NEW DELHI: Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav is not averse to the idea of creating smaller states for better administration and good governance per se, provided the Center goes about the task in a proper manner.
“If the Center really wants to reorganize boundaries let it set up a States Reorganization Commission. The SRC can go into all the aspects of creating smaller states, not only in Bihar but all over India. If the concept is implemented at the national level with all big states being broken up. I have nothing against it,” Yadav said in the Capital recently.
That however, “is not what the Center wants. It wants to bifurcate only Bihar, and that too for political purposes, and I will not let that happen,” he added.
Yadav, unperturbed by the political storm unleashed by Union Home Minister S.B. Chavan’s Statement in favor of creating a separate state or Union Territory of Jharkhand, said the people “who claim to be thinking about the welfare of tribals, are now telling me that I have given away too much in the Jharkhand Area Development Council Bill.” According to him, the amendments to the Bill which have been suggested by the Center are aimed at curtailing the autonomy he wants to grant the people of south Bihar.
“I wanted to give them certain amount of autonomy to mobilize resources. Now the Center is alarmed that I am giving them too much. Lam being repeatedly asked, “Does this intrude into the Center’s rights? Does that take away from the Center’s resources?’ New Delhi is only bothered about itself. So long its interests are not harmed, it does not mind harming somebody else’s interests,” said Yadav.
The Chief Minister threatened that he would lead a “united Bihar march” to protect the State’s interests, Asked where would he lead the march to, he said, “By the time the march is over, you all will be in Bihar.” The statement, of course, was aimed at conjuring images of hordes of Biharis descending in unending streams upon an unjust Capital.
What about the Home Minister’s charge that he has failed to spell out his stand despite several queries from the Center? “Hum kya bus stand hain? Woh honge tempo stand, hum kol stand nahin (Am I a buss stand? He may be a tempo stand, but] am no stand),” retorted Yadav. In the same vein he went on to describe how, finding the going tough, the Home Minister was now trying to shift the blame on journalists by suggesting that he had been misquoted.
Yeh kaise grth mantri hain? No kisi ka baat samajhte hain na koi unki baat samajhta hai, Arey bhati grih mantri to unko banna chahiye jiska baai log sanjhe or jo logon ka baat samjhe (What sort of a Home Minister is he? Neither does he understand what others say, nor do others understand what he says. Someone who can be understood and who can understand should be the Home Minister),” he added with a flourish,
Yadav, reiterating the charge that the “south India lobby had ganged up against the north,” said the whole affair was a conspiracy to instigate trouble in Bihar. “New Delhi has exploited entire Bihar for all these decades, it has pauperized Biharis, both tribals and non-tribals,” he said, adding, “Whatever money I can spend on welfare and development comes from the natural resources of south Bihar. The money I get from the Center is hardly enough to bear administrative costs. Now they want to become the protectors of the tribals.”
All this, according to him, is hogwash. The real plan is to destroy Bihar and destabilize the country. “Will they be ready to grant a separate State of Mithilan chal or Magadh tomorrow? This so-called desire for freedom and autonomy needs to be checked if India is to remain together.”
But, no matter how bad the situation, he main, Laloo Yadav will never allow the bifurcation of Bihar, “They have no idea at all of the trouble they are inviting upon themselves. So long-as I am here, they just cannot do it.”
His rhetoric apart, Yadav is confident, especially after his meeting with Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, that round one has gone to him. He is now busy playing on the “united Bihar” sentiment which cuts across party line. And he is gracious enough not to spun Jagannath Mishra’s helping hand in his struggle against New Delhi. He has launched a concerted grassroots campaign against the protagonists of Jharkhand, hitting them where it hurts most.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 25, 1992
