What was a low-level bungalow stand-off in Bihar has now come to a head. Choudhary, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal in his crosshairs over the matter of official residences, has been blunt. “This is not a monarchy,” he said, in what is becoming a wider argument over who is entitled to what and the norms of running a state.
You have to look at 10, Circular Road to see where this is coming from. That is where former chief minister Rabri Devi has put her foot down and won’t be moving. She was given 39, Hardinge Road as leader of the opposition in the legislative council, but she hasn’t made the move. Her son, Tejashwi Yadav, the assembly’s opposition leader, is at 1, Polo Road.
What set off the latest round
It happened at a Sahyog camp in Sheikhpura. Choudhary didn’t have to name the RJD to make his point about hereditary claims on state assets. “The mother wants one house, the son another. It is not a monarchy,” he observed, turning it into a question of democratic accountability.
On the other side, RJD leaders are having none of the bungalow they are in being handed to a current minister. The opposition’s anger has made this a political face-off, with each side touting their own idea of proper administration.
Housing or an inheritance?
Choudhary likes to point out he doesn’t do things that way. He has been living in his own home for years and only started out of 1, Anney Marg – or Lok Sevak Bhavan as it is known now – because his predecessor Nitish Kumar told him to after he left for the Rajya Sabha.
He has nothing but respect for the way Nitish vacated the place when he was done. “When my people tell me to go, I will be out of there without a second thought,” he says, making it clear that is how a leader should be.
How the RJD is standing its ground
They see it as being treated with a heavy hand. And Rabri Devi has been very direct with the chief minister. “Let him throw me out if he has to. I am not leaving,” she has said, even after a few notices and a court fine of Rs 50,000.
There is some history here. Choudhary used to be in her cabinet, then deputy CM for a couple of years. Now, as the first BJP man to run a government in the state, he is drawing a hard line between what is allotted by law and what a family might feel is theirs, with some pointed remarks on ‘bapauti’.
Why you should care
It is more than a difference of addresses. It is about whether those in power are willing to follow the rulebook. With well-known figures at 10, Circular Road and 1, Polo Road, we will see just how much the state is prepared to enforce when it comes to handing over housing.
Make them move to 39, Hardinge Road and you may have a new standard for orderly handovers. Let them stay and you risk making a habit of it, which makes for a lax administration.
For the time being, these are the stakes in Bihar:
– A precedent on how to handle housing allotments
– Whether governance is taken to be based on rules
– How the public views the fairness of it all
Where we are headed
Nobody is budging. The CM is talking of compliance and the RJD is putting up a fight over the timing and the fairness of it. We will have to wait and see if the orders are carried out and with what speed.
Put aside the talk for a moment and there is a simple test: do leaders put public rules before personal ones? In a place like Bihar, where such things are noticed, 10, Circular Road could be the line in the sand for a long time.
