-HAROON
RASHEED, B.A., BL.
Vice
Chairman, Bihar state Linguistic & Religious Minorities Commission, Patna.
“This
virtue, and not birth, that makes us noble; Great actions speak great minds,
and such should govern”.
In 1937, a crowded public meeting was held at the Azad Park
in Gaya to spotlight and condemn the cruel action of a police officer against a
car driver, an employee of the Bihar Government. A group of
agitators launched a fast unto death hartal in
front of the Gaya Kotwali Police Station. The public meeting was presided over
by Dr. Kesho, a local Congress leader. The first Congress ministry had already
been formed in Bihar that year. The Indian National Congress had always
championed the cause of the kisans, the oppressed and the suppressed section of
the population. K. B. Sahay, who was initially inducted as a Parliamentary
Secretary in the Congress ministry, evinced deep concern over their genuine
grievances. On the third day of the Gaya meeting Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha, the
then Chief Minister of Bihar, was proceeding to Ranchi accompanied by Sri K. B.
Sahay. A delegation led by Sri Jogeshwar Prasad Khalish met them at the Gaya
Railway Station. K. B. Sahay elicited the details and causes of the massive
public agitation. He declared that during the regime of the popular Congress
Ministry, the genuine grievances of the downtrodden and the oppressed people
should be sympathetically considered and that erring officials or officials
should be brought to the book and penalized.
The Chhotanagpur belt with its headquarters at Hazaribagh was
the chief forum of K. B. Sahay’s activities. The Congress ministry had
resigned. He monitored a series of political and agrarian activities to
undermine the image of the British and boost up the morale of the
freedom-fighters. He often visited Giridih (then a sub-division of Hazaribagh)
and took part in several meetings organized by the Congress Party and also by
two leftist parties like the C.P.I. and the Socialists, which had also espoused
the cause of freedom movement in Bihar.
K. B. Sahay was arrested and imprisoned in the Hazaribagh
Central Jail in 1940 in connection with his spirited participation in the
individual satyagraha launched
by Mahatma Gandhi. He was lodged in midst of the Socialists and the Communists,
who had enthusiastically raised the honour of the freedom movement just like
the workers and members of the Indian National Congress. K. B. sahay
entertained an internal affinity with these political agitators and sometimes
even displayed his unmistakable support to their political ideology. He warmly
befriended with them whenever an opportunity arose.
K. B. Sahay’s deep-seated love for Bihar and for the people
of Bihar surfaced in a spectacular manner during the linguistic agitation in
Bihar and West Bengal. A memorable event took place in 1955. Dr. B. C. Roy, the
eminent Congress leader and the then Chief Minister of West Bengal had managed
to obtain clearance from the Congress High Command in New Delhi for bifurcating
Purulia and Kishanganj district from the State of Bihar. The entire Bihar was
seething with acute resentment. K. B. Sahay threw in his gauntlet and did not
even care for the wrath of the Congress High Command. He spearheaded a stubborn
agitation for the retention of Kishanganj and Purulia district in Bihar. He
yoked the untied efforts of all the political parties in one solid opposition
block. Ultimately, he succeeded in getting Kishanganj intact and had its
identity maintained as an integral part of Bihar. It was an act of his robust
firmness and grim determination.
Another instance of his firm administrative and decisive act
manifested itself in 1966. A police firing took place in Patna. A few people
died as a result of this police firing. There was tremendous commotion
throughout the province. Even several Congress leaders were flabbergasted and
demoralized. But K. B. Sahay did not exhibit the least sign of nervousness. On
the contrary, he boldly took up the challenge. He faced the anti-social
elements. He had guts to face even the most hostile crowds. He convened several
public meetings in Patna and at other neighboring places. He pacified the
people. The furor, the commotion, abated and eventually faded away.
An interesting event took place in 1957. K. B. Sahay
supported Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha in the contest of the Bihar leadership
contest. A battle royal had erupted. K. B. Sahay was pitted against the
formidable might of Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha. Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha had
expressed in an informal talk that ‘one can hardly find a strong, devoted,
determined, and dependable leader like K. B. Sahay. He had also given vent to
this feeling that the organizing talent of K. B. Sahay was superb and
unparalleled. During the hectic canvassing for the Bihar Congress leadership,
K. B. Sahay was moving along with other supporters of Dr. Anugrah Narayan
Sinha, when he came face to face with Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha in the campus of
the MLA’s flats. Dr. S. K. Sinha uttered ‘Krishna Ballabh, what is all this
drama for? I want to talk with you.’ K. B. Sahay calmly and unemotionally
retorted, “We shall meet again and n the day of result of his drama will be
out.”
In 1962, when K. B. Sahay was defeated by Binodanand Jha in
the Congress leadership contest, many persons with gloomy faces predicted that
K. B. Sahay was down the hill and that the death-knell of his political career
had been sounded. But they, the pessimistic soothsayers, had misjudged. They
had miscalculated. They had no idea of the hard stuff he was made of. K. B.
Sahay did not lose heart. On the contrary, he mustered supreme courage. He
girded up his loins to face and crush the heavy odds. When Pandit Binodanand
Jha was Kamrated (Under Kamraj Plan) by the Congress High Command and K. B.
Sahay became the Chief Minister of Bihar, a section of the Congress politicians
oscillated between Patna to Delhi and vice-versa to dislodge him. He stood like
a rock. The storm blew over.
Whenever, I sought an interview with K. B. Sahay, the Chief
Minister, Bihar, it was readily granted. Some critics pointed out to me that he
was harsh and gruff with some persons he interviewed with. But my impression
was entirely different of course; he did not allow any gossip or meaningless
rambling talks with him during the interview. The talk during the interview was
pinpointed and confined to the specific purpose of the interview. The person
interviewing him was asked to come to grips with the real issue. K. B. Sahay
reached like a true programmist. He was, of course, not diplomatic in his
talks. He did not want to keep any person under tenterhooks. His reaction was
immediate and decisive. His ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ was spontaneous. The talk was brief
and crisp. As soon as he stretched his hand over the call-bell, it signaled
that the meeting had come to an end and that it was high time for the person to
quit the room in order to make way for other persons, anxiously waiting outside.
During the regime of K. B. Sahay as the Chief Minister of
Bihar, the Fourth Five Year Plan was about to commence. Like a talented and
gifted administrator, K. B. Sahay as the Chief Minister and the populist leader
of the people of Bihar had prepared himself to face and resolve the numerous
challenges posed by industrial backwardness, the incidence of unemployment among
the educated and the non-educated sections of the people of Bihar State, the
problem of distribution of surplus land among the poor landless agricultural
laborers etc. Like a superb administrator, K. B. Sahay faced these crucial
problems with courage, imagination, foresight, and determination.
THE ORIGINAL SCRIPT AS PUBLISHED
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