Anarchy in Bihar As Laloo Yadav Refuses to Quit

Commentary

YASHWANT SINHA

Bihar is always in the news for the wrong reasons. The same is true to-day. There has been a lot of news about Bihar in the recent days on account of the CBI investigation in the fodder scam, the alleged involvement of Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and his antics in the wake of the CBI’s decision to charge-sheet him. Different views have been expressed about the case but the preponderance of opinion has been in favor of the Chief Minister resigning. It was amazing, therefore, to read GS Bhargava’s article in The Hindustan Times of May 13 that the country was suffering from an ‘excess’ of ethics and there was no need for Yadav to quit his post.

It is essential to put things in the right perspective.

The Indian freedom movement was marked by an ‘excess’ of ethics and morality even before Mahatma Gandhi appeared on the scene. The Mahatma injected a surfeit of ethics in whatever he did. If the Indian freedom movement is unique in the annals of world history it is so largely because of its ethical content. Many countries in the world have freed themselves from the yoke of foreign rule, but none can match the pride of place India occupies. We are inheritors of a great tradition. Ethics is in our blood.

Accountability is a sacred concept in democracy and cannot be allowed to be destroyed by buccaneers and adventurers like Laloo Prasad Yadav. Accountability has both a constitutional and a moral content. In a parliamentary democracy a Minister is accountable to the Legislature in a complete and comprehensive sense. If he stands up before the Legislature and takes credit for all the good work done by his Ministry or his Government, he must similarly take all the blame for the omissions and commissions of his Ministry and its officers.

It was this concept of constitutional accountability which persuaded Lal Bahadur Shastri to resign as Railway Minister in the wake of a train accident in Andhra Pradesh. In the Mundhra case, a Commission of Inquiry in-dicted the then Finance Minister TT Krish-namachari. The brilliant Krishnamachari resigned in the wake of its findings though no criminal charges were brought against him. More recently, in the aftermath of the hawala case, LK Advani resigned his Lok Sabha seat the moment he came to know of the charge- sheet against him. Following his example the then Ministers in the Narasimha Rao Govern-ment, VC Shukla, Madhavrao Scindia and Balram Jakhar resigned without waiting for the President to sanction their prosecution.

I resigned as Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly, indeed my Assembly seat, and Madan Lal Khurana resigned as Chief Minister of Delhi. Even Sharad Yadav, now Working President of Janata Dal, resigned his Lok Sabha seat. It is another matter that he contested the Lok Sabha election again a few months later and returned to Parliament. None of us waited for anybody, including the courts, to come to the conclusion whether there was a prima-facie case against us or not. A finger had been pointed at us and it was enough for us to quit our constitutional posts and seek remedy in the courts of law.

This is indeed what Advani did and got his discharge from the Delhi High Court after going through the due process of law. This is indeed what the others must do. It was not that Advani could not have got a movement launched throughout the country to protest his innocence. It is not that he could not have lambasted the CBI for a dearly partisan role. He did nothing of the kind. He submitted himself to the judicial process. If indeed any parallel is to be drawn between his case and Laloo Yadav’s it is that Yadav should quit the Chief Minister’s post and submit himself to the judicial process. It is preposterous to suggest that because the charge-sheet against Adva-ni has failed the test of judicial scrutiny, the charge- sheet against Laloo Yadav need not be taken seriously.

The rule that a charge-sheeted person cannot be allowed to function as a public servant and must quit should be established firmly in our public life and the time to do so is now. Any dithering at this stage will do incalculable damage to our democratic fabric. What Laloo Yadav is trying to do in Bihar is extremely dangerous for the future of our democracy. Day in and day out, his supporters gather at his residence, raise slogans against the CBI and in his favor, and a mistaken message goes out that the people of Bihar are with Yadav.

His supporters take to the streets carrying placards threatening to plunge the State in a blood bath if his resignation is demanded. The active members of the JD assemble at Patna to be addressed by the Chief Minister andy display their arms. A person is cut into pieces in a village in Bihar by a spade for daring to speak against Yadav. The ruling party with the help of the administration is determined to create chaos, bloodshed and anarchy throughout the State.

It is not the Bharatiya Janata Party, as Bhargava has alleged, which is breaking the law or instigating mob violence in Bihar. As far as the Assembly proceedings are concerned there has not been a single session which has been cut short because of the action of the BJP Legislators. If at all, it is the JD Legislators who have caused mayhem in the House in each session and have even attacked physically the BJP Leader of Opposition. It is strange that Bhargava is distorting facts to damn the BJP.

In the present case, it is of least importance what happens to Yadav. More important, arrogant and powerful potentates have been consigned to the dustbin of history in the past. The important issue in Bihar, indeed in India today, is whether the rule of law will survive or will be thrown overboard by an overbearing ruler. The question is whether all of us are equal before law or some are clearly above the law. The point is whether ethics will govern the actions of our rulers or not. The problem today is not an ‘excess’ of ethics as Bhargava makes it out but too little of it in our national life. The problem is the danger posed even to that little surviving ethics by the likes of Laloo Prasad Yadav.

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