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FOR WHOM THE
BELLS TOLL
Shahabuddin
and a few other problems
SANKARSHAN THAKUR
The minutiae
of the latest atrocity to blister Bihar are yet to emerge from its flooded
northern remotenesses but the big picture is striking enough. Yadav killing
Muslim. One arm of Laloo Prasad swinging the machete on the other. That’s
the kind of haemorrhage that will be fatal to his politics. The painstakingly
nurtured Yadav-Muslim entente is the key cog of the instrument that delivers
him victory upon electoral victory. The cog shakes out of place and Laloo
Prasad’s platform can come crashing down. No wonder he left Rail Bhawan
— kulhars, files, durbar, decision-making and all — in a hurry
and rushed to the site of the massacre of 10 Muslim Fakirs by Yadav gunmen.
The incident is as rare as good roads in Laloo’s Bihar. For all their
frailties and derelictions, the one thing that Laloo Prasad’s government,
and then Rabri Devi’s, deserve unreserved congratulation for is that
the minorities have been — and felt — safe in Bihar. The rjd’s
record is no less worthy because it has been achieved against continually
deteriorating communal tempers all around. So the attack on Fakirs by Yadavs
comes as a bolt.
| The atrocity
in Siwan may have nothing to do with Shahabuddin, the RJD or the CPI(ML)
but the contradictions between Laloo Yadav’s stated ideology
and his political compulsions exist deeply enough IN SIWAN AND ELSEWHERE
IN BIHAR, to embarrass him yet again |
What isn’t surprising
is that it should have happened in a corner of Siwan, homeground and parliamentary
constituency of Mohammed Shahabuddin, don etc. In the small context of Bihar
and in the lesser context of Laloo Yadav’s politics, Siwan is a rather
special place. In Siwan, Laloo Yadav’s subaltern electoral arithmetic
turns an awkward alley and gets almost entirely consumed by the larger-than-Siwan
persona of Mr Shahabuddin, whose politics are rather contrary to the politics
of Mr Laloo Yadav, irrespective of the fact that Mr Shahabuddin is a Muslim.
The fact that he is a Muslim is not central to why Mr Shahabuddin remains,
despite his huge political baggage, so inalienable to Laloo Yadav’s
scheme of things. What is central is that Shahabuddin is Shahabuddin, don
etc. — insurance that he will bring at least one Lok Sabha seat and
several in the Assembly to the rjd kitty. There are, of course, other ways
in which a man of Shahabuddin’s qualities can be handy.
But what Laloo Yadav has had to sacrifice in Siwan in order to keep Shahabuddin
by his side is almost all of a constituency that should be classically his.
The Yadav does not vote for the rjd or Shahabuddin in Siwan. He votes cpi(ml),
which is about the only party that has stood up, with courage and cost,
to the don. The dalit does not vote rjd in Siwan, he votes cpi(ml). Most
of those who Laloo Yadav would call his own — most of those that he
set out to empower — do not vote his party in Siwan. Why? Because
they believe the cpi(ml) has espoused their cause better than the rjd. Because
they think Laloo Yadav and the rjd have handed the Siwan franchise to Shahabuddin,
a man who represents landed, upper caste interests, partly because of the
fact that his main rivals are the cpi(ml).
The atrocity in Siwan may have nothing to do with Shahabuddin, the rjd or
the cpi(ml) but the contradictions between Laloo Yadav’s stated ideology
and his political compulsions exist deeply enough to embarrass him yet again.
Not merely in Siwan. Elsewhere in Bihar too. What else are the recurrent
revenge massacres between private armies in central Bihar other than a symptom
of unresolved socio-economic tangles? Problems, Mr Yadav. No wonder you
rushed to Siwan. But do more than just rush.
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August 07, 2004
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