Bihar is a land of paradoxes with immense tolerance for the incompatible. The RJD government's decision to dissolve the Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council (JAAC) proves this. It belies the justification put forward by Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav for his volte-face on the Jharkhand issue - that the unanimous resolution passed by the State Assembly a year ago favoured a ``greater Jhar-khand' and not the bifurcation of Bihar. The formation of the autonomous council was supposed to be the state government's considered response to the Jharkhand movement lasting over half a century. By dissolving the council and deciding to rescind last year's unanimous Assembly resolution on the issue, Bihar's maverick rulers have demonstrated that political expediency rather than the welfare of the people has been their guiding principle. Whatever the RJD's political compulsions, the move is likely to push the people of north and south Bihar on to a collision course. Seen against this none-too-pleasing backdrop,Bihar Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari is justified in seeking an explanation from the government on this score.The RJD's turnaround may or may not save Laloo Prasad's beleaguered fiefdom but it will definitely hit the long-term interests of the people of his state. The argument that the bifurcation of Bihar will lead to further impoverishment of north and central Bihar is mischievous. It might find a few takers among the members of north Bihar's ruling elite - a section of the Congress has forced its High Command to dilute its support to the Vananchal state - but it is bound to provoke a backlash from those in south Bihar. The RJD's accusation that the Centre's move smacked of an RSS conspiracy to ``colonise'' resource-rich south Bihar carries no conviction. For the theme of economic exploitation of the tribal inhabitants of south Bihar by Bihar's political rulers from the north has been the constant refrain of those spearheading the Jharkhand movement all these years. Small wonder that the ruling party'sattempt to take the issue to the streets through its Bihar Bachao has evoked instant and equally militant retaliation from the all-party coordination committee for Jharkhand which has called for a Bihar bandh on September 23.This is not to suggest that the Centre's decision to carve out Vananchal, Uttaranchal and Chattisgarh from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh respectively was not prompted by partisan considerations. In fact, there is some substance in the RJD leaders' argument that division of larger states and creation of new, smaller and administratively compact states should have been preceded by a national debate and the nodalities of the process, including its economic ramifications, should have been worked out earlier. But coming from a party which had itself endorsed these demands not long ago, it sounds like an afterthought. The appointment of another States Reorganisa-tion Commission may be necessary to sort out such contentious issues, but till then politicians would do well to exerciserestraint and not arouse popular passions over such emotive issues. Unfortunately, this is a temptation today's politicians find difficult to resist. For them the politics of frenzy appears to be a short cut to success.
