring together opposition party leaders. Stalin like his father M. Karunanidhi, the DMK patriarch, has been seen as a cementing force to unite Opposition parties in the country.
According to DMK’s Saravanan, “the BJP is throttling federalism. Though the prime minister has been saying ‘cooperative federalism’, it has become combative federalism.”
Stating that Stalin wants to put a full stop to the “central government’s attempts to usurp the power of state governments”, he said, “This is one step in that direction”.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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