Raid on Rabri

It is not known if the material evidence found during weekend raids of properties belonging to Laloo Prasad Yadav and his family will hel...

It is not known if the material evidence found during weekend raids of properties belonging to Laloo Prasad Yadav and his family will help the CBI prove possession of assets disproportionate to known sources of income. But there is no doubt a determined, though very belated, effort is being made to establish such a case.

Search operations were conducted on a large scale covering the Patna residence of Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and the urban and rural dwellings of an assortment of brothers and brothers-in-law.

Why the CBI waited for two and a half years to count the bathrooms and glazed tiles in Rabri Devi8217;s house is a mystery only its bosses can explain.

The CBI presumably now has a full inventory of fixed assets. But where is it going to lead? The long delay in taking the next logical steps after the fodder scam was discovered has played right into the hands of Laloo Prasad and his supporters.

As is to be expected, the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha is out in full cry. To the usual charge that theraids are a political conspiracy have been added more inventive ones. Every kind of injury imaginable is being cited, every kind of constituency tapped. Rabri Devi is presented as the innocent victim, and the insult to her as an insult to the people of Bihar and to simple, illiterate women everywhere. Much significance is made of the first-ever raid of a chief minister8217;s official residence forgetting that the wife is the stand-in for the husband.

All this is laughable. However, given the timing of the raids, the political context and the image of the CBI as the long arm of the Central government, some of the rhetoric is bound to be taken seriously in Bihar and elsewhere.

In the current political climate of uncertainty at the Centre, the CBI8217;s new activism on the fodder scam is likely to be seen as part of the BJP8217;s new offensive against the Opposition. This is unfortunate but unavoidable. The matter is further politicised by the Samata Party8217;s stance.

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It makes no bones about the fact that its majoragenda in Bihar is the dismissal of the Rabri Devi government on grounds of corruption and inefficiency. Although George Fernandes has spoken of the constraints of the ruling coalition, the Bihar unit remains obsessed with its one-point programme.

The consequent polarisation in the state on this issue, rather than on the issue of corruption in high places, tends to work to the advantage of Laloo Prasad. If the CBI makes no further progress on the latest aspect of the fodder racket, either because of insufficient proof or delays in wrapping up the case in court, it could well be overtaken by political developments.

However, that will not necessarily be the end of it. The raids serve one immediate political purpose which all parties will have to recognise. The RLM can protest all it likes but the more it protests the more corruption becomes a high-profile issue all over again. Indeed there is the possibility of corruption competing for prime attention with other issues in the not too distant future. That isas it should be given the extent of corruption all over the country.