New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party today appeared critical of the Supreme Court verdict on Arunachal Pradesh, saying it is a "very strange order" that the leader with the majority support is being asked to sit in the opposition and also wondered if the verdict "weakens" the democratic spirit.
Asserting that numerical strength was very important in democracy, it said the current Chief Minister Kalikho Pul has the number to run the government and not his predecessor Nabam Tuki, whose government has been revived by the judgement.
"This is a very strange order and that is why it is being studied. The person who has the majority, who is running the government presently is being asked to be in the opposition," party national secretary Shrikant Sharma told a press conference.
"Much water has flowed down in the last seven months. The order certainly raises a question as to whether it strengthens the democratic spirit or weakens it. This is a question as it appears from the verdict that the one having the majority is being asked to sit in the opposition and the one who has lost it is being asked to run the government,” he said.
The numbers in the Arunachal Pradesh assembly, he said, were with Pul and not Tuki.
"In democracy, the one with the numbers runs the government. And the numbers are with the current chief minister not Tuki," he said.
In a major embarrassment to BJP and the Centre, the Supreme Court today ordered restoration of the Congress government in the state by quashing all the Governor's decisions that had precipitated its fall in January, holding them "violative" of the Constitution.
BJP downplayed Congress’ accusations of toppling elected governments in states ruled by it and said the Arunachal Pradesh verdict is not a setback for the Centre.
Rejecting the criticism of the Modi government and BJP by opposition leaders, Sharma said the change in government in the state was necessitate by the Congress' internal fight as 18 MLAs had revolted against Tuki due to corruption and lack of trust in the party's leadership.
"What happened in Arunachal was an outcome of internal fight within Congress. Its government was reduced to minority after a faction within the party rebelled. We only supported the faction's bid for power from the outside. Congress should not blame us for its internal problems. Rahul Gandhi is talking about democracy but he should know that past Congress governments have made a century of the use of Article 356 (of the Constitution) to dismiss state governments," Sharma said.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul said that there was no threat to his government as the required numbers are with him and it will be decided on the floor of the Assembly.
"(Our) government will remain. That will be decided on the floor of the Assembly. Government runs only with the numbers. There is no threat to our government," Pul, who had led the Congress rebels then, said.
Pul also said that the state government will file a review petition against the SC judgement after going through it in detail.
Earlier in the day, Congress present Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, thanking ‘court for explaining to Modi what democracy is’.
"The verdict will deter the Union government from any further misuse of power. Those who had trampled upon constitutional propriety and democratic norms have been defeated," she said.
Congratulating the people of Arunachal Pradesh, she said, "We will continue our fight to strengthen democracy and safeguard the federal structure of our country."
"Thank you Supreme Court for explaining to the Prime Minister what democracy is," Rahul said in a tweet.
The apex court today quashed "message and direction" issued by the Arunachal Pradesh Governor and restored status quo as on December 15 when Congress' Nabam Tuki was the CM.
A five-judge constitution bench pronounced the verdict on a bunch of petitions dealing with discretionary powers of the governor to summon or advance the assembly session. Stating the Governor's direction on conducting assembly proceedings is unconstitutional, the apex court set aside all steps and decision taken by the legislative assembly pursuant to the Governor's December 9 last year order and said they are unsustainable.
The Congress, which had 47 MLAs seats in the 60-member assembly, suffered a jolt when 21 of its lawmakers rebelled. 11 BJP MLAs backed the rebels in the bid to upstage the government. Later, 14 rebel Congress MLAs were disqualified.
