How We Treat Those Who Dare

Just when there is a glimmer of hope in the blackness of Bihar, just whenalmost the entire nation is celebrating that there arestill some people out there, in that bottomless abyss, who believe in the oldfashioned dictum of "do your duty", just when it seems that being anMP need not ensure immunity from the law of the land, just then the politicalclass decides it's time for retribution in cynical disregard to public opinion.

And this time the political class is represented by none other than thehon'ble governor of Bihar, ButaSingh. The same Buta Singh who only yesterday was reminded by the oppositionleader Sushil Kumar Modi of his role in the JMM bribery case, and his lack ofmoral authority in speaking about horse-trading.

Well, Buta Singh, that old Congress relic, may not have any moral authority, but he sure does haveconstitutional authority (thanks to his political masters), as he demonstrated today in a cynical move by his controversialorder, to say the least, shifting Siwan district magistrate CK Anil and hisGopalganj counterpart K K Pathak.

CKAnil doesn't need any introduction to our readers, but for those who came inlate, here's a reminder: Siwan is the Parliamentary constituency of the RJD Lok Sabhamember Mohammed Shahabuddin and Gopalganj that of Aniruddh Prasad alias SadhuYadav, the railway minister Lalu Yadav's brother-in-law, recently in the news inthe flood-scam involving former Patna DM Gautam Goswami.

The news is yet fresh off the wires, and the transfer orders for thetwo district magistrates have been confirmed by Bihar Chief Secretary K A H Subramanian.

The trouble began at the time of recent Bihar assembly polls when Anil externed RJD MP Shahabuddin from the Siwan district limits to ensure free and fair assembly poll in Siwan. Anil had booked Shahabuddin under the Bihar Control of Crimes Act and transferred him to Beur jail from Siwan jail.The then Chief Minister Rabri Devi had refused to confirm Anil's order, once theelection process was over, and Shahabuddin was back at Lalu's residence, full ofbluster and bravado, merrily giving sound-bytes to the media about leaving no stone unturned to form a RJD-ledgovernment.

Once Rabri had to resign, and the governor's rule was imposed, Anil was quickto initiate fresh proceedings against Shahabuddin. Raids on his ancestral house at Pratappur last month led to recovery of firearms, Pakistan-made cartridges and foreign currency notes.So he was booked under CCA.

Likewise, Pathak had 'dared' (merely doing one's duty is no less than aheroic act, in these times) to extern the erstwhile CM's brother during elections inFebruary from Gopalganj. One doesn't know what rationale Buta Singh's PRmachinery would churn out, if at all they ever condescend to, but the opposition's charge that this has been done "to appease" RJD president LaluPrasad would find echoes all around.

Wanted:men of guts, you say? India'smost wanted, you call them? Well, here's how we reward them, seems to beButa Singh's message, as he goes around affirming his "authority".

The questions that these transfers raise, and of course, their timing,particularly in the background of the mass-scale transfers a week back aredisturbing enough, but meanwhile it would be useful to revert back to theearlier, more pertinent questions:

• What about digging out the bodies buried in Shahabuddin's backyard?
• Why hasn't a non-bailable arrest warrant been issued against Shahabuddin yet?