Siddartha

Wriggling out of crisis is nothing new for the master of mega scams, Laloo Yadav. But then the crisis at hand - the zeroing in on him by the investigative agencies over the fodder scam and an expected chargesheet in the High Court - is worse than before and this time he might not find a way to get out of it.

A conspiracy, Laloo claims, has been hatched against him. Very much akin to the Bofors-haunted Rajiv Gandhi's conspiracy theory. According to Laloo's conspiracy theory, right from the CBI, the BJP, to his detractors in UF at the centre, all have ganged up to bring down a champion of social justice. No matter what he cooks up to shield himself, he will still be credited for his newly earned dubious distinction - the only surviving chief minister to have been interrogated by the CBI while in office.

UN Biswas, the bold CBI joint director, has come under personal attacks by Laloo. Laloo first accused Biswas of being against the forces of social justice. That didn't hold much water as Biswas himself is an officer of dalit origin. Next he charged Biswas for being an RSS agent and accused the BJP for using him for their political gains. However, this too didn't click. Biswas was then called a stooge of Delhi. But the outspoken official had earlier proved that he was no stooge of Delhi when he made a stunning disclosure in the courts that the progress report of the investigation into the fodder scam prepared to be placed in the courts had been vetted by his boss, Joginder Singh, who on more than one occasion has proved to be a staunch Gowda loyalist. Something that had always worked with Laloo had failed for once - neutralising the bureaucracy, which he do could with finesse to rig the elections.

Laloo screams that social justice is under threat. True, social justice cannot be safe in the hands of the corrupt. Of course, BJP-Samata are out to make maximum mileage out of the fodder scam. But the credit for giving them a handle to take on the government on a secular democratic plank of anti-corruption concealing their blatant upper caste bias goes solely to the 'messiah of the downtrodden'. And it is not just giving leeway to these upper caste parties on the question of corruption but Laloo himself has been flirting with the upper caste landlords, appeasing them whenever the dalits have protested against them and shielding them whenever they perpeterate massacres on dalits, as borne out out by his inaction against the Ranvir Sena. Till date Laloo has not shown the political will to take on the upper caste landlordism in the state by instituting land reforms.
And how can social justice and corruption go together. For a backward state like Bihar funds for development are, as it is, scarce. Valuable funds meant for development siphoned off in a loot and plunder of the state treasury by the so-called leaders of the 'poor' themselves, is no social justice for the poor who are getting fast fed up with such leaders whose empty rhetorics on social justice bring about no appreciable change in their day-to-day lives. And it is to the credit of Laloos and Mulayams that in the medium and long term, the BJP bounces back to power and the upper caste dominance is reestablished. Those who have illusions about Laloo and equate him with Karpoori Thakur overlook this fact.

Laloo has indirectly blamed Gowda for being part of a conspiracy to settle equations of power within the JD. But then, in the game of murky power politics, was he not himself exhibiting a soft corner for Congress, and even for Rao. It is a sign of his isolation that a recent 'breakfast-meet' with almost all members of the UF steering committee, went ahead without Laloo being invited. Marginalised within the UF, he has very little say as the President of JD. For now, it seems the party that set out to achieve social justice has been hijacked by the zealous proponents of economic liberalisation and the agenda of social justice, whatever it was worth, has been discarded for good. And if today, the champions of social justice, Mulayam and Laloo stand sidelined, it is of their own making.

The master of scams is also the master of sleight. Through sheer bluster and bamboozling Laloo has dodged all earlier crises relating to the multi-crore fraud. On two earlier occasions, once when the Patna High Court had indicted him on March 11, 1996 and then when the CAG indicted his government for being responsible for the excess withdrawals from the treasury, he had pulled through. Laloo blamed it on a handful of officials for the irregularities and tried to turn the tables against CAG for not bringing the irregularities to his notice in time. The CAG had called the bluff of Laloo who had been taking the credit for unearthing the scam. The report crushed the defence put up by him saying that the fraudulent withdrawals from the state coffers were being made during the time Laloo had been holding the finance portfolio. This continued inspite of a cabinet colleague bringing it to his notice as early as 1990 and once again in 1993. He has no reply to questions about his specific accountability and even in the recent CBI interrogation he is reported to have come up only with long-winded political speeches.

However, the crisis has deepened and a chargesheet in the Patna High Court is a different proposition altogether. For one thing, Laloo cannot manipulate the judiciary the way he used to do with bureaucracy, specially in these days of judicial activism which has seen the downfall of the high and mighty. It is not long ago that he asked his own party colleague Sharad Yadav to stay out of the ministry and LK Advani was forced to give up his membership from the parliament in the hawala scandal. Can he afford to strike a different posture now even at the cost of forcing a split in his party? Can the UF permit this without the slightest regard for probity in public life or for democratic institutions?

Secondly, there is a crucial new element in the situation now and that is the mounting public pressure. Calls for his resignation are getting louder both from within and outside the party. Dissidents in the state have raised their heads against the JD strongman and have pitched up their voices of dissent and this time Laloo may not be able to keep his flock together. Belatedly the CPI-CPI(M) have woken up though they are yet to distance themselves totally from the 'charismatic' leader whom Jyoti Basu had certified that he would rule Bihar for as long as he himself had ruled West Bengal. The offical left, as well as section of the media, are under the assumption that he still commands widespread popularity among the masses and this will provide the cushion for him and help him tide over the crisis. Well, no one doubted Jayalalitha's popularity till the other day she had a mighty fall!

Anti-corruption has become the rallying point for the entire opposition, BJP and Samata have paced up their offensive against the government. With the prospects of power on the anvil, the party has suddenly become holier than thou though their own cupboards are full of skeletons. Dhuruv Bhagat, a BJP MLA has been arrested for his involvement in the fodder scam while many of their national leaders have been indicted in the hawala scam.

For reasons more than corruption, the popular resentment of the poor in the state against the government has been growing. With the absence of any form of democracy in the countryside, Laloo-raj has been marked with the worst ever attacks on the dalits, the landless labourers and the Muslims. Trigger-happy policemen have cracked down time and again on democratic protests. And if social dignity was what this government of social justice had promised to give to the poor, the poor have only gone through the worst ever days of social repression. The press too hasn't escaped the strong arm tactics of Laloo. A section of the press has come under abusive attacks from Laloo for making critical comments on his dwindling position.

Leading this popular resentment from a revolutionary democratic premise, CPI(ML) has come to the forefront of the anti-corruption movement. Distancing from the BJP brand of casteist offensive, it is a concentrated struggle of the oppressed forces who are raising up against the corrupt and undemocratic Laloo regime. If at all wiping out corruption could really mean a change in the conditions of the people, it is for these forces whose development is impeded by it and not those whose 'development' thrives on it. The timely initiative of the Party and its offensive is also to break the monopoly and hegemony of BJP-Samata in the opposition arena.

Already underway, major initiatives have been taken in the anti-corruption movement. Broad mobilisations of masses at the grassroots coupled with student-youth offensive at the state level are being regularly undertaken. A student assembly and a Vidhan Sabha March in Patna (see Liberation January 1997 issue) has already proved devastating for Laloo. A massive Hulla Bol Rally has been planned for March 5 at Patna while district level mobilisations are creating the grounds for a major political offensive through this rally. In the warming up to the rally there are also programmes like Rasta Roko, Rail Roko etc.

In the coming days a sharp contest will emerge between the various opposition forces to be leaders in the anti-corruption movement. We have fully geared up for this battle and it is as much a battle against BJP-Samata as it is against Laloo.