The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Bihar Assembly

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Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Bihar Assembly

The Centre's move to dissolve the Bihar Assembly without allowing it to take even the first breath is unfair. If words had self-respect, `democracy' and `secularism' would have committed hara-kiri. As for the phrase `horse-trading,' horses, including mares, feel disgraced by the manner in which it has been used and abused.

S.V. Krishna,
Visakhapatnam, A.P.

* * *

Instead of getting the Assembly dissolved, the Congress should have taken the initiative to hammer out a deal between Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan. By not doing this, the party failed in its role of a leader and senior partner of the UPA.

S. Kamat,
Alto Porvorim, Goa

* * *

When a Congress Government had to survive in the early 1990s, it had no qualms about engineering defections. But when the Opposition groups in Bihar tried to form a government, the Congress thought it was the worst kind of horse-trading.

Clearly, the Congress has one set of rules for itself and another for the Opposition.

K. Natarajan,
Thiruvananthapuram

* * *

Bihar-like situations develop as a result of the undue discretion and absolute immunity enjoyed by elected representatives. In Bihar, these representatives failed to discharge their duty. The paradox is that politicians blame the voters for returning a hung Assembly. This is a direct intrusion in the people's right to vote in the manner they like.

P.R.V. Raja,
Pandalam, Kerala

* * *

Though politics makes strange bedfellows, in Bihar no coalition could be worked out to usher in a popular government. A split in the LJP triggered massive horse-trading. Though the President was abroad, he had to act given the gravity of the situation. Yet the UPA Government is being criticised for its timely action.

It is unfortunate that even constitutional authorities are not kept beyond the pale of run-of-the-mill politics and are time and again accused of partiality.

K.M. Sundaram,
Chennai

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