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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