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Now find political means to fight Laloo YadavAtilde;?A SECOND defeat on Bihar will be hard to take but the Central government can try to...

Now find political means to fight Laloo YadavAtilde;?A SECOND defeat on Bihar will be hard to take but the Central government can try to claim the moral high ground on the issue. In revoking President8217;s rule, the Centre has played by the book and not given in to unwise counsel on going to court, allowing the proclamation to lapse or letting a motion be defeated in the Rajya Sabha.

Once last-ditch efforts to persuade the Congress party to back the government8217;s motion in the Upper House had failed, realism demanded a quick end to the imbroglio. Revoking the proclamation is constitutionally correct and, politically, the least painful path. Any other course of action would have prolonged the constitutional and financial crisis in the state for no visible purpose other than to save the Centre further embarrassment. The BJP can also argue that its efforts to bring about better governance in Bihar were frustrated by the short-sightedness of the main opposition party.

However, from here on, the BJP and the Samataparty will have to look to political rather than constitutional means of remedying the situation. This is easier said than done even in a context where the Rashtriya Janata Dal has to depend on other parties to form a ruling majority. Nevertheless, there are no short-cuts in the process of bringing about political realignments in Bihar.

It is not exactly back to square one in the state. The Congress has been put on the defensive and will not have an easy time explaining itself to its own workers or to constituencies it is wooing like the Dalits. While it is possible to argue that there is an important distinction between a moral and a constitutional right to rule, for the victims of atrocities that will sound like nothing more than hair-splitting. Nor can the long-suffering people of Bihar generally be expected to subscribe to Congress political priorities in which the defeat of the BJP nationally comes ahead of the need for a responsive and accountable government in Patna.

This is not to say there wouldbe a sea-change automatically under President8217;s rule. The killings since February 12 attest to the fact that a long and sustained effort will be required to put an end to caste and class warfare. But dissolution of the Assembly would have offered hope of improvement by paving the way for fresh elections in six months and a realignment of forces.

Laloo Prasad Yadav will assume his hands have been strengthened. He will be inclined to think his popularity remains high and allows him to rule the roost as before, making up with rhetoric what he has failed to deliver to the people. He is bound to read the defeat of the BJP-Samata Party8217;s plans as a vindication of his way of doing things. He will also interpret the Congress party8217;s political compulsions as a clear indication of its need to get on his bandwagon if it wants to get anywhere in Bihar.

If these assumptions are not challenged by the major parties and by his allies on the Left, conditions in Bihar will continue to deteriorate. Laloo Yadav has to betold that there is more to governing a state than garib rallies8217; and clever sound-bites on television. The Centre has tried but failed. Now it is up to his friends and future allies to do so.