The Hindu Business Line : Bihar's continuing woes

With one more phase of polling left in the Bihar Assembly polls, the Naxal attack on the Jehanabad prison has brought into sharp focus the serious break-down of law and order in the State. The RJD chief, Mr Lalu Prasad, is widely blamed for most of the State's ills, and of having no agenda for its economic development. But when the politicking is done and the new government is in place, will it be any better, asks Rasheeda Bhagat.

The RJD chief, Mr Lalu Prasad, addressing an election meeting. Can Bihar hope for better times ahead?

AFTER a lull of sorts, exciting times are ahead in the great Indian political theatre, and none of the developments may spell good news for the Congress(I). The exit polls have given the Janata Dal(U)-led NDA an edge over the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress combine in the ongoing Bihar Assembly elections.

If the pollsters and the media have got it right this time, Bihar will see a much-needed change in government. Not that the JD(U) and the BJP will provide a panacea for all the ills of the long-suffering State, but at least, after 15 long years, a different party/group will preside over the destiny of Bihar, a region crying out for change. With one more leg of the ridiculously long election process — spread over a month — remaining, Bihar saw yet another incident of violence and carnage in the storming of the Jehanabad high-security prison by Naxalites on Sunday. It was with horror that the nation reacted to the bloody incident, in which a thousand extremists literally had a free run of the town. They stormed the prison, freed their jailed comrades, butchered some Ranvir Sena men, including a prominent leader, kidnapped some others and left a trail of terror and chaos.

While this incident has again raised the much-asked question on what else could be expected from the jungle raj of Bihar, the root of the problem needs to be revisited. It is the same old story of the oppressed classes hitting back. By no stretch of imagination can such lawlessness and acts of terrorism be condoned, and the latest incident points to gross failure by the State law and order mechanism. But the difficult question is why extremists indulging in violence get support from the Dalits and other poorer sections of the community in this region.

There is little doubt that the caste army Ranvir Sena will retaliate sooner than later and the saga of violence and lawlessness, that is directly related to the dismal implementation of land reforms in Bihar over long years, will continue.

Commenting on the unabating violence in Bihar in the context of the latest Jehanabad incident, Dr Shaibal Gupta, Member-Secretary of the Patna-based ADRI (Asian Development Research Institute), says the violence in Bihar has to be seen on two fronts. "First, the technological angle, and the question whether the State has the mechanism and the capability to come out with an appropriate response to maintain the law and order situation."

Answering the question in the negative he says: "When you have a per capita expenditure on yourpolice that is the lowest in the country, and the police force is not equipped to deal with law and order problems in terms of latest weaponry, communication techniques, etc., this is the result."

But much more startling, from the perspective of the highly emotive social justice issue, is his revelation that "in the last couple of months the Election Commission has tried to resurrect the spectre of the old social coalition which has ruled and ruined Bihar in the last 30 years, by posting most of the forward caste officials in important positions."

He says that sometimes through direct orders and sometimes through the Governor's rule the "EC has systematically done some sort of a backward classes and minority detoxification and has marginalised the officers belonging to these sections. I believe the Jehanabad incident was some kind of a response to this detoxification, done at the behest of the EC."

In many other quarters, there has also been criticism of the EC for stretching the Bihar election over such a long period, in its endeavour to prevent the rigging, booth-capturing, etc., that Bihar elections are notorious for, and that the concentration of police and security forces in the areas where elections were being held gave the Naxal extremists the opportunity to plan this attack.

Obviously, the newly elected Government, whatever its political colour, will have to provide a credible and determined response, not only to the Jehanabad incident, but also to the larger problem of caste and class-based violence which makes a mockery of the State's law and order mechanism.

On exit polls giving the Nitish Kumar-led NDA alliance an edge, Dr Gupta says: "First of all, I don't have much faith in exit polls because in Bihar the homogeneity of the population is not there given the much larger rural poor base. But there is little doubt that RJD chief Lalu Prasad is on a decline. This is because even though in the last 15 years he has given identity to the socially and economically oppressed people of Bihar, he has not followed this by economic transition."

Dr Gupta admits that for a meaningful economic transition to be achieved, many components were required, including resources, to which Bihar did not have access, for many reasons. "But the fact remains that Lalu did not even give an agenda or a direction for the State's economic development to take place." On the priorities before the new government vis-à-vis the huge expectations from the people, he said: "Of course, the people of Bihar want development but the development strategy given by any government should be inclusive. In this aspect, I think Nitish Kumar of the JD(U) is intellectually poised for this type of inclusive strategy, because he is raising the slogan of a sub-national identity, inclusiveness and cohesiveness.

"While Lalu gave an identity to larger sections of the lower classes, he did not follow it up with economic reform. He could have provided the Bengal model of development as far as land reforms and the agrarian society were concerned, but he didn't do it. But because Nitish's social base is limited — he is a Kurmi — he'll need to have a much more inclusive agenda, and that strategy might work."

On improving the law and order situation in the troubled State, Dr Gupta gives an interesting response. "I would take law and order as two different elements. The new government is going to resurrect law for whom? If it implements the much-needed land reforms, that will be considered blasphemy for some sections, just like Indira Gandhi's 20-point programme during the Emergency was blasphemy for some sections." On a change in government being good for Bihar, he says: "Change is always good, but we'll have to see what this change will entail or achieve. Will this change lead to a revival of the old social coalition, or will it lead to further democratisation of society or will it take Bihar on to the growth path remains to be seen."

But the political front needs watching, more than the election per se. With the CPI (M)'s General-Secretary, Mr Prakash Karat, and the messiah of the minorities and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, cosying up through sharing of platforms, as they recently did in Lucknow at the `Swatantra Videsh Niti Apnao, Desh Bachao Sammelan' (Adopt an independent foreign policy and save the country), notice has once again been served on the UPA Government.

Right from the formation of the UPA government following the NDA's shocking defeat in the 2004 General Elections, with the Congress (I) chief, Ms Sonia Gandhi, being unfavourably inclined towards the Samajwadi Party chief, Mulayam has been shopping around for political partners who can jolt the Congress (I). The Left and the Samajwadi Party are piqued at the UPA government's stand against Iran on the nuclear issue and have warned it to change its stand or face the consequences.

While for the Left leaders this is a wonderful opportunity to chastise the Manmohan Singh government for hobnobbing with the imperialist, capitalist US, for Mulayam, it is support for an Islamic country like Iran, with an eye on the Muslim vote-bank in UP.

Also, expressing solidarity with a Muslim nation will certainly not hurt the Left parties in the Kerala and West Bengal Assembly elections, even though it must be put on record that over the years the Left parties have taken up the cause of the minorities consistently and not merely as a vote-hunting exercise. For a beleaguered Congress, already on the defensive over the Volcker report, it seems to be turbulent times ahead.

(Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in)

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
A punishing exercise on penalties

A specialist's job

Liberalising migration — Powerful force for poverty reduction

How to better ride out the downturns

Be prepared at the threshold

Bihar's continuing woes

Rediscovering the obvious

Weakness in infrastructure can frustrate supervisory oversight

SAARC summit

A wake-up call for IT

Robust markets