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'CHHOTE SAHAB' SATYENDRA NARAYAN SINHA
(12 JULY 1917- 04 SEPTEMBER 2006) |
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KRISHNA BALLABH SAHAY
(31 DECEMBER 1898-3 JUNE 1974) |
Satyendra
Narayan Sinha, popularly known by the nickname of 'Chhote Sahab’ in
the political circles in Bihar, was a senior colleague and a strong pillar of
Krishna Ballabh Sahay’s ministry. Krishna Ballabh Babu entrusted him the
important portfolios of Agriculture, Education and Local Self-Government in his
cabinet. His achievements and contribution as the education minister are
remembered even today. Krishna Ballabh Babu and Chhote Sahab had a perfect
understanding between them and together they worked for the development of the
State in the Sixties.
Satyendra
Narayan Sinha was born on 12 July 1917 in village Poiva, Aurangabad district.
His father Anugrah Narayan Sinha was a noted freedom-fighter and senior-most
cabinet minister in Sri Krishna Sinha’s ministry. Satyendra Narayan Sinha
studied Law at Lucknow University.
In 1942, Satyendra
Babu joined the freedom struggle and took active participation in the Quit
India Movement. He was elected to the Provisional Parliament in
1950. His leadership qualities were sharpened under the able mentoring of Pandit
Jawahar Lal Nehru. His flamboyant leadership style and his eloquence in oratory
soon earned him the epithet of 'Young Turk'.
When Binodanand
Jha took over as the Chief Minister of Bihar in 1961, he requested Pandit
Jawahar Lal Nehru to spare Satyendra Babu’s services for the province and thus
‘Chhote Sahab’ joined Binoda Babu as his cabinet colleague. Satyendra Babu was
entrusted with the important portfolio of Education. When Krishna Ballabh Babu
took over as Chief Minister of Bihar in 1963 after the ‘Kamraj Plan’, he made
no change in the portfolio of Satyendra Babu. Acknowledging his ability and
efficiency, he was entrusted with the additional charge of the Departments of
Agriculture and Local Self-Government. Satyendra Narayan Sinha is remembered as
an able administrator because of the pioneering work done by him in improving
the educational system in Bihar during this period (1961-1967). Some of these
milestone achievements were the establishment of Magadha University in Gaya in
1962 and the establishment of the Sainik School in Tilaiya in 1963. Replying to
a question by Ramraj Prasad Singh and Prabhunath Tiwari in
the Bihar Legislative Assembly, Satyendra Narayan Sinha announced
that a decision had been taken to establish a Sainik School at Tilaiya in
Hazaribagh district. This school was formally inaugurated on 1st
March and the first session started on 1st July 1963. Satyendra
Babu laid stress on extending primary and secondary education and hence was
instrumental in approving setting up schools both for boys and girls. Krishna
Ballabh Babu was particularly concerned about the spread of education among
girl child and Satyendra Babu as an able commander took ahead Krishna Ballabh
Babu’s dream and made it a reality. Thus Satyendra Babu came up with a blueprint
of establishing a girl’s school in every Block. Krishna Ballabh Babu ensured
that there was no shortage of funds to meet this ambitious project. Satyendra
Babu announced this decision on the floor of the House on 29th September
1966 and work began in right earnest almost immediately. Within the next six
months, a girl's school was established in each Block of the state. A total of
358 girls' schools were thus established under this scheme. District-wise
distribution of girl’s schools was as follows- Patna (18), Gaya (27), Shahabad
(31), Saran (20), Champaran (18), Muzaffarpur (14), Darbhanga (20), Monghyr
(25), Bhagalpur (8), Saharsa (17), Purnea (14), Santhal-Parganas (29),
Hazaribagh (42), Ranchi (35), Dhanbad (7), Palamu (13) and Singhbhum (20). As a
result of his efforts, 60 per cent of children in the age group of 6-11 years
were imparted elementary education by the end of the Third Five Year Plan. This
was indeed a commendable achievement given the economic constraints of those
days.
The Opposition
was left dumbstruck at such a pace of work which had by now become the
trademark style of functioning of Krishna Ballabh Sahay administration- quick
decision followed by equally quick implementation of projects. Often the Opposition
questioned the motive of such haste. In utter annoyance, the Opposition would
charge Krishna Ballabh Babbu and his Government of corruption in development
projects in absence of nothing to write home about their contribution. This
became a common narrative, so much so, that over the years such tactics lost
their relevance. One such incidence would be sufficient to substantiate the
statement.
On one such
occasion, the Opposition attempted to drive a wedge between Krishna Ballabh
Babu and Satyendra Narayan Sinha to weaken the Congress Government. As part of
the dubious ploy, the opposition accused Satyendra Babu of corruption. The aim
was to reduce Krishna Ballabh Babu’s reliance on Satyendra Babu. During a debate
in Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1964, Praja Samajwadi Party leader Suraj
Narayan Singh from Madhubani East alleged that as a Minister Satyendra
Narayan Sinha i.e. 'Chhote-Saheb' sold his house at a higher price to
the same person, who had applied for and in whose favour the settlement of
Bhagalpur Nau-Ghat, was made ignoring the rules. The Minister thus indulged in
corrupt practices. Such as act by the Minister was blatantly wrong, unjust
and unjustified and therefore the opposition demanded a statement from the Government
to come clean on the allegation.
Krishna
Ballabh Babu was well aware of such devious strategies of the opposition and
had therefore done his homework beforehand. This was another remarkable
characteristic trait of K. B. Sahay. He would never address the House without
making adequate preparations. Therefore even when the matter was listed for
discussion in the Assembly and the debate was yet to take place; K. B. Sahay called
for all the related reports and documents from the District Officer of
Bhagalpur. On 7 August, when K. B. Sahay stood up to speak for his cabinet
colleague Satyendra Narayan Sinha, he was calm and composed. In a dignified tone
and tenor, he asked the leaders of the opposition parties to desist from such
antics and also slammed them for indulging in the character assassination of an
honourable Minister. Then turning the table on opposition K. B. Sahay came to
the main issue and laid down the factual position of the case on the Table of
the House. Protecting the reputation of Satyendra Babu, he made the official
statement of the Government- 'As far as the settlement of the
ghats is concerned the decision is not taken either by the Minister in charge
of the Department of the Local Self-Government or by the State Government as
the matter does not fall in their purview as per the Bengal Ferries Act which
delegates this power to the District Magistrate and the Commissioner who are
the final authorities in such matters. In this particular case, the
District Magistrate of Bhagalpur invited tenders for the settlement of ghat in
1963 and based on the rates received awarded the ghat in favour of Amarendra
Narayan Singh for 9 years. A representation was received by the State
Government against this settlement which was when the matter came to the notice
of the State Government. Satyendra Babu examined the issue and found that the
settlement for 9 years through tender as made by the District Magistrate was not
as per the extant rules. The District Magistrate had entered into this
settlement under the old rules which provided for settlement for 9 years after completing
the requisite formalities of tender etc. However, as per the latest
instructions framed by the Bhagalpur Zilla Parishad, a settlement could have been
done only through public auction and such a settlement would have been valid for
a maximum period of three years. Therefore, Local Self-Government Minister
Satyendra Narayan Sinha promptly cancelled the settlement as it was illegal as
per the revised instructions. P.K.J. Menon, who was appointed in place of
the regular Commissioner of Bhagalpur Mr Abraham, who was on leave at that
time, issued the orders for cancellation of Mr Abraham’s decision. Thus the
allegation of favouritism in the interest of the ghat-contractor as a reward for
buying a house at a higher price a year before was completely baseless. Given
the price of houses, the particular sale could be termed as ‘distress
sale’. It would have been better if the opposition had made allegations
after verifying the facts. The House could have thus avoided such attempts
on the character assassination of a fellow member and an esteemed Minister of
the Cabinet’. The issue ended there.
Raja
Dinesh Singh, the King of Kalakankar, a close aide of Indira Gandhi and a Minister
of State in her Cabinet visited Bihar in 1966 ostensibly to study the state of
famine. However, his visit fuelled speculation that everything was not right
between the Bihar Chief Minister and the High-Command. Words went out that
Dinesh Singh was sent to study the pros and cons of removing Krishna Ballabh
Babu and replacing him with Satyendra Narayan Sinha as the Chief Minister. Satyendra
Babu vehemently denied these rumours and did not allow any misunderstanding to
crop up between him and Krishna Ballabh Babu. Years later 'Chhote Saheb'
clarified that he had declined the offer of the High Command as such a decision
was bereft of popular sentiment. Today we do not have such leaders who prefer
to stick to their ideology and do not hanker for power.
Given his administrative
skill, mass base and popularity, Satyendra Narayan Sinha was a Chief
Ministerial material and was often referred to as the "Future CM”.
Unfortunately, he had to wait for long before he could become Chief Minister in
1989, though this was for a short spell of merely ten months (March-December
1989). Satyendra Narayan Sinha died on 4 September 2006.
Satyendra
Narayan Sinha is still remembered in the political circles in Bihar for the
landmark decisions he took as the Education Minister. After his departure as
the Education Minister in 1967, Bihar’s education system slipped into a morass
from which it could never recover. 1967 was was a watershed year of the education
system in Bihar. The year was marked by opposition backed student’s agitations.
The opposition shamelessly and selfishly manner used the power of the misled
group of youths the ‘jigar ke tukde’ to acquire power. The reputation
of the valued educational institutions of Bihar lay in tatters as gross
indiscipline on the campus resulted in delayed academic sessions and flight of
talent from Bihar to Delhi and other better destinations. The standard of
education nose-dived and students were declared to have passed even after
failing to clear English as a subject. This came to be known as ‘Karpoori Division’-
named after Karpoori Thakur who took over the mantle of Education Ministry from
Satyendra Babu.
In 1969
when Indira Gandhi split the Congress, Satyendra Babu stayed back in the
original Congress along with Krishna Ballabh Babu. This Congress came to be
called the Congress (Organization). Satyendra Babu was the President of the
State unit of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (Organization) when news of
Krishna Ballabh Babu’s death in a tragic car accident reached him in Patna. He
was aghast to hear the news-"In
the death of Mr K. B. Sahay, one of the most colorful personalities in Bihar
politics had been removed. K. B. sahay was an able administrator and patriot, a
great organizer and the architect of Zamindari abolition in the country. The
void created by his death would be difficult to fill’.
Just a day
before his death on 3rd June 1974, Krishna Ballabh Babu had met Jai
Prakash Narayan at the Patna Airport. Jai Prakash Narayan was back in Patna from
Vellore where he had gone for treatment of prostate. During this meet, Krishna
Ballabh Babu had assured the cooperation of the Congress (Organization)
for the proposed 'Sampoorna Kranti' that Jai Prakash Babu had
planned to launch. Hence both Satyendra Babu and Jai Prakash Narayan were deeply
saddened and were left aghast at the sudden exit of Krishna Ballabh Babu. Satyendra
Narayan Sinha was nevertheless true to his words and extended the support of
Congress (Organization) to the ‘Sampurna Kranti’ movement. The Congress
(Organization) under Satyendra Narayan Sinha emerged as a strong force that
rallied behind Jai Prakash Narayan in his quest to dislodge Mrs Indira Gandhi from
the seats of power post-emergency.
