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Despite an overconfident demeanour, the Bihar chief minister, Laloo
Prasad Yadav, is a worried man these days. The occasional smile and
the earthy one-liners have been replaced by late nights spent
poring over files. With the pressure of the Patna high court, the
CAG report, and a growing army of critics building up, Mr Yadav is
resorting to what he loves most: going back to the people, to charm
and mesmerise them and draw strength from their applause. In a late
night interview to Ajit Kumar Jha, he focuses on his problems and
those of Bihar. Excerpts:
Why have you called the railla in Patna on March 18?
To commemorate Jaya Prakash Narayan's Sampoorna Kranti which
started 23 years ago. Since I became the chief minister of Bihar,
we have tried to organise a rally every year on March 18. We
expect the largest attendance this year and have therefore termed
it the railla, the masculine form of rally. We expect a crowd of
almost 50 lakhs. Since democracy is a game of numbers, the
exercise will demonstrate my popular base among the poor of Bihar.
According to reports the official machinery is being misused for
increasing the turnout in the rally- for instance, buses and trucks
have been hijacked. What is your comment?
Buses and trucks will not constitute the rally, people will. And
lakhs of people cannot be forced to attend the rally. If it was so
easy to get people to come out in such large numbers then I
challenge political parties like the BJP to organise one. No mai
ka lal can organise one that will match ours.
At a time when Bihar is witnessing a virtual breakdown of law and
order in the form of a spate of train dacoities, are you not
nervous of facing the people?
An increase in criminal activities does not mean a breakdown of law
and order. There is no disorder in Bihar as the media likes to
portray. Crime has gone up in Madhya Pradesh, train robberies are
on the rise in Maharashtra. Then why is Bihar being unnecessarily
targeted?
V.P. Singh had resigned from the chief ministership of UP on the
issue of dacoity and Lal Bahadur Shastri had similarly resigned as
Union railway minister when there was an accident during his
tenure, owning moral responsibility.
Let us have a law for each and every public functionary that they
will resign in case of a breakdown or some similar mishap under
their regime. I shall be the first one to resign in that case.
This is not a question of legality, but one of morality - of
setting a public example, of being a role model.
(Remains quiet for a while) The BJP talks of such morality - how
fair are they? Although several leaders of the BJP were
chargesheeted, none of them was asked to resign. I will resign only
if the people who chose me do not have confidence in me any longer.
In a democracy they can always vote me out.
Well, the latest Comptroller and Auditor General's report has
indicted your government of financial mismanagement.
Excess expenditure is neither mismanagement nor a fraud - it
happens all the time. Look at the record of each and every state
and the Union government. And if the CAG or the Accountant General
in the state were so concerned then why did they not point it out
before?
The CAG report claims that you, as finance minister in 1992, mere
aware of the fraudulent withdrawals in the animal husbandry
department (AHD) which was brought to your notice. But you wanted
to wait for the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report.
The CAG never called it a fraud until the 1997 report. After all,
the PAC is a sacrosanct institution and we are bound by it. In
fact, its chairman is an opposition leader. I am not at fault if
they have not submitted any report in Bihar since 1977. As for the
AHD seam, it was only brought to the notice of the public by the
investigation of the finance secretary. It was I who appointed
V.S. Dubey as finance secretary. If I were guilty I would not have
done so. We instituted 41 FIRs much before the courts and CBI came
on the scene.
The CPI and the CPM who were your allies at one time are today
openly critical of your policies. You have even failed to
implement land reforms and panchayat elections.
The Left parties are critical of my government since they have to
survive after all. There can be no successful land reforms in
Bihar since there are no landlords left. Even the upper castes who
have a feudal mentality are actually poor Brahmins and Thakurs. The
panchayat elections have not been held because of the numerous
cases dragging on in the high court.
What will be your central message to the people during the garib
railla?
I will talk about our achievements: of communal harmony, of a
polling station for every community and every village, of maan and
samman, of schools for the poor, of dhoti at Rs 15 etc.
Despite seven years of your government, why has Bihar failed to
show any signs of economic transformation?
Several reasons: First, as is evident by the failure of the
Nehruvian model, the state cannot have a direct role in
development. Second, Bihar has received the lowest investment from
the Central government in the Eighth Five Year Plan. We suffered
for a long time as a result of the freight equalisation policy.
What do you think is the central problem of Bihar?
With a massive population of nine crores, Bihar is facing a
potential class struggle. It is a fight between the rural poor and
the urban rich, manifested in the Naxalite struggle and the
reactionary activities of the BJP and others. I am a Gandhian, I am
acting as the buffer, holding the state together.
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