India's National Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU

Vol. 16 :: No. 06 :: Mar. 13 - 26, 1999

---

THE STATES

Embarrassing failure

VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN

THE toughest task Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari had on hand during the brief spell of President's Rule in Bihar was finding explanations for his administration's failure on the law and order front. The very reason he cited for recommending the dismissal of the Rabri Devi-led Rashtriya Janata Dal Government, in the background of the Shankarbigha and Narayanpur massacres, was the Government's incapability to maintain law and order.

Statistics compiled by the State administration show that criminal activities continued unabated despite the change of government. According to the State Home Department, on March 3 alone 26 incidents of violent crime, in which 52 people were killed, were recorded. The number of clashes that led to injuries added up to approximately 50 and minor skirmishes up to over 100.

The situation was no different in respect of massacres. Under President's Rule Bihar witnessed three incidents of massacres, the most recent of which was in Bhimpura village in Jehanabad district on the morning of March 3. The massacre was allegedly carried out by a squad of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War - it allegedly dragged five Ranvir Sena activists from their homes and shot them in a field. This action was apparently in retaliation for the Narayanpur incident, in which 12 Dalits were killed. (The Narayanpur killings occurred on February 10, two days before President's Rule was imposed.) Before the Bhimpura massacre seven upper-caste people were killed in Usri Bazar in the same district. Two days after President's Rule was imposed, four people were burnt alive near Patna.

The failure to bring down crime levels proved to be an embarrassment for the Bhandari regime. The failure to apprehend the perpetrators of the Narayanpur massacre, together with the popular perception that the State administration was favourably disposed towards upper-caste communities whose members allegedly committed the crime, added to the embarrassment. In a gesture aimed at neutralising these sentiments, the administration announced that it would impound the property of the accused who were absconding.

Leaders of the State units of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samata Party admitted that this move did not create confidence among the people. They said that it was difficult to tone up the administration under conditions of uncertainty on the continuance of President's Rule. A Samata Party leader told Frontline: "The Congress(I)'s stance against the imposition of President's Rule caused confusion in the State administration. The confusion within the BJP's central coalition regarding the strategy regarding Bihar added to the problem." State BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told Frontline over telephone: "We are of the opinion that the Government should approach the Supreme Court to prevent the reinstatement of the dismissed Government."

SUBIR ROY
Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari. He is certain to be at the centre of the next round of the Bihar battle.

When the State was under President's Rule, local leaders of the BJP and the Samata Party apparently tried to influence appointments to various positions. The first round of bureaucratic transfers and appointments involving approximately 50 officers of the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service led to complaints from the Samata Party that Bhandari had not taken the party's caste interests into account. Negotiations followed, and according to Samata Party sources, a list that was acceptable to both the parties was prepared and was scheduled to be released in the second week of March. Meanwhile, the Governor went ahead with appointments to some corporations and universities. Vice-Chancellors and Pro-Vice-Chancellors were appointed to five universities on March 4. According to local BJP leaders, the caste factor was given "careful consideration in these appointments. One of them told Frontline that the five posts were "divided equally among the Bhumihar, Rajput, Kurmi, Adivasi and Bengali communities". Bhandari also reinstated the Acting Secretary of the State Legislature, Sri Gopalji, who was suspended a month ago following differences with the Speaker of the Assembly, Dev Narayan Yadav.

RJD leader Laloo Prasad Yadav told Frontline that the appointments were aimed at creating practical problems for his party at the socio-political level. He said: "They want to create problems for us in the Assembly as well as in various bodies, including the district administration, the Public Service Commission and universities, by appointing people who will do the bidding of the BJP-Samata combine." He alleged that these exercises were completed with an eye on the Assembly elections that would come in a year's time. This view is shared by independent observers.

Sources in the BJP fear that after the reinstatement of the Rabri Devi Government, Laloo Prasad may decide to advance the elections to capitalise on the present political climate which favours the RJD. By all indications, this was the principal reason for the BJP-Samata Party combine's urge to continue with President's Rule.