Political Behaviour of Indian State Governors: A Study of the Role of Governor in Orissa

The institution of the Indian state governorship has attracted the scholarly attention of Indian and international scholars. Political Behavior of Indian State Governors: A Study of the Role of Governor in Orissa contains subtle but telling differences from other books about the Indian state governorship. It is the first major analytical work on the political behavior of the Indian state governors. This study provides a unique exploration and behavior analysis of the Indian governor through a case study of the role played by thirteen governors who served post-independent Orissa, 1947 – 1980. This analysis concentrates on gubernatorial behavior during the five state emergencies in Orissa when democratic governance of the state was replaced by the presidential rule under Article 356 of the Indian Constitution. Using data base on the behavioral patterns of the governors who sought president’s rule and ran the state administration on behalf of the central government, Dr. Mishra argues that the role assigned to the state governor by the Indian Constitution is not in fact the role actually played by the governor. While his constitutional role is that of a neutral head of state, his actual role seems to be one with considerably more political overtones. With his engaging logical style, he raises important questions about a strictly legal-constitutional approach to the role of a state governor in a politically turbulent state. He concludes that a carefully framed constitution may prove to be inadequate for political contingencies. Researchers in the fields of comparative politics and Indian State Politics should find this work insightful, relative to the analysis of executive political behavior in an Indian state.