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Journalism of Courage
On an uncertain pitch, push the umpire on to the backfoot. It8217;s the oldest trick in the book and in the case of Laloo Prasad Yadav, it8217;s beginning to pall. Launching his campaign in Bihta, Bihar, a few days ago, amid much name-calling directed at political opponents, Yadav called the Election Commission a few names too. Without naming it, he accused it of caste and religious bias in transfers and postings of officials in poll-eve Bihar. A few days later, addressing a meeting of the Extremely Backward Castes in Patna, the RJD chief flashed those accusations again. There could, for the sake of argument, be reasons to fault the conduct of the Commission as Bihar goes to elections again. But Yadav8217;s crude innuendo certainly doesn8217;t make the grade.
We suspect this is not about the EC, anyway. It is about Yadav8217;s own jangled nerves as he plunges into an election after the sound rebuff the electorate administered to him in the last one. More than that, it is about his brand of politics that flaunts as its calling card a disregard for the rules of the game. Just a few months ago, there he was, at the EC8217;s throat again, flashing a civil servant8217;s letter and asking for the election commissioners8217; resignation. That was the time L.V. Saptharishi charged two election commissioners with countermanding the 2004 Chhapra poll because of alleged communalism or casteism or both, take your pick. The framing context for the Union railway minister seizing upon those belated and dubious allegations, then, was his own increasing encirclement by his legal troubles. Earlier, with the February elections in Bihar set in motion, Yadav had conjured up a brand new inquiry, over and above the existing investigations, to excavate 8220;Godhra8217;s truth8221;.
