Landslide Majority: Good or Bad?

India has the world's largest democracy, and it is rich in diversifications. The person with the majority is the ruler here. Recently Swedish institute V-Dem released a report on the status of democracy in India, and India was given elected autocracy. India's foreign minister S. Jaishankar gave a delightful reply during the India Today Conclave (South), which I recommend everyone to watch.  I am not writing this article to justify any political party's moves; I want you to look deeper into India's history and learn what has happened when a ruling party has a landslide majority (>60%). The constitution and judiciary also fail when one party has an overwhelming majority.

The BJP government has been losing to AAP in constituent assembly elections of Delhi from the past 2 assembly elections held. A Lieutenant Governor (LG) has control over land, police, services, and public orders. Recently a bill has been passed in LS and RS, which provides that the term “government” referred to in any law made by the Legislative Assembly will imply Lieutenant Governor (LG). The Acts specify that all executive action by the government, whether taken on the advice of the Ministers or otherwise, must be taken in the name of the LG.  The Bill adds that on certain matters, as specified by the LG, his opinion must be obtained before taking any executive action on the decisions of the Minister/ Council of Ministers. Mostly all the LG's are aligned to the ruling party at the center, and indirectly center enjoys the power. This is what happened when you have a landslide majority in LS and RS. I will try to correlate a similar scenario that happened in the past to explain how the landslide majority threatens the constitutional framework and India's federal structure's smooth functioning. In fact, it instilled the power to change the constitution for their profits, as seen in the example of the GNCTD Bill, 2021.

Let's go back to India's year of independence. Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of India. He was a member of the Indian National Congress, the largest party in the center with 364 seats in LS out of 489 seats (~74%). He remained PM of India from 15th Aug 1947 to 27th May 1964 i.e. for 17 years. For all 17 years, INC was having more than 65% seats in LS and RS.

To amend the constitution, article 368 gives rights and directions to parliament. According to article 368(2), to amend any article, there is the simple majority, Special Majority, and Special majority with the states' ratification. To pass the bill with a simple majority, there should be more than 50% favored for the bill among the members presented in the parliament. So as I mentioned earlier, if a party has a landslide majority, bills can be easily passed from both houses, and eventually, presidents also pass and enact them. 

When Jawaharlal Nehru was the PM of India, he had the same power as Narendra Modi has today. Such untamed authority induced many amendments to the constitution without much hindrance. This enormous power leads him to pass different bills and do constitutional amendments without any hindrance. He amended articles 31A and 31B, stating that any act passed and moved under the 9th Schedule, then no court can do its judicial review. So the laws under the 9th schedule were out of the purview of the Judiciary system. This shows how powerful a landslide majority is, such that it can overcome the judicial system. Similarly, when Indira Gandhi Ji became the PM of India after getting re-elected in 1971 with 352 seats out of 520 seats, 67% dominance in LS. She made 4 back to back constitutional amendments, which shook the country. Privy Purses Reforms, Bank Nationalisation, and Kerela Land Reforms were the sector where drastic changes were made. This law took away all the power of Kings that existed at that time. It was like getting bankrupt overnight because someone in power has written on the paper, and the majority has passed it. Though the leadership got weakened in 1973 due to strong opposition from the people, time was of Judicial system. A famous verdict was passed, also considered a landmark in Indian political and constitutional history. The Keshwanad Bharti Case verdict came as a huge relief to the citizens of India, which allowed people to keep raising the voice against the government's wrongdoings.

As we all know that History repeats itself, we can see the same scenario today. It's a mere observation that the judicial system's power is inversely proportional to the power of the ruling government. Let's hope that this time Judicial System comes out with the decision in favor of the public.