Languishing Bihar

I t is again happening in Bihar.-. Democratic election. by wooing voters or looters. . There are no core issues which Bihar has been facing for the past 57 years.

It is only in Bihar where national issues matter most. People just don't care about their surroundings. For those who find themselves suffocated; the politicians have at least arranged several trains to cater to their need of escaping from Bihar. Although the general mass of Bihar are the great sufferers, on the day of election they forget all the past deeds of their outgoing Government and start voting on caste consideration. Yadav will only vote for Yadav irrespective of the party. Although casteism is common in India, in Bihar it is more pronounced where people are born, multiply and die. They all have their own place amongst themselves and accept that it is the way to keep their community from disintegrating. This system has been working well among Bihari people.

In Bihar the phenomenon of kidnapping and abduction has deep roots. The deep rooted corruption among bureaucrats, nexus between politicians and bureaucrats, loot of public money by contractors in hegemony with politicians and bureaucrats, induced a psyche in the deprived section of society “YOU EARN, I’LL EAT”. It has beaten all the existing technology and has forced fresh batches of technocrats to migrate from Bihar. Doctors who had some opportunity in Bihar became guinea pigs. This phenomenon of Bihar has found its place in Iraq and thus it has become global. Sarcastically Bihari technocrats can earn foreign exchange by developing “Kidnapoware Technology Park” at Patna. This technology can have collaboration with Toyota, Honda, Ford and Hyundai etc. whose scientists could burn mid-night oil to provide very smooth ride to kidnappers and criminals on the ever bumpy roads of Bihar. Nokia, Motorola and others will keep assisting in the expansion of projects undertaken by Team Kidnappers. The state government is fully determined to remain No.1 on this terror technology front.

The word “Kidnapping” hit the headlines in Bihar in early 1980s for forced marriages. Several hundred thousands of state government employees in all ranks became part of the Bihar government either by Pairvee or paying some lump sum. In order to recover their money and to meet the extravagant expenses on social customs like marriage ceremonies they went on with their activities bringing more persons in their fold. The blamers for this ignoble profession are the bureaucrats and politicians of the past who indulged in corrupt practices with impunity. They have built empire after empire in one city or another in Bihar as well as in Delhi or Mumbai; and a few of them abroad also. This elite class made whole Bihari society to think of becoming looters of the ill- gotten money. This was one of the reasons why in early eighties, rank holders of JEE examination (IITs) were making beeline for the plum civil engineering branch. There is no denying the fact that they have some of their colleagues as martyrs (honest), who were visionary and lost their lives unlike the heroes of Bollywood thrillers. The most unfortunate part was that a large part of the educated class hizacked entire developmental projects, and left their motherland to languish. No one ever receives bills while buying any items from some shops. They have been still carrying out malpractices in connivance with sales and income tax department. If educated kidnappers feel that these non-educated Biharis (kidnappers and criminals both) are blind, they are wrong. It is their behavior which pushed Bihar into such a sorry state. In fact, some of them started polluting the political domain in early 80s and started helping goons to carry out their activity by providing them their share. There is no exaggeration in this fact that we had or still have strong and upright force right from the high-ranking officers to lower level chaprasis (peon). In the process of holding whole Bihar to ransom, they made their lives easy with the help of their political friends by sidelining some of their colleagues. These intellectual kidnappers mostly came from upper castes, the torchbearer of the society. These high profile intellectuals did not give any engineering or social model to 20th century, but gave very clear and loud message of becoming rich and powerful. This was enough to light the lantern of anarchy. Laloo Prasad Yadav was watching the whole drama while sitting on opposition bench. When he came to power in 1990, he hijacked whole system in such a way that it became free for all. The empowerment of the middle castes in the wake of Mandal report spurred them for the loot of government money. Laloo Yadav cashed it very cleverly. A young activist from JNU came to Bihar to switch on the ray of hope for doomed section of society, but lost his life in Siwan. Since then, politically active Bihar is churning itself to throw the cream out of Bihar and keeping residuals to maintain high entropy so that cream could not percolate or relocate. These creams are trying to sneak into their homeland through non-governmental organization for betterment of Bihar but they are dismayed at the anarchy prevailing in the State.

Social-Political equation

In Bihar elections are held on the basis of socio political equations. Laloo the leger de main is conscious of the identities of caste. He will be amputated if he lost his hold on the Yadav vote. But this alone is not enough to see him through. In Bihar's own equation, the Yadavas have emerged as a dominant, cohesive entity in recent decades and frequently oppose other Hindu caste groups. He succeeded in nurturing Muslim-Yadava combination. Another wooer of Dalit votes, Ram Vilas Paswan is in the making. He is trying to form Muslim- Dalit combination. The caste Hindus can not unite on one platform for political empowerment in Bihar for the sake of their own development. We doomed all most all government schools in the name of selecting and fielding our own ward as teachers. Several schools have unqualified teachers, but they are still there because they are relatives of high-ranking Bihari socio-politico officials or leaders. Any Bihari has not provided good schools like DPS, St. Michael, St. Josheph’s, Notredame, DAVs and others. We are highly escapist; leave the state in lurch by blaming each other (read caste). Even if a few Biharis want to do something worth, we keep finding the motives behind their enthusiasms. The most disgusting instance was, when “someone” tried to know the caste of SHUBHAM PRAKHAR, a recent hero who hit the national headlines from Bihar. This “someone” is none other than the reflection of Bihari attitude grappling our mind-set in such a way that we can’t foresee any vision over the rhetoric of castes. This is the reason why we have several sub-organizations fulfilling the need of individual castes led by resourceful persons. The most recent example was Mr. Ranjeet Singh (CAT scam), who secured nearly 60,000 votes during 2004 Lok Sabha elections from Begusarai.

Merely changing the political spectrum will not change this attitude. Change comes through revolution whether it is political, social or industrial. That is why JP Movementfaaaailed. Do Biharis feel that the end of Rabri Devi government will change the direction of wind blowing across the state? The answer is a BIG NO.

The lack of positive attitude amongst majority of us, right from the older generation to younger one, has impeded the process of normalization. The immunity of unaffected population (Laat Sahebs and their cohorts) of society from kidnapping, murder, rape and other social disorder tells us that Bihar still lives in clichés. In the last 4 years of 21st century, Bihar is still invulnerable to change. A total cramming in education has compelled most of them to live in a dark state.

I am not criticizing anyone, I am writing simple and harsh truth to wake younger generation up who are growing with the bitterness within his or her family irrespective of castes/religions. Let’s condemn all those government servants who partially or fully assisted the system in the past or present for allowing Bihar to remain in “COMA”. If you are feeling uncomfortable, either you do something or resign? You are there to serve people; please do not let the system to die everyday. If this continues in coming years, Bihar will explode like France of 1789 or Romania of 1989. Is Bihar really waiting for ‘Social Tsunami’?

Communal-Secular Talk show

Policies of Congress before and after 1947 towards Muslims was such that majority of Hindu started believing Muslims as the son-in-law of India. As the time passed by, the disgruntled/frustrated Hindus surfaced on one side (known as Communal) and majority of Muslims and the rest of Hindus on the other side (known as Secular). They do not see each other as sons of India at the behest of neo-political pundits and are now living in odium. The rest of Hindus and frustrated Hindus have been playing hide and seek game at the interface of communal-secular layer at appropriate time. If you see the phenomenon at nanoscopic level, both type of Hindus treat Muslims in a similar fashion. Laloo (a leader of rest of Hindus from Bihar) smells Muslim mind very well and then play game in a very subtle way at appropriate time without leaving any stone unturned (New Godhra report). He attended funeral of Yasser Arafat to please Muslims.It was the duty of Ministry of external affairs but anyone can represent Union of India, so why not Laloo P. Yadav, a Railway Minister? He has issued several statements on Arafat in his political career without concerning much for Palestinians but with an eye on Bihari Muslims. He visited Pakistan twice, not to keep any good relation with Pakistan but good relation with Muslim voters in Bihar as well as few years after in whole India. Laloo ji gives message to Muslims indirectly what the fanatic Hindus of BJP express quite openly. SO JUST GIVE ME VOTE; otherwise peace may be broken in Bihar. Muslims have no choice but to prefer to “VOTE”for LALOO letting Bihar go to dogs.

I read one article in Patna Daily. com. "Paswan announces electoral alliance with Congress" dated Jan. 20, 2005. Again the same in Deccan Herald dated Jan 24, 2005. Here are some excerpts.....

"Meanwhile, much to the embarrassment of many of his own party leaders, Paswan will now be seen campaigning with a Osama bin Laden look-alike who, the party believes, will draw Muslim votes for the LJP. "If Khalid Noor (the name of Osama look-alike) looks like Osama, what can we do about it?" Paswan said trying to underplay the criticism from foes and friends alike."

“I am proud of being equated with such a great name. I am a great admirer of Osama Bin Laden, as he is fighting for the rights of the poor and the downtrodden”, he says. Determined to oust the Laloo-Rabri government from the state, for turning the living conditions of his community from bad to worse during the 15 year RJD rule, Noor was hopeful of bagging an LJP ticket to contest the assembly elections. But that was not to be.“No, Paswanjee told me that contesting the assembly election did not fit my status. He has promised to send me to the Rajya Sabha pointing out that the country needs me,” he says.

It means Paswan or other Bihari politicians believ that Osama, a known terrorist lives in the heart of Bihari Muslims; so his look-alike will fetch vote for his political party. Again, where is the dilemma in Muslim intelligentsia?

Comment...