Now may have come the time to finally put the concept of Indian federalism to a litmus test. Governments with contrasting ideologies rule the Centre and state governments. Can they be compatible? More importantly, can they be reconciled? The recent events in Bihar were enough evidence that a bumpy road lies ahead for the Union.
The demand to dismiss the 11-month-old Rabri Devi government in Bihar gathered momentum last week, with Union defence minister George Fernandes and railway minister Nitish Kumar leading the charge. Both argued, publicly and before the prime minister, that the situation in Bihar had gone through the roof, that Central intervention is needed to restore people's faith in a system that had taken a severe beating in the last decade or so. The immediate provocation: the murder of two prominent legislators—Braj Behari Prasad and CPI(M)'S Ajit Sarkar—within a span of two days, the general decline of law and order and the state's comprehensive financial bankruptcy.
The prelude to the demands had been set a fortnight in advance when governor S.S. Bhandari submitted a report indicting the Bihar government for the state's crime position and the general anarchy prevailing there. Then came the killings, precipitating the demand by Samata, a key BJP ally, for invoking Article 356 and getting rid of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) government. With home minister L.K. Advani agreeing with the governor's assessment, it seemed the stage was set for some drastic action.
A high-level home ministry team led by additional secretary R.D. Kapoor met chief minister Rabri Devi and top government officials in Bihar, visited the districts of Purnea and Muzaffarpur, met officials and general public alike and concluded that law and order had deteriorated to an alarming degree: from daylight killings to mafia operations to extortions. Yet, dismissing a duly elected government by invoking Article 356 is a different issue altogether. Says an official in the home ministry: "Dismissing governments will have to be a political decision. It is not for (us) officials to say that. The situation in Bihar is precarious, but whether it warrants dismissal is another matter."
While chief minister Rabri Devi met the Central team, top state officials were edgy. Chief secretary S.N. Biswas, for instance, told reporters in Patna that since law and order was a state subject, the Centre had no business to interfere. But that, like recent experiments in coalition governments, is a relatively new and grey area with no clear precedents.
Union Home secretary B.P. Singh justified the Central action of sending teams citing Article 355, which provided that the Centre had a "duty and obligation" towards the states. Quoting B.R.Ambedkar's discussions at the constituent assembly over the role of the Centre, he said the Constitution was clear that "such action (to check internal disturbances) was not wanton, arbitrary and unauthorised". Ministry officials say that both Bihar and West Bengal had been informed well in advance and that the officials who went there were in the nature of fact-finding teams.
But opinion remains divided. According to lawyer Rajeev Dhavan, the Central action is malafide. "Article 356 can be applied in rare circumstances. These teams to Bihar and West Bengal were in the nature of granting them extra-constitutional powers. In any case, there can be no assessment of Article 356 by officials. It is like a neighbour coming to your house asking you what the noise was all about and whether he could help. That is different from neighbours coming to you saying they want to investigate the noise."
Undoubtedly, politics is central to the issue. The BJP has been under pressure from its ally Samata Party to dismiss the Bihar government—this is one of the party's long-standing demands and a significant poll promise as well. The BJP's state unit too is exerting considerable pressure on its headquarters to get rid of the state government. The possible dismissal of the Rabri Devi government was held out as a great welding force of all anti-Laloo forces in the state. To a great extent it worked: the BJP-Samata combine clicked like a well-oiled machine and bested some of Laloo's strongholds in the elections.
But making a poll promise is one thing. To follow it up and dismiss the government—when at least one of your important allies, AIADMK, has been demanding the same in Tamil Nadu—is another. BJP leaders and even some opposed to them, privately concede that Bihar is a fit case for President's rule. But will the political exigencies of the day allow for such liberties? Sack Rabri, and the BJP may well be opening up a Pandora's box—DMK in Tamil Nadu, Left Front in West Bengal, Haryana Vikas Party in Haryana....
Similarly, observers say that the team to West Bengal, which followed close on the heels of the Bihar delegation,is meant to assuage the feelings of Mamata Banerjee, who has been protesting against large-scale rigging by the Left Front government in the recently-concluded panchayat elections.
The BJP's predicament is understandable. While it may be easier to convince outsiders, it is doubtful that supporters of the BJP-Samata in Bihar are willing to temper their stance in favour of a national perspective. The mood in the state is so anti-Laloo, say some analysts, that any compromise on that front may be counter-productive for the BJP. They cite the recently-concluded elections to seven Bihar assembly constituencies where the BJP lost two seats held by it and gained none.
Says Nitish Kumar: "The Bihar situation is not like Tamil Nadu. Here it is a question of mass loot of treasury and breakdown of any minimal form of governance. We will be able to convince our allies." But that is obviously a chance that the government is not willing to take. An indication of what the judicial system can cough up in Bihar is the fact that Braj Behari Prasad, supposedly in judicial custody as an accused in a CBI case, was strolling outside the premises of the hospital where he was ostensibly being treated.
Privately, Samata leaders have impressed upon the Central government to move in that direction. Unlike Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, where the BJP does not have a realistic chance of going it alone, the situation in Bihar has more potential for the party. As it did in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has quickly occupied the political vacuum created by a Congress in decline. And it hopes to keep it that way. With the number of seats that Bihar has—54 in the Lok Sabha, next only to UP's 85—the party just cannot afford to let slip on the situation in the state.
Samata leaders have even told the BJP leadership that if Article 356 cannot be imposed due to the political asymmetry, financial emergency invoking Article 360 should be enforced immediately. Most state government employees, whether in offices, educational institutions or hospitals, have not been paid their salaries for months now, and the financial situation in the state remains close to bankruptcy. But then again, there is no precedent for imposing financial emergency either.
Congress leaders are livid. Says Salman Khurshid: "It is a blatant attempt to intimidate state governments. How about sending teams to Uttar Pradesh where there are criminals in the cabinet—or Maharashtra which has one of the worst crime records in the country?" BJP leaders naturally adopt the other high ground. "Why should the West Bengal or Bihar governments object to Central teams coming to their states? Under what rule is the Left Front government objecting? The state government's refusal to assist the Central teams is a fit case of clamping Article 356," asserts K.R. Malkani.
Just what is the efficacy of these teams? While they are expected to submit their report within a few days, well-placed sources say that it is unlikely to bring down the heavens. Particularly taking into account Laloo Yadav's own 'individual' parleys with the top BJP leadership—including the prime minister—during which the former Bihar chief minister reportedly offered to 'help' the government out in the eventuality of the AIADMK pulling out. Sources say that the BJP leadership remains sceptical of the offer as they feel that Laloo cannot forgo his anti-BJPism, which is at the core of his politics.
While Central teams visiting states do talk to a cross-section of the population and senior officials, a two-day foray such as this is seen to be unlikely to give the officials any substantial or in-depth knowledge of the situation. "Ultimately, even they would have to be guided by what state officials tell them. Even the figures being furnished by the Central government are those that have been given out by the state," says a source.
Clearly in the days to come, India's much-vaunted federalism is going to be under the kind of pressure that even B.R. Ambedkar and the framers of the Constitution could not have visualised.
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