States: Bihar--Land the Law Forgot

The murder of two MLAs results in near political anomie prompting demands for Central rule.

Violence seldom makes big news in a desensitised state like Bihar where a murder takes place every two hours. But last week's gunning down of two MLAs in a span of 24 hours has plunged the state into a grave political crisis that threatens to bring down the Rabri Devi Government. With the Opposition baying for President's rule, the two killings have driven home the point which the loss of 60 lives in the caste carnage at Jehanabad last December didn't: that control over law and order has long since passed from the hands of the administration to caste-based gangs and organised crime syndicates enjoying political patronage.

Soon after the brutal murders of the MLAs -- Brij Bihari Prasad of the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Ajit Sarkar of the CPI(M) -- the Raj Bhavan in Patna was a hub of activity with Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari giving audience to numerous delegations demanding the dismissal of the state Government. Even Rabri Devi and her husband Laloo Prasad Yadav, who had not called on Bhandari after he assumed office in April, were compelled to send an RJD delegation after he described the situation as "grim" and "disturbing". Pressure mounted on the BJP-led Government at the Centre to give up its declared stand against the use of Article 356. And as a central team was despatched to Patna to assess the situation, it became apparent that there was only one factor that could bail out Rabri Devi: the BJP's fears that action in Bihar may have a domino effect in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal where its allies have been making similar demands.

That notwithstanding, the chief minister has some answering to do. Why, for instance, didn't her Government heed the Intelligence Bureau's warning to the state police two days before Prasad's murder that an attack on him was imminent? Himself a ganglord in the Muzaffarpur area, the threat perception to Prasad was not difficult to fathom. His murder on the campus of a hospital, where he was under judicial custody in connection with the engineering college admission scam, had the stamp of a mafia killing. He was taking a walk on the hospital lawns, mobile phone in hand, when the killers struck. How he was given such freedom of movement under custody is another matter.

That Prasad had many enemies is no secret. Only recently, he was named in the murder of Devendra Dubey, a don and the Samajwadi Party candidate from Motihari, where Prasad's wife Rama Devi won on an RJD ticket in the last Lok Sabha elections. Dubey's gang saw the murder of their leader as the handiwork of Prasad, who had earlier been accused of arranging the killings of the Shukla brothers Bhutkun and Chottan, also notorious criminals. It was widely reported in the media that during Dubey's funeral, one of his nephews, Mantu Tiwari, also a gangster, had vowed by the pyre that he would not get married till the death of his uncle was avenged. The name of Dubey's brother, Bhupendra Nath, figures as the prime suspect in the police fir. Bhupendra Nath won the Govindganj seat in the assembly by-elections on a Samata Party ticket defeating RJD candidate Yogendra Pandey by a huge margin despite hectic campaigning by Laloo. Yet another suspect is don Suraj Bhan who was recently arrested in connection with several criminal cases, including murder. Police officials believe Bhan had "arranged" his own arrest so that he could execute contract killings with immunity. "With cell phones freely available to criminals inside jails, it has become easy to conduct shady operations from behind bars," says one official.

The killing of Sarkar was also not entirely unexpected. The firebrand Marxist leader from Purnea had rubbed the landed gentry and powerful politicians of the region the wrong way with his aggressive campaign on land reforms. He and two of his aides were killed by two AK 47-totting youths who intercepted his car close to his house. Among the politicians whose wrath he had incurred was state Samajwadi Party President Pappu Yadav, who blamed Sarkar for his defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. In spite of the alliance the Samajwadi Party had with the CPI(M), Sarkar had chosen to support the Congress. Sarkar's widow alleges that her husband was killed by Pappu Yadav and that he had been threatening him for some time. Significantly, the CPI(M) is not demanding the dismissal of the Rabri Devi Government this time. Crying hoarse over the naming of Bhupendra Nath as the prime suspect in Prasad's murder, it is the Samata Party that has been campaigning with other opposition parties for Rabri Devi's ouster. The CPI(M) only wants a judicial inquiry ordered into the incident, to which the Government has agreed. "The CPI(M) feels the BJP will succumb to demands by Mamata Banerjee for the dismissal of the West Bengal Government if it allows the use of Article 356," says former chief minister Jagannath Mishra, who made a representation to the Governor on the imposition of Central rule in the state. Mishra also quotes Bhandari as saying "I am convinced that the circumstances prevailing in Bihar are extraordinary".

After the killings, Bhandari supplemented the report he had submitted to Union Home Minister L.K. Advani last month severely indicting the state Government. This has put the Government on the defensive. The RJD delegation which met Bhandari accused the BJP-Samata combine of engineering the killings to prepare the ground for the dismissal of the state Government. "This is a huge conspiracy," says Laloo, adding that the killers in both cases had come in from across BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh. Agrees Jagdanand Singh, minister for water resources: "Even Indira Gandhi and Rajiv could not be saved by security; the current spate of violence is clearly engineered for political ends."

The RJD is also accusing the Governor of playing an "activist" role. Laloo sees Bhandari -- an RSS man -- as part of the BJP's design to dislodge the RJD Government. Neither Laloo nor Rabri Devi have personally communicated with Bhandari on any issue so far. The Governor too has been indifferent. Raj Bhavan did not invite the chief minister to a recent dinner hosted for visiting Assam Governor General S.K. Sinha.

Not that protocol matters anymore in Bihar. Right from the time she took over, Rabri Devi has just been a figure-head of the state with Laloo calling the shots. RJD leaders admit that her "shortcomings" and "inability to comprehend complex issues" have fuelled the crisis in the state. Laloo's presence and promptings at official meetings have become an embarrassment to the party. Meetings to review law and order are called by Home Secretary Raj Kumar Singh and Director General of Police K.A. Jacob. Every Tuesday, there is a cabinet meeting chaired by Rabri Devi but she seldom speaks except for polite enquiries like "Kya haal hai (how are you)?" or "Kya ho raha hai (what's happening)?" to ministers she is close to. "We don't know whether she is enquiring about our departments or the well-being of our families," says one of the ministers. The agenda for these meetings is decided by Laloo and nobody dares question it. In the absence of Laloo, it is the chief minister's trusted advisers -- Principal Secretary Mukund Prasad, Officer on Special Duty Mahavir Prasad and Personal Secretary P.R. Sinha -- who issue instructions to officials and Rabri Devi is approached only when she has to sign on the dotted line. Last week, a meeting of the chief minister with a top army officer stationed in Danapur was cancelled at the last minute. The reason: Laloo was not in Patna.

Most officials still continue to address Laloo as saheb. Even last Tuesday after the Governor called a meeting on the present crisis with the home secretary, chief secretary and the DGP, the three officials were subsequently summoned by Laloo and given instructions about the case to be presented before the central team. Rabri Devi was nowhere in the picture.

Laloo also played chief minister in Purnea. Arriving in a state plane, he announced several measures for the Sarkar family. It was only later that evening that an official press note was issued stating that Rabri Devi had taken these decisions. Sarkar's killing also exposed the fact that Purnea did not have a district magistrate (DM) after the previous incumbent had left on central deputation. The names of the new dm and SP were again decided by Laloo and announced the day after the killing.

But unlike in the past, Laloo makes no bones about the role he is playing. He openly admits that he would like to once again assume direct control of the administration. Party workers too want that. Says RJD Chief Whip Mohammed Nemtullah: "Things are going adrift, the bureaucracy has to be reined in. Only Lalooji can do that." Sources say there is a likelihood of Laloo taking over before the next session of the Assembly begins on June 23. That is if the BJP doesn't drive home the dismissal issue.

ARTICLE 356
To Use or not to Use
The Vajpayee Government would rather play by the book

By Harish Gupta

Two days before departing for Manali for his first real break since the general election, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee convened an informal meeting of his senior cabinet colleagues to thrash out the Government's stand on the thorny issue of imposing President's rule in some states. Apart from Home Minister L.K. Advani, representatives of the AIADMK and Samata Party were also present. This was the first informal conclave among the coalition partners on Article 356 that empowers the Centre to dismiss state governments.

According to Railway Minister Nitish Kumar who attended the meeting, the decision to despatch high-level central teams to Bihar and West Bengal to assess the law and order situation was the outcome of this meeting. However, Kumar added that Central intervention did not automatically imply the use of Article 356. The Centre would have to ensure that it was not pursuing a political vendetta. Ideally, the Government would prefer to wait for the report of the central teams before deciding on a future course of action. While the task of the Bihar team is to examine the general law and order situation, the West Bengal team would focus on human rights violations during the recent panchayat elections. Even if the reports prove unfavourable to the Rabri Devi and Jyoti Basu Governments, the BJP leadership will find the imposition of President's rule an extremely difficult decision.

First, there is the commitment in the BJP's own manifesto. In the chapter on strengthening democratic institutions, the manifesto was critical of the misuse of Article 356 and concentration of powers in the hands of the Centre. It came down heavily on the practice of using Raj Bhavans as sub-stations of the ruling party at the Centre. Even the National Agenda for Governance (nag), to which the BJP, AIADMK, Samata Party and Trinamool Congress are signatories, made a commitment to take "suitable steps to ensure harmonious Centre-state relations in the light of the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission". The Sarkaria Commission was categorical that Article 356 should be used sparingly and only in exceptional cases.

Secondly, with the imposition of President's rule becoming justifiable following the Supreme Court judgment in the S.R. Bommai case, it will not be possible for any government to take recourse to Article 356 without good reason. President K.R. Narayanan, a stickler for norms, will also have to be thoroughly convinced before signing on the dotted line. Last year, the I.K. Gujral government suffered a grave humiliation when Rashtrapati Bhavan returned the Union Cabinet's decision to sack Kalyan Singh after violence in the state Assembly.

Finally, there is a consensus among the BJP's other allies, particularly the Akali Dal, National Conference, Shiv Sena, AGP, PMK, Lok Shakti, HVP and TDP, against dismissing elected state governments. "We will not do what previous governments at the Centre did to stay in power. We are committed not to misuse the provisions," said BJP Vice-President K.L. Sharma. When asked about Bihar, Sharma said: "The situation is different in Bihar. Almost all political parties, barring Laloo's RJD and the CPI(M), are demanding Rabri Devi's dismissal. There is mass support for it. Even then, we have to consider all aspects."

Sharma is wary of drawing a comparison between Bihar and Tamil Nadu. "The two are not comparable," he said. Perhaps not, but the BJP's real problem is to manage Jayalalitha in case the situation actually warrants President's rule in Bihar. After all, the AIADMK leader is not going to take too kindly to being told that the case against the Karunanidhi Government is relatively flimsy. More so because she has apparently been told by the Congress that the final report of the Jain Commission on Rajiv Gandhi's assassination could be used against the DMK.

Despite the prevarication, the BJP's message is categorical: it will not be pushed around. Unlike the Congress for which political power is everything, the BJP has no real problem in sitting in the Opposition with its 182 MPs.