Saturday 4 September 2021

'THE LEGACY': 17: 'CHHOTE SAHAB' SATYENDRA NARAYAN SINHA AND KRISHNA BALLABH SAHAY (04/09/2021)

 

'CHHOTE SAHAB' SATYENDRA NARAYAN SINHA
(12 JULY 1917- 04 SEPTEMBER 2006)

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. 

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