More Rabri

Maharashtra was a relative stranger to the politics of defection and that was one of the reasons why the recent drama in Mumbai became the s...

Maharashtra was a relative stranger to the politics of defection and that was one of the reasons why the recent drama in Mumbai became the stuff of spectacular headlines. In Bihar, however, political promiscuity takes no one by any real surprise. No wonder, then, that Tuesday8217;s 8216;expansion8217; of the Rabri Devi cabinet has set off only muted exclamations. Despite the fact that the two ministers of state and one cabinet minister sworn in by Governor Vinod Pande belong to the Bahujan Samaj Party 8212; one of them is its state unit chief. Despite the glaring farce of the three MLAs swearing allegiance to the BSP even as they cross over into the RJD government 8212; avowedly to shore up the 8216;secular forces8217; in Bihar while their party cosies up to the BJP next door in Uttar Pradesh.

There are no fig leaves here. Every one of the three 8216;defectors8217; has walked out of his party and straight into ministerial office. There is no waiting period, no biding time, not even for appearances8217; sake, before the MLA extracts the price for making the Rabri government a shade more secure, should the Congress decide to act uppity with the RJD in Bihar. In a sense, the sheer brazenness of the whole exercise speaks of Bihar. But it also speaks of more than that. It is a telling statement about the failure of the Anti-Defection Act to completely stem political floor-crossing. As its critics have pointed out on many occasions down the years, it only curbs retail trade in MPs while blinking at wholesale buying and selling. A case may be made perhaps for taking another look at the Act to plug this loophole.

But it is possible to overemphasise the efficacy of legalistic solutions. The merits of making the Act sterner would have to be balanced with the imperative to protect space for principled dissent of a large number of MLAs/MPs against the party line laid down by party bosses. Quite obviously, Bihar is not such a case but it is not impossible that such a situation may arise. Perhaps the solution lies in not just turning the legal screws on the members of legislatures but in also encouraging a political culture where such promiscuous politics is not seen as par for the course. Not even in Laloo8217;s Bihar.