 |
||
|
||
|
||
The crisis created by the Bihar Chief Minister, Mr Laloo Prasad
Yadav's obdurate refusal to step down from office pending the
Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the Rs 950 crore
Animal Husbandry seam brings out the ugly side of party politics.
At least this is what is being sought to be projected and practised
by this stalwart of the Janata Dal.
The facts of the case are clear for all to see. The network of a
multi-crore rupee misappropriation from the Animal Husbandry
Department of the Bihar Government under Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav's
chief ministership was detected, and the case was then handed over
to the CBI. After a long-winded investigation, the agency has
prepared a report which not only brings out the sordid character of
this scandal but the involvement of the over-active Chief Minister
as well in it.
The plausibility of this version enunciated by the country's
premier investigative agency can hardly be contested because Mr
Laloo Prasad Yadav is not a lazy-bone Chief Minister but a very
active one. There is, therefore, no reason to believe that this
long-standing racket of swindling the Animal Husbandry Department
flourished without it coming to the knowledge of Mr Laloo Prasad
Yadav. When the case was entrusted to the CBI, the Bihar Chief
Minister had protested, but he could perhaps never believe that the
CBI findings would implicate him as well.
Where the matter stands at the moment is that the constitutional
provision makes it mandatory that if a Chief Minister is to be
prosecuted, a prior permission has to be secured from the Governor
of that State, just as the Constitution provides that if a Prime
Minister is to be arraigned then the permission of the President of
India is necessary. Now that the CBI has made its submission to
the Governor of Bihar, Mr AR Kidwai, it is awaiting his consent
before it can ask for the framing of charges against Mr Laloo
Prasad Yadav in a court of law.
It is in this twilight zone that one gets a clear view of Mr Laloo
Prasad Yadav, and where he stands and what he stands for. He has
publicly stated that he would not resign even if the CBI were to
lodge the case against him as an accused in the scandal. Further,
Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav has threatened to make the extraordinary
statement that since the CBI did not make him the Chief Minister of
Bihar, he is under no obligation to step down now. This is a
bizarre assertion from a democratically elected Chief Minister.
Does this mean if he is brought to book by a magistrate or a judge,
he will turn back to say that he would not give up his chief
ministership as he does not owe his position to them?
A timid response
Setting aside all questions of decency and morality, Mr Laloo
Prasad Yadav is even capable of defying constitutional propriety.
If he faces prosecution he may choose to go in for snap elections
and then, on the strength of his rabble-rousing, he may win and
flaunt the fact that he cannot be prosecuted since he has obtained
the "people's mandate". This can act just as well in defence of
recalcitrant statal satraps caught in the web of corruption across
the country. Apart from the fodder scandal, there are several other
incidents of Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav's highly improper functioning.
On occasions the Bihar Chief Minister's antics have been ignored as
pranks of a stand-up comic or a funny character. But, over the
years, there is a large body of people in Bihar who have been
tiring of his mad-cap ways. As a matter of fact, it would not be
wrong to say that today Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav's popularity is
nosediving rapidly.
It is here that one expects the Janata Dal president's colleagues
in the party-as well as in the United Front Government-to seriously
take up his case. When the question of his resignation became part
of public outcry, the Steering Committee of the United Front
quietly kept silent, taking the fatuous plea that Mr Laloo Prasad
Yadavs case is an "internal" matter of the Janata Dal, and
therefore, the United Front would not go into it.
This is not only indulging in escapism, but a highly improper and
unprincipled thing for any political formation to say. The leaders
of the United Front should realise that by this timid, if not
cowardly, stand, they have earned no glory but a lot of ridicule.
One sympathises with the United Front leaders in their predicament
because any revolt of any section of the Janata Dal may bring down
the house of cards on top of which sits the Gujral Government. It
has, however, to be conceded that this can hardly be a plea for
absolution from principled politics. Is the corruption of other
national leaders the "internal" matter of those parties?
Party's tainted president
The case of Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav is serious, and has direct
relevance to the health of Indian democracy. If any political
leader is allowed to misbehave in the manner in which the Bihar
Chief Minister has been behaving, then it has to be the job of the
United Front to pull him up. The coalition experiment that the
United Front stands for cannot just be a "Thieves' kitchen", where
political leaders are interested in grabbing posts and indulging in
scrounging. They have to behave and behave in a manner worthy of
what makes them the leaders of Indian democracy-
The fact that an entire State should be under the stewardship of
such an unwholesome character can hardly be a shining example for
others to follow. Rather, the leaders of the United Front,
together with the leaders of other political parties and varied
ideological spectrum, must set new standards in political
behaviour.
There may be differences and in-righting within the CBI, but the
remedy for that does not lie with Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav denouncing
the entire investigative agency. It is for the Central Government
to firmly defend the integrity of the CBI and also to correct any
flaws in its functioning. It would be a singular disservice to the
Indian constitutional system to run down any establishment under it
without undertaking to repair any damage or weakness in its
structure.
Besides, the case for Mr Laloo Prasad Yadavs stepping down from
chief ministership is a matter of political morality. For the
Bihar Chief Minister to resign only when the Governor gives the "go
ahead" by giving the green signal to the CBI to prosecute him, is a
sad reflection on the personal moral standards of the social
justice leader. Moreover, it does not behove of the high office
that the incumbent holds in the Janata Dal. Does the Janata Dal
not have a code of conduct for its own leaders? And is not Mr
Laloo Prasad Yadav a leading light of that party? It is necessary
for the Janata Dal and the United Front to take note of the
developments in Bihar, otherwise it would amount to their seriously
undermining the fortitude and stamina of the Indian democracy.
On the whole, the Bihar crisis shows up the seamy side of Indian
politics. Unless the leaders of the United Front intervene to
correct Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, they will be doing a harm to the
cause of Indian political life and the class as a whole.
|
||
|
||
|
||