NATIONAL POLITICS
Rakesh Sinha on Rise and Fall of Laloo Prasad
Something strange happened in Bihar between the spring of 1995 and the spring of 1996. An insurrection went unnoticed. A new combine, the BJP-Samata, emerged in the State with 24 MPs. Laloo Prasad's dream of ruling from Delhi turned into a nightmare as he surveyed the ruins. In south Bihar, the NF-LF was decimated with the BJP winning 12 of the 14 seats. This was the same region which had elected nine MPs from the NF-LF-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha panel in the 1991 elections.
The Kurmis and Koeris, disenchanted with Laloo Prasad for not sharing the Mandal cake with them and for concentrating power in the hands of the Yadavs, threw their entire weight behind the Samata. With the Congress already reduced to an "also fought" party in the State, the upper castes waited for an alliance which could take on Laloo Prasad.
Once the Samata and BJP announced that they would put up a common platform, the anti-Laloo votes rallied behind the new alliance the emergence of the CPI(ML) in Bhojpur and Siwan also contributed to his misery. The CPI(ML) has a strong Dalit base in an area where many landlords are Yadavs. Some of these landlords have been engineering regular attacks on the Dalits. This upset Laloo's calculations.
Laloo Prasad also alienated his ally, the CPI, after he went around boasting that it was he who was instrumental in getting the Madhubani Lok Sabha ticket for Chaturanan Mishra (now a Union Minister). Sitting MP Bhogendra Jha had been denied the ticket and many in Patna believed it was because he was critical of Laloo Prasad.
So peeved was the CPI that the State council, which met after the reverses in the Lok Sabha polls, blamed the Janata Dal for the emergence of the Samata-BJP as the challenger. "This alliance is a creation of the Janata Dal's own misdeeds concedes a State CPI leader.
Dissidence within the State Janata Dal has been brewing Laloo Prasad will also have to deal with the clamor for Jharkhand now that the United Front has conceded the demand for a separate State of Uttarakhand.
Perhaps the most damning observation on the Laloo Prasad Government came from the Patna High Court earlier this month when Justice R.M. Prasad noted that the constitutional machinery had broken down in the State and there was need for immediate remedial measures. Justice Prasad indicted the Bihar Government for failing to comply with repeated directions of the court to conduct elections to the local bodies, be it the panchayat system or the urban bodies.
The judge rejected as untenable and misleading the pleas forwarded by the Bihar Government, pointing out that the State Government had not framed rules for the conduct of elections to these local bodies even years after the 74th Constitutional Amendment.
The judgement has thrown into a tizzy his supporters in the party and officials in the State administration. It is the latest shock to the Government which has already been taken to task by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). In its report for 1994-95, the CAG held the Bihar Government responsible for its failure to prevent excess withdrawal from the treasury by officials of the Animal Husbandry department. The next few months will provide a testing time for Laloo Prasad.
(Source: The Indian Express, 24 August, 1996)
Laloo in a Spot?
Editorial, The Hindustan Times, 27 Aug., 96
The socio-economic and political scenario in Bihar has been dismal for long; it now borders on the despairing. The State has become notorious for caste violence, social anarchy and economic backwardness. The past few months have marked a new low in governance and probity in public life as well. For months now scams have never quite left the scam, bitumen scam, etc. The series of scams is estimated to newspaper headlines-fodder scam, pesticide scam, uniform have drained the State exchequer of Rs. 1,500 crores. The Laloo Prasad Yadav Government has received a rebuke from the High Court, the CAG and Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta for its failure on various fronts. The Laloo Prasad Government too turned a blind eye to the organized loot of public funds. Such fraudulent practices could not have gone on for so long without the knowledge and connivance of the Government. Today there is no sign of foreign investors coming to Bihar.
The biggest blow to Mr. Yadav's self-serving electoral image of electoral invincibility was dealt by the spectacular performance of the BJP-Samata combine in the last Parliamentary elections. Mr. Yadav who was hoping to become the king instead ended up playing the kingmaker. Gowda's announcement on Uttarakhand has put Mr. Yadav in an unenviable position. Railway Minister is further trying to cut into Mr. Yadav's support base. Today even lightweight party leaders have begun sniping at Mr. Yadav. One Janata Dal MP recently dubbed him "a comedian, a rustic". It is premature to say that it is all over for Mr. Yadav, but his persona certainly has lost much of its sheen. Mandal will die its natural death. And the politicians who try to keep it alive, only unnaturally, will fall by the wayside sooner than later.
(Source: The Sunday)
