JP movement

These things have always happened in Bihar. What is different, now, is the very public fuss they provoke. Powerful RJD candidates in Bihar, even those with no relative conveniently perched in the Union cabinet in Delhi, have probably always swaggered about with arms, ammunition, liquor, cash and bad intentions on polling day. Vijay Prakash Yadav, RJD candidate from Jamui and brother of Union minister of State for Water Resources Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, found himself on the wrong side of the timeline. When he was discovered to be in possession of a rifle, live cartridges, an improvised explosive device, liquor bottles and quite a few lakhs of rupees, he was arrested. Not only that. When bade bhaiyya allegedly used his clout to have him released, the Election Commission stepped in. The police officer who released him was suspended, the concerned IG removed from his post, the candidate himself ordered rearrested. In other words, it’s a scandal, and rightly treated as such.

The RJD will protest, and it is doing so. The Congress will attach itself to its ally’s show of outrage. Both parties make out a case of overzealousness against the police and the EC — it is pointed out that the RJD candidate in question was beaten up in public view during the arrest. There may well be questions about the manner in which the arrest was made and these should be addressed. But they do not take away either from the fact of the recovery of incriminating material from the person of the candidate, nor from the outrageous attempt allegedly made by his well-placed relative to circumvent due process. The RJD must also know its protests don’t carry conviction. Close on the heels of this controversy, another RJD candidate, this time from Belaganj constituency in Gaya district, was arrested on charges of moving around with illegal firearms.

The RJD is answerable, of course, for any attempt to set the electoral field to its advantage in Bihar. The EC may be deserving of a note of caution, too, as the poll watchdog cracks the whip to implement its constitutional mandate to see that polls are free and fair. But there is no getting away for the Congress and the UPA from this mess. When a Union minister is seen to be going against the law, the UPA government cannot look the other way.