Friday 31 December 2021

'THE LEGACY': 23: BEER CHAND PATEL AND KRISHNA BALLABH SAHAY (31/12/2021)

 








In the elections for the post of the leader of the Congress Legislature Party after the third general elections in 1962, Krishna Ballabh Babu was defeated by the incumbent Chief Minister Pandit Binodanand Jha. Notwithstanding his administrative acumen and leadership qualities, Krishna Ballabh Babu had failed to stitch an invincible caste equation in his favour which was so essential in a caste-based Bihari society and was thus no match to the Brahmin, Rajput alliance of Pandit Binodanand Jha.

Pandit Binodanand Jha was aware of Krishna Ballabh Sahay’s capabilities and was therefore always suspicious of him. Though Jha included Sahay in his cabinet he assigned him the less important ministry of Cooperatives to keep him on the sidelines. However, K. B. Sahay proved his mettle even as the Cooperative Minister that left even Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru impressed. K. B. Sahay took several steps to enhance the role of the Cooperative movement in the agriculture and cottage industry sector and declared emphatically ‘that Real Swarajya for the poor people could be achieved only through the Cooperative Movement’. The important decisions he took while pursuing this vision, made this department a strong link between agriculture and allied activities like dairy and fisheries, aviary and small and cottage industries like weaving and handloom. This department created newer opportunities for rural employment that was highly appreciated by the visiting central team. When this team went back it apprised the Prime Minister of the changes that were made possible in Bihar through Cooperatives.

In this backdrop of political developments, when the Congress MLAs gathered at Sadaqat Ashram in September 1963, for the election of the leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the wake of Pandit Binodanand Jha’s resignation under ‘Kamraj Plan’, the moment came for Krishna Ballabh Sahay to put forward his candidature once again. Pitted against him was Beer Chand Patel who was supported by Pandit Binodanand Jha. Krishna Ballabh Sahay was cautious this time as he played his cards diligently to draw the support from the Kushwahas (Koeris), Kurmis and the Yadavas- the three prominent backward castes that came to be known as the “'Triveni Sangh” in coming days. With the help of the ‘Triveni Sangh’, Krishna Ballabh Sahay romped home to victory getting the support of twice the number of legislatures compared to Beer Chand Patel.

After the elections, K. B. Sahay showed exemplary leadership qualities and his magnanimity towards the vanquished was exhibited when he offered Beer Chand Patel the important portfolio of Revenue- a subject that was so dear to him. There was not a shade of vindictiveness in K. B. Sahay as he worked in perfect coordination as a team leader with Beer Chand Patel.  Krishna Ballabh Babu had known Beer Chand Patel personally. He knew that Beer Chand Patel was pitted against him by his opponents. Therefore, there was never any animosity between them on the issue.

Krishna Ballabh Babu, like his namesake Lord Krishna, had this quality of character that if he ever received help from a person he would remember the person lifelong and pay him back by helping the person at the time of his need. During the period 1957-1962, when Krishna Ballabh Babu was not in power, either as a Minister or even as an MLA, he had sought the intervention of Beer Chand Patel, who was then the Health Minister, for the treatment of his son at Ranchi. Beer Chand Patel had responded almost immediately and had ensured the best facility for the medical treatment of K.B. Sahay’s son. K. B. Sahay remembered this help and even confirmed it during a debate in the Bihar Legislative Assembly. Krishna Ballabh Sahay was thus indebted to Beer Chand Patel and the manner he treated Beer Chand Patel after the Congress Legislative Party elections was an acknowledgement of the support Beer Chand Patel had extended him. Krishna Ballabh Babu considered Beer Chand Patel his friend and not a political rival. Therefore Krishna Ballabh Babu gave him the responsibility of the important department of revenue.

In November 1963, when the National Development Council constituted the Land Reforms Implementation Committee (LRIC) after the mid-term evaluation of the Third Five-Year Plan, Krishna Ballabh Sahay was elected as a member of this Committee in acknowledgement of his experience in land reforms. Former Prime Minister Gulzari Lal Nanda was the Chairman of the Committee. Krishna Ballabh Babu would almost always attend the meeting along with his Revenue Minister i.e. Beer Chand Patel. They gave important suggestions on land reforms which were incorporated as the recommendations by the Committee in its Report. The Report of the Land Reforms Implementation Committee was submitted to the National Development Council which adopted many of these recommendations.

The incomplete tasks of land reforms were initiated once again during the Chief Ministership of Krishna Ballabh Sahay. Beer Chand Patel made an important contribution to this exercise. As a committed lieutenant, Beer Chand Patel stood by his leader and together they enacted quite a few laws and amended others to enhance their efficacy. The perfect camaraderie between them was in full display during debates in the Bihar Legislative Assembly those days. The most important of these legislations was the Bihar Land Reforms (Determination of Ceiling Areas and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1964 which fixed a ceiling of land to be held by each family. The land in addition to the ceiling was proposed to be acquired and distributed among the landless. Once again this Bill got embroiled in legal complications and protracted debates in the Legislative Assembly but Krishna Ballabh Babu and Beer Chand Patel were successful in getting this bill passed. Amendments in the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act were also carried out during this period to make these legislations more effective.

Another important Bill was the Bihar Urban Land Tax Act 1964, which proposed to levy tax on urban land and houses. The Bill was opposed by the members of the Socialist Party. Beer Chand Patel’s speech on this occasion makes for an interesting read- ‘It is said that love happens just on the spur of moment because love emanates from the heart and the head has no role to play in it. No government can be popular by imposing taxes. Yet just as one falls in love, so does a Government is forced to levy tax because in this era of urbanization it is the responsibility of the government to provide basic facilities in the cities and this is possible only when additional funds are arranged for this. This is the reason for proposing the urban tax’.

A member from the Socialist Party objected to the proposal by posing a hypothetical situation- ‘if someone had ten bighas of land in the city and lives in a hut, will he be taxed under this law?’ Beer Chand Patel was least amused by the question. Turning the table on Socialist leaders, Beer Chand Patel questioned the thought process of the Socialists,–‘You tend to question the proposed Bill in the name of poor people. You work in the guise of helping the poor but your activities support the rich. You must shed this pretence of being a messiah of the poor. We in Congress will be ready to strengthen your hand if you come forward with a contribution of five hundred rupees from big moneylenders. But the Socialism that you preach and profess would leave a person with a yard of clothes naked and allow another person with ten yards of clothes to retain nine yards of the clothes if a dictate is passed to acquire one yard of cloth from each citizen. According to your statement, the government must treat uniformly irrespective of whether a person lives in a palatial building in an urban area or a person who lives in a hut in the urban conglomerate. This type of thinking smacks of gaining cheap popularity by a beleaguered leadership but we as a party cannot act in such fashion. The Socialism that you preach led you to return the land to the Tata in 1960 as a result of which the government is incurring a loss of seven lakh rupees every year. You Socialists want to give concession to the Tatas making them more affluent while you do not care for the poor.'

The debate was clinched by Beer Chand Patel whose oratory skill came as a pleasant surprise to the Socialists who were dumb-struck at the eloquence with which the Minister had cut them to size. Eventually, the Bill was passed and enacted as an Act, enabling the government to arrange resources for urban development.

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