HVK Archives: Now resign and go
Now resign and go - The Free Press Journal
Editorial
()
18 July 1997
Title: Now resign and go
Author: Editorial
Publication: The Free Press Journal
Date: July 18, 1997
The passage of the confidence motion moved by the beleaguered Bihar Chief
Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in the State Assembly early in the week changes
nothing. For, his resignation was sought not because he had lost support
in the Assembly but due to his arraignment in the Rs 950-crore fodder scam.
The bizarre proceedings in the State Assembly were further proof of the
degeneration of public life in Bihar. The BJP-Samta Party combine too did
not come out well from the 'tamasha'. They ought to have maintained peace
and quiet under all circumstances instead of competing with Yadav
supporters in creating hullaballoo inside and outside the House. They had a
strong case insofar as the continuance of Yadav as Chief Minister was
untenable with the demands of equity and political morality. Once the
State Governor granted the CBI permission to chargesheet the Chief
Minister, only after carefully vetting the voluminous material gathered by
the apex investigative agency, it was incumbent upon Yadav to tender his
resignation. This brooked no delay. But instead of doing the right thing
by the spirit of the Constitution, Yadav brazenly set out on a course of
confrontation with the rest of the polity. He was impervious to both
reason and decency. His decision to float his own party stemmed from his
felt need to be free from the moral pressure of his colleagues in the
Janata Dal. That two-thirds of the JD legislators joined Yadav's Rashtriya
Janata Dal underscores their craven character. It seemed to be of no
consequence to the Bihar legislators that Yadav was caught with his hand in
the State fill and was therefore soon to be tried for this broad daylight
larceny. The legislators were merely concerned with their re-election
chances and, presently, with the goodies that the beleaguered Chief
Minister was throwing their way in order to ensure their loyalty to him.
That Jharkhand Mukti Morcha had not learnt any lessons from the
incarceration and trial of their senior leaders in the MPs bribery case
became clear yet again when Yadav managed to win over the JMM group in the
Bihar Assembly. The deal smells of another scandal. And the people have a
right to know the terms on which JMM switched its loyalty to the tainted
Yadav. The case of the Congress Party was no better. Sitaram Kesri was
hard put to retain a veneer of credibility while seeking to bail out his
potential ally in Bihar. The verbal stratagem employed by the Congress to
help Yadav save his rickety ~gaddi~ wouldn't stand a moment's scrutiny. It
was specious nonsense to say that the Congress would not vote against Yadav
on the confidence motion because the 'communal' BJP was voting against him.
Will Kesri defend corruption now that the BJP has launched a major
propaganda offensive against corruption? For sure, Kesri is looking ahead
at the next general election, which, in any case, cannot be far away, and
reckons that the fortunes of the Congress in Bihar can be salvaged only in
an alliance with Yadav. On his part, Yadav is all set to reciprocate the
good deed of Kesri by hitching his wagon with the Congress rather than with
the parent Janata Dal. That should make it well'nigh impossible for the
new JD President Sharad Yadav and Prime Minister I. K. Gujral to find
themselves safe seats in Parliament. No wonder Gujral is mollycoddling
Yadav. The DMK leader, M. Karunanidhi, too is exerting his energies on
behalf of the tainted Yadav. Having been at the receiving end of the
anti-corruption ire once, Karunanidhi is determined to make light of the
charges against Yadav. But the Left is equally determined to make an issue
of Yadav's corruption and his intransigence which led to the split in the
JD. For once, the Left seems to have taken a principled stand. It should
press ahead with its demand for Yadav's resignation at the pain of his
dismissal by the Centre. No other course is open to the Centre to deal
with a defiant Yadav.
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