The two leading players — governor J.P. Rajkhowa and chief minister Nabam Tuki — talk to Umanand Jaiswal on the political crisis unfolding in Arunachal Pradesh. These interviews were taken before the Gauhati High Court order on Thursday evening
The Telegraph: First the dissident Congress and BJP MLAs "impeached" the Speaker, now they have "elected" Kalikho Pul as their leader. Do you still have a majority?
Nabam Tuki: It is illegal. Numbers don't count in such a situation. People voted the Congress to power. Of the 47 Congress MLAs, 14 were disqualified while two resigned. Of the remaining 31, 26 MLAs are still with me. How can they (dissident and BJP) have a majority? If such a thing is allowed to happen, it will become a bad precedent in the country. How can there be a clean and stable government with horsetrading? What is happening in Arunachal is nothing but political intolerance fuelled by the Union government. Why is the BJP trying to destabilise our government?
TT : The governor and the Deputy Speaker seem to differ with your views...
NT: The governor (J.P. Rajkhowa) has turned Raj Bhavan into a political centre. This is wrong. When he took over, I was happy because, as a former Assam chief secretary, he would be experienced, knowledgeable and responsible in administrative matters. But I was wrong. He was first busy as an executive head by directly calling officials and ordering inquires. Now he is interfering with the legislature. This has not happened before. He is intentionally creating trouble against an elected government. People are angry and hurt. He will have no one but himself to blame for this mess. It is his creation.
The Deputy Speaker (T.N. Thongdok), who was disqualified, has overturned the decision of the Speaker (Nabam Rebia). Can a minister overturn the decision of the chief minister? Can a Parliament session be held in a market? In my 30 long years in politics, I have not seen or heard about such developments.
TT: The governor has said if you are unhappy with his bringing forward the Assembly session and with the Speaker for holding the Assembly session, you can approach the judiciary for redressal.
NT: First, we wanted to engage with Raj Bhavan to hear us, our grievances. Our party leaders have also raised the issue in Parliament. Today, I have sought the intervention of the President and Prime Minister to uphold the ideals enshrined in our Constitution as ours is a popularly elected government. If we don't get justice, we will eventually approach the judiciary.
I have full faith and confidence that the law of the land will prevail.
