Bihar Deserves Better

The victory of Mr Yadav's chosen cipher, his wife Rabri Devi, in the confidence vote demonstrates that Mr and Mrs Yadav are here to stay at least for the foreseeable future. But it is fair to say that nobody, including Mr Yadav himself, has emerged from the events of the last fortnight with much credit. The man who has been most disgraced is, of course, Governor Vinod Pande. He flouted constitutional conventions to swear Nitish Kumar in and then gave Mr Kumar a generous length of time to purchase the necessary MLAs, only to see it all come unstuck when Mr Kumar resigned before losing a vote of confidence. A man with a highly developed sense of honour would have resigned after this fiasco. It is instructive that Mr Pande has done no such thing.

 

Mr Kumar and his friends and enemies within the NDA also stand disgraced. First of all, Mr Kumar went back on his promise made live on national TV after the last Lok Sabha election to stay out of Bihar State politics. Then, the BJP and its allies squabbled pettily before grudgingly allowing Mr Kumar to claim to be their leader. Next, the NDA leaders foolishly accepted the Governor's invitation to form the Government even when they were far short of the required number only because they thought they could buy up enough MLAs. So much for the claim of Mr Kumar and George Fernandes that they represent an alternative to the Laloo brand of politics. And so much for the BJP's claim to be a different kind of party. As for Mr and Mrs Yadav, what can one say? It is now clear that whatever happens, the family will cling on to the chair. If both husband and wife are indicted in the disproportionate assets case, then no doubt some new cipher will be found from within the family to warm the Chief Minister's chair. Over the last 10 years, Mr Yadav has systematically wrecked the Bihar administration and turned that unfortunate State's polity into a tragi-comedy. Despite this, the people of Bihar seem divided on whether to throw him out or not. The basis of democracy is that the people get the Government they deserve, so it is hard to complain about the electoral verdict. But even so, it is hard to dismiss the thought that Bihar deserves better than its current crop of politicians.