In the days before the introduction of the Anti-Defection Law, among the states most prone to government instability because of floor crossing and horse trading by legislators of the ruling formation, were those of the Northeast. It is a matter of shame that Manipur was among these “Banana Republics” and it is no consolation that Manipur was not alone in earning this label. There was a time when several spells of Presidents Rule during any single Assembly’s term had become a norm and government’s spent more time harnessing and keeping vigil of back stabbing MLAs who might sell themselves to bidders in the Opposition benches. A term that had entered the lexicon of observers of politics in those days was “political camp” and these were no ordinary camps, for they were sites where rebel MLAs assembled and were kept virtually under house confinement by a leader who sought to bring down the government of the day and make a bid to form an alternate one. He had to be resourceful, for while the MLAs were thus kept in confinement at the safe place of his choice, they had to be fed and entertained liberally and lavishly.
That culture ended, or at least was thought to have ended in 1985 with the introduction of the Anti-Defection Law, a legislation which was further toughened in 2003 to make it virtually impossible for legislators to defect and go against the whip of their respective parties in the Assembly, or the Parliament as the case may be. Before this toughening, MLAs can defect if the number of defectors constituted two thirds or more of the original strength of their party in the Assembly. After the 2003 amendment, the law prohibited any form of defection. A legislative party can only merge with another party if it is the whip of the party to do so. But even in such a scenario, if some MLAs decide not to be party to the merger, they will be allowed to retain their original party membership status in the Assembly without attracting penalty under the Anti-Defection Law. In other words, even a majority MLAs of any party cannot defect without disqualification if they do not have the consent of the whip of their original party.
The contours are however changing again and another Northeast state, Arunachal Pradesh, set the tone for this with the state Governor extending liberal help to dissidents to topple the then Congress government to install and alternate. In Arunachal Pradesh, it may be recalled that when the Assembly Speaker disqualified 14 of the rebels citing the Anti-Defection Law, the Governor allowed the rebels to hold another sitting of the Assembly outside of the state Assembly building to impeach the Speaker and to annul his disqualification order. Perhaps encouraged by the unseemly developments in this neighbouring state, dissidents within the ruling Manipur Congress too are up in arms to ask for change. The most important change they seek however is not the installation of an alternate government, but of a major cabinet reshuffle to drop a majority of the incumbent ministers so that the leaders of their group can replace them. They threaten to break away from the Congress fold if their demand is not met, and since they are prohibited by the Anti-Defection Law to join another party, they would form a new party. As to whether this is enough to skirt the Anti-Defection Law, is a matter of speculation, and it remains to be seen what interpretation is given in such an eventuality. It may be recalled the Anti-Defection Law also put a low ceiling of a 12-minister cabinet, including the Chief Minister, for a small state like Manipur, which is why inducting any of the rebels in the cabinet would have to be preceded by dropping of some or all of the current set in the cabinet. The rebels had another demand. That of strictly enforcing the one-man-one-office norm of the Congress party, and therefore wanted the home minister Gaikhangam be stripped of his second post of MPCC president. This demand is legitimate and has been met. A former Congress minister, veteran T.N. Haokip has now been given this post. What more will be conceded, or if any more concession will be conceded at all, by the Congress leadership at the Centre and by the chief minister, Okram Ibobi, is uncertain. What is certain is, Manipur politics has not made any qualitative change since the time it was referred to as a “Banana Republic” in the days prior to the Anti-Defection Law. What a pity indeed for the state.