Austerity from top down

Austerity must begin at the top. With crude above $105 and the Strait of Hormuz crisis threatening India’s foreign exchange reserves, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for citizen restraint on fuel, gold and foreign travel is understandable. But moral authority requires symmetry. Asking ordinary Indians to cut travel and consumption rings hollow when the ruling establishment continues lavish official travel and high-energy political events — and when the call came only after the Assembly elections concluded, with no mention of the crisis during the campaign itself.

Gopalaswamy J.,

Chennai

Role of the Governor

The role of the Governor in the Tamil Nadu election result needs a relook. In this instance, the Governor acted appropriately, and any contrary view would foster unwarranted cynicism about the office. According to the Sarkaria Commission’s recommendations, the largest coalition should first be invited to form the government — which was not the case here. Preference should then be given to the single largest party, which, in this case, was the TVK led by C. Joseph Vijay, comfortably ahead of both the DMK and the AIADMK. Therefore, when Mr. Vijay approached the Governor, there was nothing improper in asking him to furnish proof of the numbers required to form the government, which he admittedly lacked.

In S.R. Bommai, the Supreme Court of India held that the floor of the House is the constitutionally ordained forum for testing a Ministry’s majority. However, this does not preclude the Governor from ascertaining whether the single largest party has the requisite support before inviting it to face the House. In the present case, the Governor strictly adhered to the principle that the single largest party must demonstrate that it commands the numbers.

N.G.R. Prasad,

Chennai