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His brother's keeper
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ENGAGED in an intricate balancing act, Laloo Prasad Yadav is concentrating
all his energy on "nailing" his party MP and Siwan don, Md Shahabuddin. At
the same time, he is sparing no effort to ensure that he retains his hold
over the social coalition of Muslims and Yadavs that has kept his wife,
chief minister Rabri Devi, in power for so long.
Resorting to what the police describe as his "matchless" firepower,
Shahabuddin had either silenced all his opponents or removed them from his
path. For about a decade, the trigger-happy don ruled Siwan - his Lok Sabha
constituency - as though it were his personal fiefdom.
Now, Bihar's director-general of police, DP Ojha, obviously buoyed by the
tacit support of the Raja of Bihar, has turned the heat on the don. And
Shahabuddin, whose Kalashnikovs once terrified policemen, is now cooling his
heels in Siwan Jail.
The Court has put him behind bars for his involvement in four cases of
murder and attempted murder. And to prevent him from procuring bail easily,
the DGP is working overtime to submit a charge sheet against him, covering
all the four cases, within 90 days of his surrender.
It isn't as though Shahabuddin turned into a don overnight. Nor has the
Laloo-Rabri regime become suddenly conscious of the need to establish the
rule of law in Bihar and prosecute the mafia. Moreover, they can hardly
feign ignorance of Shahabuddin's "penchant" for the indiscriminate use of
firearms. Over 30 cases of murder and other crimes were pending against him
before he joined Laloo's bandwagon in the early 1990s. In fact, the latter
may well have regarded the don's armed might as an asset when he accepted
him into his fold.
The cases which have landed Shahabuddin in jail are not new ones. Pending
against him for the last two years was an arrest warrant in connection with
the abduction and murder of CPI ML-Liberation activist Munna Choudhary. The
three other cases for which he has been booked are over two years old. That
Shahabuddin engaged the Siwan district police in a nine-hour gun battle at
his home in Pratap Pur in 2001 is also quite fresh in everyone's mind. What,
then, has turned the man the don refers to as his "guide, guru, philosopher
and elder brother" against him? Sulking, Shahabuddin resorts to the foulest
of abuses as he speaks of the concerned DGP, describing him as a "CIA agent
and anti-Muslim" and threatening to get even with him after he retires from
the force.
Although he still refers to Laloo Yadav as "my neta (leader) and elder
brother", political observers, in particular, and people, in general, have
no doubts whatsoever that none other than Laloo Yadav is responsible for the
don's current predicament.
"Don't ask us to elaborate. You are aware that no police officer, however
mighty, can lay hands on a ruling party MP without the consent of the Raja
of Bihar," said a senior police officer who is assisting the DGP in the
cases against Shahabuddin. So, why has the don who was so dear to him once,
fallen foul of Laloo? The answer is obvious: the don's influence has spread
among Muslim politicians, well beyond the periphery of Siwan, to the extent
that he is beginning to emerge as a "Robinhood-like hero" for both employed
and jobless Muslim youths across the state.
Awareness of Shahabuddin's growing stature first dawned on Laloo when all
the Muslim ministers and MLAs belonging to his party rallied to the don's
side on the occasion of the latter's gun battle with the police. They issued
statements condemning the police for launching a raid on the "honourable
MP's house". The police, led by the then young and enthusiastic Siwan SP, BS
Meena, raided the MP's house after the latter thrashed a DSP publicly. The
gun battle between the don's supporters and the police resulted in a number
of fatalities. The Muslim leaders evidently found in Shahabuddin a "leader
of muscle" who could bargain with Laloo Yadav on equal terms. And the don
thus became in their eyes a symbol of "manliness and bravery", a source of
pride.
Unrefined though he appears to be, Laloo is a shrewd player in the game of
politics. He realised, soon enough, that the metamorphosis of Shahabuddin
from a don into a leader of Muslims would eventually weaken his own
unchallenged monopoly over the Muslim-Yadav combination. And Laloo, all said
and done, cherishes his M-Y vote bank. It explains why he is unlikely to
tolerate the emergence of a leader, either among the Yadavs or the Muslims.
His friends and opponents have witnessed the way he clipped the wings of old
friends like Ranjan Yadav, Sharad Yadav and Devendra Yadav and how he kept
erstwhile Muslim stalwarts like Taslimuddin "well within their size." Hence
Laloo's need to cut the don down to size.
It is to his credit that he has found in DGP Ojha, known for his "fighting
spirit" and "unflinching loyalty" to the Raja of Bihar, the perfect
instrument for containing the don.
At the same time, wary of the feelings of hostility his action against
Shahabuddin might invite from the Muslim masses, Laloo has taken a plethora
of measures to keep them in good humour and firmly on his side. The
Laloo-Rabri regime has sanctioned the appointment of over 13,000 Urdu
teachers in government schools. In addition, it has declared its intention
of raising a special police force which will deploy 15 per cent of the
police jawans from the Muslim community. He is reported to have sternly
commanded ministers and party MLAs from the Muslim community to avoid making
press statements in favour of Shahabuddin. Such ploys are evidently a part
of Laloo's strategy to maintain his grip over the Muslim masses while
paralysing the don who risks emerging as an idol for the people of his
community.
Laloo Yadav barred VHP leaders like Praveen Togadia and Giriraj Kishore from
entering Bihar. They were packed off the moment they landed at the Patna
airport on 15 and 16 August. It may be recalled that when Kishore visited
Bihar not four months ago, Laloo did not seem unduly concerned. However,
having seen to it that Shahabuddin was safely in jail, Laloo probably feels
a desperate need to demonstrate to the Muslim masses that anti-Muslim
leaders are persona non grata in his state.
Laloo seems to have won the first round of the battle against Shahabuddin.
As a don-cum-politician, the latter has certain limitations when up against
Laloo's cleverly established reputation as one of the country's aggressively
secular leaders. For, despite his newfound popularity among certain sections
of his community, the don is allegedly involved in the abduction and murder
of several political workers belonging to the CPI ML-Liberation, known for
its aggressive secularism. And he still lacks the stature to accuse Laloo of
being an "anti-Muslim leader" and expect to get away with it. How he will
fare in the second round, if there is one, remains to be seen.
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Nalin
Verma |
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