The release on bail last Saturday of Mohammed Shahabuddin, feared Bihar criminal-cum-politician and a leader of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, has been rightly criticised.
The release on bail last Saturday of Mohammed Shahabuddin, feared Bihar criminal-cum-politician and a leader of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, has been rightly criticised. Many believe that the present state government, in which the RJD is an indispensable coalition partner, ensured that it dragged its feet over a murder trial against Shahabuddin to such a degree that the Patna high court had no choice in the end but to grant him bail.
If this is true, it is doubtful if chief minister Nitish Kumar, who the gangster sought to traduce on coming out of Bhagalpur jail by saying he was CM “because of circumstances”, had a hand in the trial going slow. It is more probable that Mr Yadav used his social and political clout to ensure that the trial hardly moved, leading the high court, which had rejected a bail plea in February, to eventually grant the plea.
Mr Shahabuddin was a four-time RJD MP before he was picked up from his New Delhi residence on another murder rap, and has been released on bail after serving 11 years of his sentence. His track record of serious crime, and the prospect that those who have spoken out against him will now fear for their lives, should have weighed with the high court, but did not. This is a comment on the judiciary. The law must never be so blind that judges have to operate in twilight.
But apart from questions over Mr Shahbuddin’s innocence or guilt, the stark political fact is that the Bihar government has suddenly come under inordinate strain. The man out on bail was inducted into the RJD national executive in April while he was behind bars. His value to Mr Yadav and the RJD is evident as he is said to be popular among minority sections in pockets of North Bihar.
Mr Shahabuddin is now cocking a snook at the chief minister and the RJD supremo is looking on indulgently. The RJD has a whip hand over the government as it has 80 Assembly seats against 72 of the JD(U), Nitish Kumar’s party. Even so, the CM should summon the nerve to call an urgent meeting of the Mahagathbandhan partners — RJD, JD(U) and Congress — and make it plain he would henceforth assert his prerogative as CM to make or dismiss ministers and recommendations made at Mr Shahabuddin’s behest for any position in the state will be disregarded.
The onus should be on Mr Lalu Yadav whether the Nitish government stays or goes. A secular government should not mean one that pampers people proven to be criminals. If the government flops on this type of politicking, secular Mahagathbandhan-style politics will receive a severe setback.
