Everyone likes free gifts and lawmakers are no exception.
As the budget session of the legislature draws to an end on March 31, many of the state's 243 MLAs and 75 MLCs are mourning that the tradition of every government department gifting something to every legislator is over.
The gift tradition has been going on since the '80s, but chief minister Nitish Kumar has axed it after a controversy erupted last year over the costly freebies such as ovens, smartphones, suitcases, handbags and external hard disks. Now, the lawmakers get only diaries, calendars, pens, paper folders and suchlike. Most lawmakers exit the legislature as soon as they can unlike before when they would stick around because the gifts used to be distributed in the second half of the session.
"It was a good tradition of gifting legislators but it was Sushil Kumar Modi and other Opposition leaders who made it a big issue unnecessarily," rued RJD leader and minority welfare minister Abdul Gafoor. "Even in Parliament, there is a tradition of giving gifts to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members."
After the controversy last year, many BJP leaders including Sushil had returned their gifts to the departments concerned. Sushil had also written to Nitish, urging him to put an effective check on the gift culture and pointed to the huge amounts of money being wasted.
Last year, 28 departments spent around Rs 1 crore on such gifts, said sources in the know.
JDU legislator and former minister Lesi Singh agreed the Opposition played spoilsport. "There was no need to make an issue out of it, but now after the gift culture has been stopped, we cannot do anything," Lesi said. Senior JDU leader and MLA Shyam Rajak played safe, saying he was neither happy nor sad for not getting any gift this year.
Excise minister and Congress leader Abdul Jalil Mastan backed the chief minister's decision.
"Every department used to gift lawmakers and the money came from the respective departments. Nitish ji realised it was wastage of money and ordered to stop the culture. I think nobody should have any problem with it," Mastan said.
Cooperative minister Alok Mehta, too, said he does not miss the gifts.
However, many MLAs said in off the record conversations that the money spent on the gifts was peanuts compared to the state's total budget.
Many even complained that earlier there used to be a child-like enthusiasm among the lawmakers over the gifts that has now subsided.
Last year, when asked why lawmakers needed ovens as gift, education department minister Ashok Choudhary had said they would used it heat up mid-day meals.