The Hindu Business Line : Bihar: A pawn in political games

THE INK is not even dry on the Presidential proclamation dissolving the deadlocked Bihar Assembly and a war of words has broken out among the various leaders who want to take over the State. . From the two sides of the political divide, there have been predictable reactions.

While the BJP and its ally, the Janata Dal-United have termed the dissolution a "murder of democracy" and dubbed the United Progressive Alliance "a fascist government", for the Congress(I) and its ally, the Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal, the move was inevitable following what they called the NDA's machinations in splitting Ram Vilas Pawan's Lok Janshakti Party.

The Union Home Minister, Mr Shivraj Patil, went on record that the UPA Government had no other option but to dissolve the Bihar Assembly because it feared horse-trading. The Bihar Governor, Mr Buta Singh, went a step further to say that he had no other choice but recommend dissolution in order to stop "the worst kind of horse-trading" that was taking place. "I had received inputs from various quarters about the legislators of a particular party (the LJP) being taken to unknown places from Bihar in vehicles at gun-point," the Governor told reporters, adding sanctimoniously, "and they were even being bribed."

For the hapless people of Bihar, and the rest of the country as well, the Governor's comment is education indeed. Till now one had thought that horse-trading — at least its political definition — by its very nature was abhorrent. But apparently there are degrees; when the party to which Mr Buta Singh belonged indulges in it, horse-trading may not be of "the worst kind".

Mr Lalu Prasad, of course, was more graphic when he told journalists that the BJP-led NDA was buying the LJP's MLAs as "though they were buying cattle or bhed-bakriyan (sheep and goat) at the village mela (fair)." Surely, he knows this stuff!

At first it was Goa, then Jharkhand and now Bihar; it appears that our politicians and political parties are outdoing one another in muddying the political waters. Senior BJP leaders Mr A. B. Vajpayee and Mr L. K. Advani may scream from rooftops about the `murder of democracy,' but can they deny that the BJP, which till recently claimed to be the "party with a difference", was shamelessly engaged in the task of splitting the LJP and enticing its MLAs to jump the fence with lure of power and pelf?

In this exercise, the one politician with egg smeared liberally on his face is Mr Paswan. The self-proclaimed kingmaker emerged with a modest 29 seats in the Assembly elections and after swaying wildly between the NDA and the UPA camps when it came to lending support in government formation, his rigid stance saw his own party split down the middle.

By insisting that regardless of the party that forms the government, it should put a Muslim on the Chief Minister's gaddi, he had painted himself into a corner. His claim is not only ludicrous but dangerous; ludicrous because this is not about selecting a leader for the local kabaddi team. And dangerous because eventually when Mr Paswan did come down several notches to relent on his `no-RJD' stand, he stood by his inexplicable insistence of a Muslim CM.

In a party like the RJD this holds out the frightening prospect of a Shahbuddin or a Mohammed Tasleemuddin taking over the reins in Patna. Surely, the people of Bihar do not deserve this fate. But now that the House has been dissolved and one more election to the Bihar Assembly in the offing, consider the prospects.

Of course the nation had hoped that Bihar would get a one/two-year spell of Governor's rule, something that may have helped lift it out of its abysmal state. But going by the developments over the last couple of weeks, when the RJD strongman Lalu Prasad's hand could be seen in a few key transfers in the State, Bihar might as well have a democratically elected government in Patna, instead of powerful politicians pulling strings from behind the scenes.

After the dissolution of the Assembly, Mr Lalu Prasad has magnanimously invited the Congress(I) into his fold by offering it more seats. The last time around he was prepared to spare no more than 30 seats which sent the Congress into a sulk and, on the rebound, straight into the LJP arms. Mr Paswan has, of course, reacted to Mr Lalu Prasad's statement by saying that "Lalu is behaving as though he is giving alms to a beggar".

Also facing flak for the dissolution of the Assembly because of his Muslim-CM mantra, Mr Paswan claimed that he had been receiving telephone calls from Muslim leaders thanking him for his "tough stand". Whatever he might say, he is surely astute enough a politician to realise that a few phone calls do not win elections.

The NDA, particularly the BJP, would like to believe that an anti-Lalu Prasad wave is in the offing in Bihar and this time around the electorate will give the NDA a resounding majority. But grassroots politics and alliance arithmetic tell another story. Despite 15 years of ineffective government — his detractors call it `gross misrule' — Lalu Prasad's RJD did emerge as the single largest party in the March election.

And if JD-U's Nitish Kumar came within a striking distance of power, it was thanks to Congress' high-handedness in ditching a trusted ally like the RJD, and joining hands with the LJP. Remember how among the Congress allies Mr Lalu Prasad had been the most ardent votary of Mrs Sonia Gandhi as Prime Minister before and after the Lok Sabha polls?

But by rushing into a tie-up with Shibu Soren's Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and thus angering Mr Lalu Prasad and vitiating the alliance scene in Bihar, the Congress achieved the dubious distinction of scoring a self-goal, and ending up with an embarrassing 10 seats. If the Congress can get its act together this time, and also achieve the difficult though doable task of getting Mr Lalu Prasad and Mr Paswan on the same table, Bihar can yet elude the NDA.

After all the 15 per cent Muslim population of the State has not yet forgotten the 2002 Gujarat riots; many of the victims were Bihari Muslims who had migrated to Gujarat in search of a livelihood. Bihari Muslims continue to blame the BJP government of Gujarat for its failure to stop the pogrom. At the moment the scales appear tilted in favour of an RJD-Congress alliance, which may be able to co-opt the marginalised and weakened LJP, if the Congress leadership can get its act together. But the tragedy is that this hardly holds out hope to the people of Bihar desperate for good governance. They may get another round of Rabri-Lalu rule, but do they deserve better is another question.

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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