The Muzaffarpur case needs sensitive handling
The CBI’s status report on the shelter home incident highlights troubling details
As Bihar’s new chief minister in 2005, Nitish Kumar was like a breath of fresh air in the state’s rambunctious politics. He promised to go beyond the politics of identity by making the discourse more inclusive. He was all about good governance, and, within a short span of time, he did bring about a keen sense of real governance to a state which had seen little of that since the 1990s. But that promise of better things to come lies in tatters today. The Supreme Court’s (SC) October 25 order to move the main accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case outside the state is a serious blow to his reputation. According to the report, the main accused, Brajesh Thakur, had a mobile phone inside the jail from which he communicated with 40 people. When two CBI officers went to question him in jail, Mr Thakur fought with the jail superintendent for letting them in.
The misuse of jail premises by politicians is not something new. But the case warrants much more seriousness from the government — even from an electoral point of view. The main opposition leader, Tejashwi Yadav, is using every opportunity to present Mr Kumar as a corrupt leader, not the leader known for good governance. Mr Yadav is keen to turn the issue into a moral case of Mr Kumar’s negligence of women. The CM, with his welfare measures like 50% reservation for women in panchayats, distribution of free cycles and uniforms for girl students, and prohibition of alcohol, has been popular among women voters.
Expecting Mr Kumar to overhaul an impoverished state’s administrative capacity in just a few years would be unfair but it would certainly serve his — and his state’s — cause well to at least play a more proactive role in cases such as Muzaffarpur’s. Already, having considerably slipped from the bargaining position in the state’s political hierarchy after many flip-flops with his alliance partners, he needs to utilise his resources well to continue to be known as “sushasan babu” (good governance babu).