Analysis

The Weeping of Bihar

Bihar has always been in news ' be it the matter of Nilhe movement or Samagra Kranti or the movement of social justice following the recommendation of Mandal Commission. It appears as if no national movement can be successful without the contribution of this state. This is reality too. But, today the same state is passing through such a crisis that life of a common man or a well off minister is not secured. No doubt, Bihar has been labeled as a land of kidnapping, rape, riot and group murder. This is the tragedy that the rulers are having grand sleep in their royal places --- quite unaware of the shrikes of innocent widows, who are crying in every nook and corner to unburden the heaviness caused by the killings of their husbands.

Actually, the devaluation of this state is not at all a recent phenomenon. But such outcome is the regular process of several decades. The leaders of the state have always deceived the illiterate mass of this state. They befool the voters from the stages and even abuse each other in the face of voters. But the story behind the curtain is different. Leaders, belonging to any party, are friends of each other. They walk together, talk together and drink together in the canteen of assemblies or the pub of hotels after reaping the confidence of the people for their own enjoyment. Not only this, if needed be, they can even stretch people's flesh for their interest. Thus, the crude reality of Bihar lies in the fact that the distance between humanity and animality is fast minimizing.

The rulers have been changing in Bihar from time to time. It is Congress that ruled for a long time. People also tried to find an alternative government. In the year 1989, people rooted out the Congress rule and voted to power the neo - representatives of social justice, expecting something refreshing from the novel power. But whatever has followed in the past ten years in Bihar reminds us of George Orwell's novel THE ANIMAL FARM. In this novel the animals of a farm blow the trumpet of revolt against the anarchy caused by person. Fighting on the principles of equality, love and camaraderie they send their human masters away. But soon after the new ruler, a pig begins to smoke cigar and forces the other animals to work under the threat of his hunter. The scenario in Bihar is no different from this. There is height of corruption and immorality. Ministers are enjoying their chairs even after they have been charged of unfairness. These ministers and MLA's sing together the same slogan 'We are one'. The ruling class is behaving like 'Dhritrashtra' of Mahabharata and participating in the deeds of a 'blind rule'. Had it not been so, there would not have been sons or relatives of the ministers moving scot free even after they have been charged of raping the wife of an I.A.S Officer, kidnapping a young girl in daylight in the presence of parents and molesting school girls in the school bus itself on the V.I.P Baily road of Patna where the orators of social justice reside. What a pity! People of Bihar are a hapless lot today and the centre is mum.

The society in which the people of Bihar are living is diseased today. It is easy to guess the fall of its mentality as sweetness of tongue is taken as a symbol of timidity here. Now it is quite impossible for the 'good' to make room for itself in the set up. On the contrary, the rulers are making Hi-fi claims of their pseudo-achievement. And' if someone tries to belie his or her claims, the belt or bullet either treats him. The purity of ends and means has become the story of the past. Bihar has reached around a typical passage of 'morality' where 'light' and 'darkness' forget their identity. It is not that there was no opposition to any good move during struggle for freedom. The torch- bearers of such opposition sometimes identified this freedom as 'light' or as economic prosperity. The breed of such torchbearer was scanty in number then. But today they are ruling in Bihar. The light about which the leaders speak today is nothing but allusion. This allusion is a talisman, which hypnotizes anybody anytime. Bihar is fated to live in this illusion of light and reality of darkness.

The tendencies that had been repeated in the same animal farm to capture powers were repeated in Bihar too. And to keep up the spirit of ruling the power-snatchers have given rise to the culture, which safeguards the pick, pockets, stabbers and goondas but not the civilians. The reality of Bihar is not just a social realism rather it mirrors the tragedy of the modern think tank. The killings of innocent people are enough to drain out human feelings from human mind. The desire of enmity and revenge has so badly gripped the dwellers of Bihar that violence and destruction appear to be the only way out for them. Whatever dogs the dweller of Bihar is either committed enmity, hatred, distance or cattiest shamelessness. It is high time that the political analyst must contemplate as to what is the solution to these problems.

It is true that the people of Bihar have not been taught how to justify the 'independence' in the past 50 years. The first condition of democracy requires planning of multifaceted development and its implementation accordingly. But when the entire country was taking benefit of the green revolution, Bihar politicians were engaged in balancing the ratio of caste politics. In Bihar 'file-politics' rule over any national movements today. No movement for the development has ever taken place in Bihar. On the contrary, bloody revolutions like 'rally', 'maha rally' and 'demonstration' for which another synonym is 'bundh' have become vital in Bihar. About five thousand such rallies have been held alone in Gandhi Maidan of Patna from 1989 to till date.

If the rulers aim is not pure, the fate of the ruled is certainly under cloud. The social discourtesies give rise to moral devaluation and social fall. This is the case of Bihar. Its problems have dipped in blood. This state is a challenge for the entire country because the anatomy of democracy has already crippled here. The diseases of being demoralize are now affecting the other states too. The representatives of mass in U. P proved to be more fallen when they began fighting in assembly with 'boots and mikes' even before the camera. If the decadent tendency of Bihar is not withheld in time, it would affect the other states in times to come and the nation will fall in deeper crises than it is facing today. Whosoever gets power in Bihar begins to follow the ideal of 'enriching one's pocket'. Nobody cares for latest development and related ideals. Bosses are sitting in offices at Patna hardly try to know the plight of peasants; they rarely think about the drying scopes of employment.

Life is just going. It will pass on with the events of routine looting, violence and suspense without solution. The great English essayist Bacon once opined that education is a big power. But the opinion appears irrelevant in the context of modern Bihar. May be, this place would have been the pilgrimage of enlightenment even before Bacon's birth when the universities as Nalanda and Vikramshila had their existence to educate the mass of the entire erstwhile world. Bacon's thought might have been emerged out of the influence of these universities; yet he would never have dreamt that this pious land would one-day turn into dark land of corruption and crime.

Wells and rivers suffice the needs of thirst. If one survives, he gets as many breeds as he needs to pull on the streams of life. The wind blow as usual. People of Bihar have no doubt at all because they know that life and death is bracketed here, and the gulf between man and beast has shrunk. Yes, they are waiting for a bright sunshine and a brilliant messiah who would bring prosperity to the state in the long run. That is why they passively accept the spots of brightness.
 

08-Jun-2003

More by :  Amarendra Kishore

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