The Hindu : Front Page : Parliament nod for President's Rule in Bihar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 22, 2005

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Parliament nod for President's Rule in Bihar

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 21 . Parliament today approved the imposition of President's Rule in Bihar under Article 356 after the Rajya Sabha cleared by a voice vote the proclamation issued by the President on March 7. However, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) members walked out after expressing their opposition to the proclamation.

The House also approved and returned the Bihar Appropriation (Vote on Account) Bill, 2005 for withdrawal of certain sums from the Consolidated Fund of the State of Bihar and the Bihar Appropriation Bill, 2005, to authorise payment and appropriation of certain further sums out of the Consolidated Fund of the State of Bihar for the services of the financial year, 2004-05. Both these Bills had been passed by the Lok Sabha last week. The Bills were moved by the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram.

"Not happy"

Replying to the discussion, the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, said that the Centre was "not happy" about imposing President's Rule and had no intentions of continuing the arrangement for long. "The sooner it disappears the better it would be for Bihar, for democracy and for the system we follow. Elected representatives would have to take steps in this direction to ensure that a popular government, even if it is a minority one, is put in place. They should talk to one another," he said. Emphasising that the "good things by the previous State Government would be continued" he said the expectation was that the Central rule should provide "good governance." For this he sought help from those who had the experience of governance in the State, elected representatives and those in administration. Answering criticism from several members that there had been undue delay in the appointment of advisers, he said there was no provision in the Constitution that required advisers to be appointed. (The dilemma was that) if the advisors were from the State then they would be biased and if they were from outside the State then would require time to settle down. "We would like to see that there is no scope for controversy."

He said Article 356 must be retained as the framers of the Constitution realised that were there to be a situation when a government could not be run by a State then Centre should step in. In the case of Bihar where even a popular minority government could not be put in place there would have been a financial difficulty in running the State and that is when Article 356 came in handy. "I agree with the members that it should be used sparingly."

Responding to the points raised by BJP leader Ravi Shanker Prasad, who initiated the discussion, on "collective leadership," the Home Minister said: "The consequences of any decision made by the Government (Cabinet) — whether acceptable or not to members — cannot be denied by those in government. Nobody would be allowed to say he is not responsible. The members of government are experienced people and they understand the realities in Bihar."

On Mr. Prasad contesting the UPA contention of the Bihar vote being a secular vote, Mr. Patil said the parties which subscribed to secular ideology got the majority vote. "Secularism is the ethos of the people of India. It is nothing but tolerance. Tolerance comes when your heart is comprehensive."

Earlier, Vashisht Narain Singh (JD-U) sought a "White Paper" on the roadmap for Bihar under President's Rule and Ramdeo Bhandary (RJD) opposed President's Rule saying his party should have been given an opportunity to form the government in the State.

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