There cannot be one set of law for some and another set for others. But that is what the BJP government at the Centre seems to be thinking of and actually making noises about. The BJP tried hard to keep Laloo Prasad Yadav'’ Rashtriya Janata Dal out of power in Bihar; it failed despite its many machinations and intrigues after installing a seven-day wonder in the form of Nitish Kumar in Patna. However, once Rabri Devi managed to show her majority in the floor of the Assembly, it was then up to the BJP to now try and send her to jail and after framing a case of disproportionate assets case against the Yadav family, has managed to do just that by implicating both Laloo and Rabri. Though the Governor gave assent to prosecution and though the income tax department has launched a with-hunt for the Yadav family, nothing has been established as yet about the nature of proof that the chief minister has against her as well as the RJD chief.

However, noises are already being made by the Opposition, led by the BJP no doubt, that the chief minister must step down from office in the best traditions of democracy. It is hard to swallow this as coming as it does from the purveyors of democracy the BJP way since we are all aware about the number of chargesheets that are pending against top BJP leaders, to name one, home minister Lal Krishna Advani himself. Not to forget the human resources development minister Murli Manohar Joshi who, alongwith Advani has been chargesheeted by a Lucknow court for his role in the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. While these two leaders continue to hold high offices of the Union government, the clamour in the BJP for Laloo and Rabri’s heads seem slightly out of context and totally misplaced. There, as the CPI(M) politburo has mentioned in a statement, cannot be two sets of rules governing the country. If Rabri has to step down, then so should Advani and Joshi.