{Arun Jaitley**,,}
From 1990 to 2005 Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav and his party gave to Bihar the worst possible government. His government was popularly referred to as the ‘Jungle Raj’. It was governance at its’ worst. Ministers and civil servants barely attended the Sachivalaya. Vulgarity was a political style. Corruption was rampant. A new ideology was born which emphasized that growth and development do not get votes. It is only caste and community polarisation which are an instrument of getting and retaining political power. When Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav was arrested for the fodder case there was no second in command in the party. His wife became the Chief Minister. A caste polarized state accepted her as the Chief Minister. She even won an election.
2005 was a water-shed year for Bihar. This regime was overthrown by the electorate. By then Lalu Prasad had moved to the Centre as a Union Minister. He became a balancer for the UPA in its’ pursuit of coalition politics. He had a vested interest in supporting the UPA. Besides being in power he could manage to manipulate the CBI which was prosecuting his case to sabotage the prosecution. In the year 2004 the first major attack on the UPA government was on the issue of seven tainted ministers being a part of the Council of Ministers. The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh defended the tainted. Lalu Prasad was the foremost among the tainted who were being prosecuted. Some of his cases were successfully killed by the prosecution itself. The disproportionate assets case witnessed a change of Judge, a change of the prosecutor, a special bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal and a judgement which hardly inspired confidence. The CBI decided not to appeal against the Judgement. When the Bihar Government appealed against the Judgement the CBI successfully challenged the locus of the Bihar Government to file the appeal. The disproportionate assets case was given a Judicial burial. One can manage the system on some occasions. It is not possible to manage all the people all the time. There are some men of integrity in every institution. There are many in the Judiciary who still cannot be bent. The accused were uncomfortable with the Presiding Judge, efforts to get him changed failed. The prosecutor was changed but the Supreme Court intervened and prevented that from happening and finally a historic verdict holding the 45 people guilty. They include politicians, civil servants, middlemen and contractors.
It has taken 17 years for Justice to be done. Public spirited litigants who put the process of law into motion succeeded in getting the case transferred from the Bihar police to the CBI. They succeeded in preventing the CBI during the UPA government from sabotaging its own case. When conviction appeared to be inevitable the UPA even prepared for life after conviction. The amendment to section 8(4) of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 was proposed. When Parliament did not approve the Bill and referred it to the Standing Committee, the shameless UPA government approved an Ordinance. The President was reluctant to sign the Ordinance. The Ordinance could not be approved for reasons which are well known. Today we have all understood why this Ordinance was brought. Its only object was to help a loyal UPA ally who was likely to be convicted. In the end justice has prevailed. Be you ever so high the law is above you.
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** Arun Jaitley – Leader of Opposition Rajya Sabha
**Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author in this feature are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of INVC
