Patliputra wars

The war of words between Laloo Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan raises some profound constitutional issues. It is an obvious fact that exchanges between them have become unseemly, disfiguring and petulant. Accusations of corruption and criminality are freely traded and the rhetoric is getting more vitriolic by the day. At one level such exchanges violate basic norms of political propriety. Both gentlemen are ministers and colleagues in the same government and this kind of sparring between them brings discredit to the government of which they are a part. Admittedly, we are now in an anomalous phase where cabinet colleagues are likely to be rivals on the electoral battlefield. So our conventions about the Union Cabinet having a collective identity have to adjust to this new reality. But, equally, arguments between rivals have also to adjust to the fact that they are part of the same government.

But this exchange is not merely about propriety. Both are officers of the state, and have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution. Their oath also includes a duty to uphold the appropriate secrecy associated with their office. So the minute Yadav makes references to files he allegedly has information about that implicate Paswan, he has a fiduciary responsibility to turn over these files to the appropriate authority for action. If these files cannot be the basis for any action, then Yadav has no business to use his authority as a minister to lend credibility to empty accusations.

It is perhaps not surprising that both are accusing each other of being associated with criminal elements. The fact that political discourse in Bihar is getting so vicious is a sign of the high stakes and the increasing intensity of political competition. But the high stakes ought to make all political parties in Bihar more, not less, responsible in their conduct. While criminality in politics is an important electoral issue and has had an influence on the way in which Bihar is governed, there is no denying the fact that political campaigns concentrating on personal accusations of criminality alone will do the people of Bihar no good. Both sides give the impression that focusing on the alleged criminality of their rivals is a way to avoid talking about substantive issues of development and reform. Bihar needs a serious discussion on the substantive issues if it is to escape the vicious circle of violence its politicians want to keep it tethered to.