 |
| 'JAN-NAYAK' KARPOORI THAKUR (24 JANUARY 1924-17 FEBRUARY 1988) |
 |
| KRISHNA BALLABH SAHAY (31 DECEMBER 1898-3 JUNE 1974) |
The Bihar Government observes the birth
anniversary of former Chief Minister ‘Jannayak’ Karpoori Thakur
(24 January 1924-17 February 1988), as a State function. Karpoori Thakur was a
prominent opposition leader when Krishna Ballabh Sahay was the Chief Minister
of Bihar in the Sixties (1963-1967). The Assembly debates are replete with
interesting debates between these two stalwarts. Some of these are narrated
here which makes for interesting reading.
Karpoori
Thakur entered the freedom struggle during the Quit India Movement. He was a Socialist
who actively took up the cause of labours and peasants. He was elected MLA from
Tajpur when general elections were held for the first time in 1952. In
1962, he was elected MLA on a Praja Socialist Party ticket once again from Tajpur. In
1967, Karpoori Thakur became the Education Minister of Bihar. As the Education
Minister, he abolished the mandatory requirement of securing pass marks in the
English language paper in the board examination. As a result, students in
Bihar were declared to pass despite failing in the English subject. This
came to be known as the 'Karpoori Division'.
Karpoori
Thakur held the post of Chief Minister of Bihar on two occasions- the first
time for six odd months in the era of 'Ayaram-Gayaram' between 22
December 1970 and 2 June 1971 and the second time in the Janata government for
two years from 24 June 1977 to 24 April 1979. His decision to implement the
recommendations of the Mungeri Lal Commission related to reservation to backward
classes in jobs and the resultant protests led to his downfall. He was
succeeded by Shri Ram Sundar Das in 1979.
During the Fourth
Bihar Legislative Assembly (1962–1967) Karpoori Thakur, a Praja
Socialist Party MLA was a prominent opposition leader. The House witnessed many
interesting debates between him and then Chief Minister Krishna Ballabh Sahay.
These anecdotes point towards the dignified parliamentary traditions of a bygone
era.
In 1966
Bihar was passing through a difficult phase of food crisis due to famine. The
Government arranged for the collection of food grains directly from the
peasants in each village at the stipulated rates and their distribution among the
general public through the public distribution system. The decision was aimed
at ruling out the possible hoarding of food grains by grain dealers. The
responsibility for the collection of foodgrains was entrusted to the Block
Development Officers who executed the government instructions with assistance
from the Village Local Self-Government i.e. the Gram-panchayats. The Block
Development Officers were also assigned the duty of collection of revenue in
the same manner. To facilitate their work, the Block Development Officers were
also provided with a vehicle, normally a jeep, for traversing the undulated
village terrain.
During a
debate on the floor of the Bihar Legislative Assembly on 7th February
1966, Chief Minister Krishna Ballabh Sahay was responding to a Member’s
question on the Governor’s Address to the House. The Member had drawn the
attention of the House towards misuse of office vehicle by Block Development
Officers. Krishna Ballabh Babu informed the House of the necessity of providing
jeep to B.D.O.s which, he said, was essential for the collection of goods and
foodgrains-‘If the jeep is not there, how the officers will work? Yes,
I do agree that there must not be a misuse of office vehicles and we shall
issue necessary directives to control all such misuse’- K. B. Sahay assured the
Member and the House.
Karpoori
Thakur intervened at this juncture and sought to know what action the Government
had taken against certain officers- ‘Tell us something about the B.D.O.s of
Warisnagar and Aldega. Does the Government has any report of functioning of
these two officers or not?’- Karpoori Thakur asked.
Krishna
Ballabh Babu noticed that Karpoori Thakur had remained seated while raising his
query in the House. Krishna Ballabh Babu was much senior and more experienced
than Karpoori Thakur and had a better understanding and knowledge of
parliamentary traditions. He was aware that when the Speaker presides
over the House and a Member seeks his attention, he ought to stand as a
mark of respect to the dignity of the Chair and then seek the permission of the
Chair to speak. Although Karpoori Thakur was an honourable member of the
Business Advisory Committee of the House and was aware of these traditions,
somehow this faux-pass skipped his attention. Krishna Ballabh Babu was not
inclined to cause any embarrassment to either the Speaker or Karpoori Thakur.
Diligently he alerted Karpoori Thakur-'I request the Hon’ble Member to stand up
while putting his question for if you keep sitting people will assume that Shri
Karpoori Thakur has been beaten so mercilessly by Krishna Ballabh Sahay that he
cannot even get up'.
It had so
happened that last year in August (1965), some student organizations had launched
an agitation against fee increase in colleges. To take political advantage
of the issue, the leaders of the opposition parties had organized a meeting at
Gandhi Maidan. Even before this meeting could take place, Section 144 was
imposed in Patna. However, on the appointed date, the leaders of the
opposition gathered at Gandhi Maidan to protest. The leaders and the
people involved in the meeting were once again warned by the police to disperse.
As a result of the warning, the general public present there melted away. But
the leaders remained seated firmly on the stage. Karpoori Thakur was among
them. The police lathi-charged the leaders and arrested all of them and sent
them to jail. They were released later in the evening. Many leaders
including Karpoori Thakur suffered bruises due to the lathi charge. Six months
had passed since the incident and it was clear that the reason for Karpoori
Thakur remaining seated was not due to the incident that took place six months back.
Yet by obliquely reminding Karpoori Thakur, Krishna Ballabh Babu was trying
to alert Karpoori Thakur by taking the blame on himself to rectify
it. Karpoori Thakur realized this at once. He quickly replied- 'I
had recovered from the lathi-charge well in time but am unable to stand up as I
am suffering from a bout of typhoid.'
Krishna
Ballabh Sahay retorted in a lighter vein- ‘But if you keep seated while raising
an issue voters will think that you are not fit enough to fight elections and
you may not get a single vote in the next elections’.
This led to
uproarious laughter by the Members of the House in which Karpoori Thakur and
Krishna Ballabh Sahay also joined.
On another
occasion, Karpoori Thakur drew the attention of the government towards the increased
price of food grains.
Krishna
Ballabh Sahay-‘It has been said that the price of food grains, especially rice,
has become very high, from fifty-five to sixty rupees a maund. But
I want to inform the House that according to the data that comes to
us every day the price of rice is forty rupees and fifty paise per maund (1maund=40
ser).
Shri
Karpoori Thakur- 'The figures that come to you are wrong'.
Krishna
Ballabh Sahay-'You will not believe the figures that come to us'.
Shri
Karpoori Thakur-'Fifty rupees a maund is generally the price of rice'.
Krishna
Ballabh Sahay-'The rice that Shri Karpoori Thakur eats is very fine
rice, so he buys it at fifty rupees a maund. But the price of the rice
which is eaten or used in my place or people of Bihar, in general, is coarse
rice which does not cost more than forty to forty-one rupees a maund'.
This innocuous
statement on food habits exposed the difference between the words and deeds of
the Socialists. Though the Socialists professed egalitarianism and projected
themselves as the messiah of the poor and the downtrodden, in practice they
were more elitist as it got reflected in their taste for good food. Karpoori
Thakur, who was the leader of the Praja Socialist Party Legislature Party in
the House, was a connoisseur- Krishna Ballabh Babu was able to convey the
message convincingly that left even Karpoori Thakur stunned. Such was the
oratory skill of Krishna Ballabh Babu who could change the course of debate
through his wit and intellect. The Bihar Legislative Assembly debates during
the period he was the Chief Minister of Bihar (1963-1967) abound with such
interesting instances when Krishna Ballabh Babu was able to clinch the debate
in his favour through his remarkable wit.
Courtesy: Bihar Assembly Debates
No comments:
Post a Comment