Commentary/Saisuresh Sivaswamy

Laloo has shown he does not need the JD, and it can go to hell

For a political party whose highpoint was the anti-corruption campaign that resulted in the ouster of a prime minister eight years ago, the Janata Dal's silence in the face of Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav's open defiance is deafening.

To date, the closest we came to realising the party is seized of the situation was when the prime minister tamely suggested that the indicted chief minister should step down.

The conclusion is that Yadav, with his defiance of all democratic norms, has thrown to the winds the JD's moral platform, cultivated so assiduously by V P Singh and others. In fact, it was long their claim that the JD represented the other standpoint, distinct from the Congress's, which laid more emphasis on old world ideals like simplicity, honesty in office etc. Today, it is this electoral plank, which the middle class has been able to identify with, that is in danger of crumbling. And that too, thanks to just one man.

To say the JD bigwigs are unaware of what needs to be done now would be incorrect. They are aware. But they lack the political will to carry it out. It has not dawned on them that it is no more a question of Deve Gowda versus Laloo Yadav or Sharad versus Laloo. The problems they are facing is one that will keep cropping up as long as there are chief ministers and other public servants who are vulnerable to outside influences. And their response today will be something that will set a precedent for the nation's tomorrow. It does not appear that this crucial fact has dawned on any JD leader.

At the end of the day, Laloo has cocked a snook at the party, the nation's established democratic ideals, and all norms of decent political behaviour. But the party is brought short, for obvious reasons. With the decline in VP Singh's health, Laloo remains the JD's only mass campaigner in the Hindi heartland, a region that traditionally plays a dominant role in the nation's electoral politics. If the JD has to retain any hope of holding its own in this region in the next elections -- whenever that comes about -- it needs Laloo.

And the latter, with his effrontery, has shown that not only does he know this fact -- as can be gauged from his frequent fulminations against leaders with no base -- but he does not need the party, and it can go to hell.

Of the two states ruled by the JD, Bihar and Karnataka, the former is like an indecisive bride -- it keeps changing its rulers just as the bride changes her mind. But Bihar, thanks to Laloo, has remained steadfast to the JD.

There are two options before the JD's national executive. One, direct Laloo to demit office. Two, sack his government and order President's rule in the state.

The first, alas, cannot be done because the party's national executive is packed with Laloo supporters. They will naturally hesitate to take action against a person who they think holds all the aces in this game.

So, there is only one course left for the Centre, never mind the consequences. But instead of choosing it, the government appears to be in a deep stupor. Each and every political force participating in the experimental government at the Centre is essentially an Opposition party, in the sense that they owe their rise in political stature and status to opposing the previous government, which in most cases was the Congress. Naturally, they came to power promising an alternative morality, different from the Congress brand.

But so dependent is the arrangement in New Delhi on the participation of each and every faction, that Laloo has managed to tie them up in knots with his defiance. That in itself has exposed the inherent weakness of the United Front -- at best it is a tenuous arrangement, meant to continue the status quo. At no time is it meant or equipped to resolve a crisis like the Bihar one.

The fear is that any heavy-handed action against the chief minister will lead to a split in the JD. But it will not split -- since Laloo is the party. There simply will be no more Janata Dal as we have know it all along. All that remains is for a Barooah-like sycophant to scream that Laloo is JD and vice versa.

But one thought the Janata Dal consists of men who have in the past opposed authoritarianism, signified by the Emergency, and paid a heavy price for their opposition! Why, the prime minister himself is among those who saw the Emergency from the wrong end. If Laloo's behaviour is not a throwback to those days when the ruler could get away with anything, then we must all be living in Utopia.

Of course, there are no constitutional provisions enjoining a certain course of action on a chargesheeted public servant -- not because the Constitution framers thought that he is above the law, but simply because they did not envisage a la Laloo. Of course, morality had different yardsticks in those days, and anyway Bihar is today beyond the pale of civilisation, never mind if it was once home to Nalanda university.

Although there are no guidelines as to what a chief minister in Laloo's position ought to do, there are enough precedents. You can abuse the Bharatiya Janata Party for its communalism till kingdom come and even beyond, but no one can deny that in a similar situation its Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khurana came off with flying colours. Or L K Advani who, on being chargesheeted in the hawala scam, demitted his party presidency, and refused to contest Lok Sabha elections till his name was cleared by the courts.

Today, it appears it is the reviled and abused BJP that holds the moral high ground. The Janata Dal has meekly conceded this through Laloo.

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