The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leaders have done it again. The months of incarceration that some of them have suffered for selling their votes in the Lok Sabha for a hefty cash price have not deterred them from striking a similar deal with the beleaguered Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav.

There are a lot of similarities between the two deals. It was the fear of defeat on a no-confidence motion that forced the Narasimha Rao Government to buy the votes of the four JMM MPs. It was, perhaps, the first time that votes were traded in such a reprehensible manner. As was only to be expected in the murky political situation that prevailed then, there were no pangs of conscience on the part of either the buyer or the seller in this transaction. The hope that the experience of jail terms may have chastened them has also been belied.

The JMM leaders saw an opportunity in the split in the Janata Dal depriving the Laloo Government of majority support. It was obvious that without the support of the JMM, Laloo would not be able to face a vote of confidence. They knew that the weakened Chief Minister could no longer reject their demands. Thereafter it did not take long to strike the deal. Whether there is a cash component in it is not known but the potentialities for making money by misusing the new powers are enough to gladden the hearts of the Jharkhand leaders, who have never hesitated in bartering votes for their self-aggrandisement. Notwithstanding such a motive, there is nothing about the steps the Laloo Government has announced to strengthen the Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council that is per se objectionable. In fact, the Council should have been vested with all the powers now granted to it right from its inception. In the absence of such powers, the Council could not at all be termed autonomous as it was dependent on the State Government for everything. But then, Laloo's objective was not to fulfill the aspirations of the people of the Jharkhand region but to render its leaders ineffective. As far as he was concerned, the formation of the Council did not make any change in the power structure which continued to be Patna-centric. Even so, the Jharkhand leaders were not prepared to forgo certain creature comforts that membership of the Council offered them. Small wonder that they did not even press for elections to the Council once the first six-month period was over. It did not occur to either the government or the Jharkhand leaders how a nominated body like the Council could carry conviction with the masses or stand up to the machinations of the State Government. To presume that the Council has been vested with all the necessary powers to make it an effective body is to overlook a characteristic feature of the Chief Minister. Though he was once pretty close to the JMM leaders, it did not prevent him from announcing that Jharkhand would be conceded only over his dead body. Such being his antipathy to the Jharkhand cause, it may not be surprising if he goes back on his promise once he is out of the present jam. However, Laloo's claim that the government's decision has little to do with the promise of support the JMM has made to his government is as hollow as his claim that he had no prior knowledge of the fodder scam until newspapers went to town with the story.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.