Communalism vs corruption

Communalism vs corruption

The tradeoff between `communalism' and `corruption' has reached a decisive stage in India. Since the Bofors scandal, the constituency of secularism has shrunk and that of `communalism' has expanded continuously. It is a sad spectacle that at a certain point, to save `secularism', persons of secular credentials had to defend people steeped in corruption.
In the context of Bihar, even though the fodder scam was out of the radar, the present spate (a large number of similar things coming in quick succession.) of scandals surrounding Lalu Prasad and family created great discomfort in the mahagathbandhan. Sushil Modi bared (uncover and expose it to view) one scandal after another, creating a massive dent in the mahagathbandhan's image in general and that of chief minister Nitish Kumar in particular. By dissolving the mahagathbandhan ministry, Nitish has stolen BJP's thunder.
In the realm of administration, the mahagathbandhan could not recreate the magical performance of earlier two terms of the NDA government in Bihar. Nitish initially did not have the natural captive constituency of Lalu, but over the years he could build massive pan-Bihar social support riding on the agenda of development. This agenda was further sustained when it was tied to probity (the quality of having strong moral principle) and `zero tolerance' to corruption and crime.
The tripod of development, probity and crime containment could build `Brand Nitish', with national and international resonance. In his third term, unlike BJP's complete commitment in earlier two terms, foot soldiers of RJD continuously sniped at Nitish because they could not get leeway (freedom) in influencing the administration. The trauma of association with RJD was on public display when Shahabuddin, after his release on bail, made fun of Nitish with tacit (understood or implied without being stated) support from his party's high command.
Ironically Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu's younger son who was deputy chief minister, appeared to be a symbol of a reinvented RJD. He seemed to defuse the crisis between RJD and JD(U), which indicated the mahagathbandhan might complete its full term. But the sudden surfacing of a spate of scandals involving Lalu's family put a big question mark before its legitimacy.
Even the deputy chief minister, who had earlier received opprobrium (harsh criticism or censure) from many quarters, was embroiled (involve (someone) deeply in an argument, conflict, or difficult situation) in the scandal directly . Being very young he could have resigned and got himself legally absolved, because he has a long innings to play in the state. One cannot run the government on the basis of legislative majority only. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi with 400 plus members of parliament, or Lalu Prasad with huge social support in the early 90s, frittered away their moral hegemony because they could not fight the allegation of corruption.
It is a sad commentary that the bulk of the socialist movement, and social justice movement later, became afflicted with the malaise of corruption. Till now, communalism has been an esoteric (intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest) idea. In recent times, it has become tangible in some places.
After the communal conflagration (an extensive fire which destroys a great deal of land or property) of Bhagalpur in the late 80s Bihar essentially saw peace, even during the NDA period. Whatever may be the character of BJP nationally, in Bihar the basis of its growth has essentially been a development agenda. The BJP high command displayed confidence in Sushil Modi by anointing him deputy chief minister, instead of bringing forward fringe elements. This indicates the reiteration of past NDA policy.
Brand Nitish is anything other than `communal'. Once upon a time Nitish and Sushil were considered to be `Siamese twins' of Bihar's development politics. Socially, they will be able to craft the broadest possible `coalition of extremes', which will keep communal convulsions (a violent social or political upheaval) at bay.
Administering Bihar with probity was not an easy task. Leakages of public money in Bihar, which Nitish managed to contain, had a peculiar character. Here funds for state programmes would be siphoned off (to move money from one bank account to another, especially illegally or dishonestly.) for private accumulation right at the `input' stage. Unlike in the ryotwari and mahalbari tenurial systems in some parts of India before Independence, the social position of an individual in Bihar was measured not in terms of his placement in the productive structure, but in terms of his capacity to weaken the state structure through leakages.
Further, Bihar had another distinction of recruiting human resources which were not qualified enough for the task of state administration. This not only affected the quality of governance, it also resulted in organised siphoning off of resources from the state exchequer. Unfortunately, even though the `input' related scamsters had staggering accumulation, it did not go into industrial investment but only promoted conspicuous (visible) consumption.
For example, one fodder scam kingpin hired a chartered plane, filled with relatives, attendants and minions, and flew to Australia for a surgery. Another scamster accumulated so much wealth that he had to float a bank to legitimise his resources. It is not that corruption is not there in India's developed states; indeed, scams are possibly much wider there in terms of magnitude. But instead of `input' scams, these states have witnessed post-production scams, characterised by turnoverbased, profit-sharing arrangements. The present scams confronting Lalu were mostly input-related. Unfortunately Congress remained a mute spectator; neither Sonia nor Rahul Gandhi could intervene.
Nitish had stopped input-related scams in Bihar, but the `probity'-centric culture he had built in his first two terms was on the verge of being frittered away because of Lalu's obstinacy (जिद/अडिगता) in not permitting Tejashwi to resign. Had Lalu taken a reasonable position against `corruption' charges, `secularism' might have triumphed.