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In this editorial episode, Mr. Sujit Nair discusses the recurring clashes that occur between Governors and Chief Ministers of different states.

The current conflict has arisen between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab and the state's Governor, Banwarilal Purohit. The Governor has issued a stern warning to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, hinting at the possibility of recommending the imposition of President's rule in Punjab due to Mann's lack of response to official communications.

Governor Purohit has cautioned Mr. Mann that he may propose President's rule and initiate legal proceedings if Mann continues to ignore his letters. Typically, central government rule is established in a state through Article 356, usually after a Governor submits a report.

In his letters, the Punjab Governor has expressed concerns about drug trafficking in the state, particularly near the border, and has sought information about the actions taken by Mann's government. The Governor's letters refer to reports from various agencies indicating the widespread availability and use of narcotics, with allegations that they can even be obtained from pharmacies and government-regulated liquor stores.

Additionally, the Governor cited a recent report by a parliamentary standing committee, which revealed that one in five people in Punjab is addicted to drugs. In his latest communication to Mann, Governor Purohit conveyed his frustration at the lack of response to his previous letters and cautioned that he may submit a report to the President highlighting the ""failure of constitutional mechanisms."" Purohit advised Mann to take corrective action before he makes a ""final decision"" under Article 356 of the Constitution and Section 124 of the Indian Penal Code.

Article 356 allows for the imposition of direct central rule in a state, typically following a Governor's report. Section 124 of the IPC pertains to offenses related to the assault or wrongful restraint of the President or a Governor in the exercise of their lawful powers.

#BhagwantMann #Punjab #BanwarilalPurohit #AAP #Governor #BJP #PunjabGovernor #PresidentRule #Article356 #HWNews #SujitNair
Transcript
00:00 Namaskar. Welcome to another episode of Editorial. The governor of Punjab has warned Bhagwan
00:09 Pavan, the chief minister of Punjab that he is going to get president's rule in Punjab.
00:15 He warned him. I am going to talk to you about that. I am going to talk to you about various
00:20 other incidents. The question tonight is, is our democracy getting metamorphosized to
00:28 something else? Is kya? To my mind, it is. And that's what I am going to talk to you
00:34 about. Let's get right to the show.
00:41 So the governor, Mr. Banwari Lal Purohit of Punjab has warned Bhagwan Singh Maan, the
00:48 chief minister of Punjab that listen, you know what, there are drug issues happening
00:53 in your state. And if you don't answer me, you don't tell me what you are doing about
00:57 that, I will get the president's rule in Punjab. In fact, let me read out a few things what
01:03 he said. In his latest communication to Maan, Governor Purohit indicated that he was upset
01:09 over not getting reply from him for his previous mails and warned him that he would send a
01:16 report to the president on failure of constitutional mechanism where he advised Maan to act before
01:25 he takes the final decision under Article 356. Now the cause is that the governor's
01:31 letter actually had said that he got report from various agencies about availability and
01:37 use of narcotics and how it has become common that they are allegedly available in pharmacies
01:45 and even in government controlled liquor shops. So the issue started with a very fair thing,
01:51 which is narcotics. But based on that, it has come to a stage where the governor is
01:58 now talking about Article 356. Now, before I get into the story in more detail, I will
02:05 tell you the last thing what he said. I will tell you one more thing what the governor
02:08 added. The governor said, before I am going to take the final decision regarding sending
02:12 a report to the president of India under Article 356, like I told you, about the failure of
02:19 the constitutional mechanism and take the decision about initiating criminal procedures
02:23 under 124 of the IPC, I ask you to send me requisite information. It is not only about
02:30 Article 356 that is imposing the president's rule, which is imposing the centre's rule,
02:35 it is also about going through a criminal procedure called under section 124, which
02:44 means he will start a criminal proceeding against the government and the chief minister
02:47 is what he says. What has this relegated to?
02:53 Now the point is, I want to get a couple of things to your notice. Drug menace is a problem.
02:59 There is no two questions about it. Drug menace is a problem. But the fact is, it is very
03:06 strange that the governor in his own isolation is doing his own investigation because he
03:11 said, he has said that according to the investigations that he has conducted, he found that there
03:17 were drugs available in government liquor stores and all that. He said that. So parallel
03:22 investigation conducted by the governor when there is an elected chief minister, doesn't
03:26 that sound strange? Number one. Number two, don't you think this is something that has
03:35 to be sat down, discussed and sorted out both by the governor and the chief minister? More
03:42 importantly, this is the chief minister's area of competency. This is the chief minister's
03:48 area of operations. This is the chief minister's role. This is not the governor's role.
03:54 So that's two questions which I want to ask. The third question is, hello, two women were
04:01 paraded in Manipur. No president's rule was imposed there. Why? So is law different in
04:08 different states? The Manipur governor never said that, listen, BJP chief minister, I am
04:14 going to call 356 and Mr. Biren Singh, I will get you, I will also put a criminal procedure
04:21 against you. Did that happen in Manipur? No, but it is happening in Punjab. So is the law
04:27 different? Show me the person, show me the party and I will show you the law. Is that
04:31 how Indian constitution works? Isn't this strange? Number two. Number three, you see,
04:39 the point is, why is it that every governor in a non-BJP governed state has a problem
04:46 with the chief minister? Isn't this now too obvious? Let me give you some more examples
04:52 before I get into my analysis. Governor versus government in Kerala. The story is of 7th
05:00 July 2023. The story is of October 25th, 2022. The Kerala governor, Arif Mohammed, wrote
05:08 a letter to the chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, asking him to take action against finance
05:12 minister K N Balagopalan as he withdrew his pleasure upon the minister. The governor said,
05:19 isko nikal do, you take action against this minister, the governor said. Why? Because
05:22 the minister made a statement. In his statement, he said that some people, that is, I presume
05:29 he spoke about the governor, some people who have been used to practices in states like
05:34 Uttar Pradesh might not be able to understand the democratic nature of universities in Kerala.
05:39 This is what he said. Governor didn't like it. Called the chief minister and said, usko
05:43 sambala, you take care of him. Take care of him. Take action against him. Are? Hello?
05:51 Freedom of expression? Freedom of speech? You mean you can't criticize the governor?
05:57 Is that how it works? Kerala. Which government? CPI government. Governor? Appointed by Bharatiya
06:02 Janata Party. Let me take you through some few more stories.
06:05 Achha, you know this gentleman, Satyapal Malik, a lot of people criticized me when I said
06:11 that, you know, why was he different then and why is he different now. A lot of people
06:15 criticized me, but let me tell you, Satyapal Malik, let me remind you. Governor Satyapal
06:18 Malik on Thursday blamed the state holiday for not receiving Mehbooba Mufti's facts
06:23 stating claims to form the government. But to many skeptics, the explanation seems to
06:28 be like a case of facts being stranger than fiction. You see, he says that facts is not
06:34 the issue. The Eid and both Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah
06:40 are devoid Muslims. They should know that offices remain closed on holidays. So Malik
06:45 says I didn't get the facts, therefore I didn't make you the chief minister. Wherein, Mehbooba
06:49 Mufti and National Conference Omar Abdullah had come together and they said that listen,
06:55 we want to state claims to the government, government of Jammu and Kashmir. He did not
07:00 allow that government to happen and till date it is Article 356. It is the President's
07:06 rule. How come? Where is law? Constitution? Where is Constitution? Okay, let's go further.
07:17 Let's give you more examples. Let's give you more examples. I have got a lot of it
07:22 actually today. Okay. Arun Ravi versus Stalin. Now, Arun Ravi, he said, listen, you know
07:29 what, this minister, this minister in your cabinet who has got into trouble with Eid,
07:36 this gentleman called V. Sentil Balaji, V. Sentil Balaji ko nikal do. I don't want him
07:41 in your cabinet. Stalin said my cabinet, my ministers, how can you just sack him? How
07:50 can you just go ahead and sack him? How can a governor do this? Tomorrow he will say,
07:55 okay, I don't like this man. I don't like the way he looks. Sack him. Governor. Then
08:00 why do you have the chief minister? N. V. Ravi, again, BJP and Stalin, non-BJP, DMK.
08:09 This is Tamil Nadu. Now, let's go back. Let's go to my favourite governor, Mr. Bhagat Singh
08:15 Koshyari. My favourite governor because my God, he comes from the state I belong to,
08:20 that is Maharashtra. And wow, wow. In the night, he got, you know, in 2019, he got the
08:28 ministry made. He approved all the ministers, all the MLAs. And in the morning, V hours
08:34 in the morning, he got, he gave over to Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister and deputy chief
08:40 minister Ajit Pawar. 2019, I am telling you, not this story. 2019 story. He gave all, everything
08:45 done and then one fine day morning when we woke up, it was announced that Devendra Fadnavis
08:50 is our chief minister. And who is his deputy? Ajit Pawar from NCP. Shiv Sena and all gone.
08:55 He did it. And I tell you, in fact, 31 month period, since he has been the chief, I mean,
09:04 31, he was the governor of Maharashtra for 31 months and this 31 months was continuously,
09:11 continuously controversy driven. Everything that could constitutionally go wrong in Maharashtra,
09:18 unfortunately or fortunately happened during this 31 months of his. And when he resigned,
09:23 which he finally had to, he said, you know, I am too old now. I don't want to get into
09:27 politics. Arey, you are a governor. You are not supposed to get into politics, Baba. You
09:32 are a governor. But that was Bhagat Singh Koshyare. I have done lot of editorials about
09:38 him. So, I am not going to dwell into more because otherwise this will be a very longish
09:42 editorial. But you see my editorials about him because his was quite interesting.
09:46 Ok. Now let's talk about Kiran Bedi. Kiran Bedi, remember the flag lady who stood in
09:52 Anna movement to throw out UPA government and now she became governor of, she stood
09:57 for election in BJP party and she lost miserably in Delhi. Then she became, she was gifted
10:04 as governor of Puducherry and you know, this, not the political party, it is the Madras
10:10 High Court said that, you know, Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi cannot interfere
10:15 in day to day efforts of the elected government, Baba. Who said this? The Madras High Court.
10:20 Yeh kya, roj roj you are interfering in the Chief Minister's day to day business. How
10:25 can you do that? This is Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi, BJP and a non-BJP Chief Minister.
10:34 Now let's get into Delhi Governor. Delhi and LG, Lieutenant Governor. This is toh world
10:40 famous. The world famous. That Arvind Kejriwal who fought elections, who won elections and
10:49 won elections massively, sweeped the polls. That means the Delhi people wanted him as
10:54 a Chief Minister. He is not allowed to do anything. Police not with him. Now they say
10:59 even the IAS officer, the latest, the Delhi Service Bill, which is what, the National
11:04 Capital Territory of Delhi Amendment Bill 2023, which got passed. So now even his secretaries,
11:12 IAS officers report to Centre. He is a Chief Minister. God knows what he will do as a Chief
11:17 Minister. Because who will listen to him? His entire staff reports to Centre and he
11:23 is there sitting there as Chief Minister. No police, nothing with him.
11:28 Now while it may sound all funny, let me also last, how can I miss out Jagdeep Dhankar,
11:35 our Honorable Vice President and Mamata Banerjee. The CM has several, written several, that
11:41 is CM Mamata Banerjee had written several letter of complaint against Governor. The
11:45 primary reason of complaint slated in the letter were difficulties of the governance
11:50 faced by the state government created by the Governor in the procedure of movement, clearance
11:56 of file, calling the Chief Secretary and other state senior level officers on nominal issues
12:01 and thereby challenging the authority of the CM. Again same thing. Governor used to call
12:06 the Chief Secretary and say, "Why are you like this? Why is it like this? Why are you
12:10 not doing this? Then why do you have an elected Chief Minister? Why do you have an elected
12:14 Chief Minister?" So either you have the ruling party, that is Bharatiya Janata Party
12:20 as your state government. If there is not, if you don't elect Bharatiya Janata Party
12:24 as the state government, Bharatiya Janata Party will appoint a Governor who will still
12:28 run the state for you. Who will make it difficult for another party to survive in that state
12:34 unless and until you succumb to Bharatiya Janata Party. You agree to everything what
12:38 Bharatiya Janata Party says. If you agree to Bharatiya Janata Party, then they are okay
12:42 with you. If you don't agree, then you have a problem. This kind of governance, this kind
12:48 of governance will destroy the core sense of democracy. I spoke to you when we spoke
12:54 about a Chief Investigation, Investigating Officer going to be appointed because the
13:00 Supreme Court said no to extension of an ED Chief. So therefore, you create another post.
13:06 So ED and CBI both under the same one person. That is the proposition. I spoke to you about
13:12 it to you last couple of days back. So if you are going to manipulate the constitution,
13:20 you are going to play with the constitution, recreate constitution, step by step, the concept
13:27 of Indian democracy will change. And what you are going to soon find is you are going
13:33 to soon find a single party and a single man rule. That single man and that single party
13:39 will decide what is good and what is bad for this country. And what that party says and
13:45 what that man says will be law. That is the fear. That is the future that we see if such
13:54 acts continue and they are continuing and they are only aggravating. There is no stop.
13:59 There is no stop. It is only aggravating. That is the point I wanted to get your notice.
14:04 Till I see you next time, that is tomorrow. Tomorrow watch my editorial. Tomorrow I have
14:09 another very interesting topic. Tomorrow is Sunday at 10 pm. Do watch my editorial tomorrow.
14:15 I will see you then. Take care and Namaskar.
14:18 [Music]
14:23 [Music]
14:32 (dramatic music)

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