If K.R. Narayanan has set an example for future Presidents, so has Romesh Bhandari for future Governors. The difference is of course that while the President has set an example for successors to emulate, the Governor has defined just how not to honour the gubernatorial office. Not that Bhandari is unique - far from it. Abuse of the governor's office is now a hoary tradition. The debate about the abuse of Article 356 of the Constitution is synonymous with the subversion of the governor's office by politicians masquerading as apolitical appointees. Governorship is bestowed in return for past services, or to disappointed politicians, on the understanding that they shall be faithfully rendered in future from this crucial post.Yet even in such a scenario, Romesh Bhandari as Governor of Uttar Pradesh has proved quite exceptional. He has set startling new standards which it will be hard for lesser men to live up to. This is some consolation. His conduct in recommending dissolution of the UP Assembly and the imposition of President's rule after the incumbent government's majority was established is only the latest in a series of misdemeanours that began with his arrival in Lucknow. The ruling coalition at the Centre must shoulder its part of the responsibility for what happened, and it faced its own peculiar pressures. But it was not well served by its Governor's counsel either. The conscientious thing for Bhandari to do would have been to render constitutionally proper advice as the Centre's man on the spot, not go out of his way to try to have the government dismissed. Instead, he chose to stoop where circumspect distance would have been appropriate.Vigorous political initiative rather than discreet propriety have characterised Bhandari's tenure in UP, and set him so sharply apart from the performance just given by the President. For starters, Bhandari refused to invite the single largest party to emerge from the last Assembly election in UP to form the government. During President's rule - read governor's rule - he enthusiastically traded insults with the Union Home Minister about the state's abysmal law and order situation rather than acknowledge the problem and address it. From there he plunged headlong into a fight with the Chief Minister, when the state was finally allowed to have one, and worked hard at subverting her. In the midst of this busy schedule, he found time to spar with the Union Finance Ministry about the money he spent on renovating the Raj Bhavan. It seems fitting that a tenure so marked by a complete inversion of what a governor is supposed to do and represent should now be crowned with this final glory. Romesh Bhandari has proved himself manifestly unfit for the job, particularly in UP's highly unstable politics. Keeping him there will do no one any good; and the Kalyan Singh government can certainly be forgiven if it is prickly about his continued presence. His recall would be a good idea for a more important reason. It would be a strong signal to governors who would abuse their power that while Central governments are happy to use them, these men cannot look to the Centre for cover when they step over the line. A healthier outlook for their office is hard to imagine.
