Author: Editorial
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: December 10, 2004
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=60505
Introduction: Bihar's dons have
successfully harnessed the instruments of state power for their own ends
On Wednesday, the Patna High Court
had the right idea. To source the anarchy that blows through Bihar, it
sought a peep into the prisons where powerful dons and petty criminals
have been housed, presumably to keep them well isolated from pursuing any
mischief. That impromptu raids ordered in Bihar's 55 jails would turn up
mobile phones and other prohibited material was perhaps expected. It is
instead the modality of the entire exercise that has confirmed the dire
situation prevailing in the state. Bihar's military police was entrusted
with the exercise, with the media being asked not to broadcast news of
raids so that the criminals and the district police would not be alerted.
It is shocking, of course, that it took judicial intervention to dispossess
Pappu Yadav, RJD MP from Madhepura, of his mobile phone, so that he can
less easily coordinate his nefarious activities. We would, however, drain
the raids of optimum value if the focus remained solely on containing Bihar's
dons.
Behind their clout lies a widespread,
and completely unlawful, harnessing of the instruments of state power.
Behind their clout - behind this criminalisation of politics - lies the
crimininalisation of the law enforcement machinery. When cops collude to
convert prisons, symbols of punitive captivity, into safe havens for politically
powerful detainees, other pieces of Bihar's dismal jigsaw fall into place.
Like the fact that seven years after the massacre of 59 Dalits, at the
hands of the Ranvir Sena, in Laxmanpur-Bathe, charges have still not been
framed against the accused. Like the fact that to declare a boom in the
healthcare sector, you do have to scan through income tax returns of doctors.
Their economic well-being can be ascertained from the fact that in Bihar's
economy of extortion, they are current favourites with kidnappers.
In Laloo Prasad Yadav's Bihar, the
pretence of social justice is in tatters. In campaign after electoral campaign,
he has sought votes with the promise that appurtenances of the state would
be utilised to maximise public good. Experience points to a sadder reality.
