Bihar : An Untold Story.

Baikunth Shukla killed Phanindra Nath Ghosh in 1934 to avenge the hanging of Bhagat Singh, the person who became government witness in the Bhagat Singh case which led to his hanging. 

After 60 years, Muzaffarpur was under curfew for another Chhotan Shukla, a criminal don from Bhumihar community who was killed by Bihar police in an encounter. People in the funeral procession of Shukla clashed with Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiyah in Muzaffarpur and the mob lynched the administrator. Such was the law and order situation of Bihar in Lalu era.

After Indira Gandhi, Lalu Yadav was another politician to use murder as a political weapon. Many political adversaries were being killed. Opposition had surrendered in front of Lalu. He was using caste division as his political tool. 

Laloo would use slogans like ' Bhu-ra Baa-l' saaf karo'. It was for Bhumihar-Rajput-Brahmin-laala(kayasth).

This had encouraged the pro Lalu criminal elements to such extent that they would loot, kill and kidnap at will and no FIRs were lodged. It was the Jungle-Raj of Bihar. Kidnapping took form of a cottage industry. At that time when all the leaders abandoned anti Lalu electorate in fear, Only criminals like Anand Mohan  could dare to form Bihar peoples Party. He and his wife were the first to oppose Lalu openly. People supported him as they knew only poison could counter poison.

The jungle-Raj of Lalu and his open support to criminal acts against upper castes led to few social changes. Every Upper caste parent started to send their children out of Bihar. There were two reasons. First the children could get better education as the universities of Bihar had become arena of gang wars. whenever Gangs would need more members, They would come to university hostels. Second, To protect them from being kidnapped for ransom. This created a whole generation of Bihari youth who have lived major part of their lives outside Bihar.

Maoist violence was at its peak and Maoists used to kill upper caste peasants with impunity. Such was the Rajdharma that our CM would openly say, 'they are not our voters so we don't bother for them'. These attacks led to another development, the dominant upper castes made private militias. Ranvir sena had reach to more that 18,000 guns and every member got a salary and if someone died, their family would get a pension for whole life. Caste became an identity that could kill any time.

Caste based massacres had become a norm in Bihar. Lalu came in power by following the socialist leaders JP and Lohia but after becoming CM he became authoritarian. The reason was his confidence on his M-Y formula. Muslims had become a vote bank which was in his pocket. 

When the Rath of Advani reached Bihar, Lalu arrested Advani and stopped his campaign. This one incident made Lalu a savior of Muslims.  Being a Yadav himself, he could easily mobilize these two sections of society and even if they were weak economically, votes were with Lalu. Backwardness of these two communities was a  boon for Lalu.

Lalu divided Janata dal and made Rashtriya janata dal with symbol of lantern and brought Bihar into lantern era. Majority of the electrical power houses collapsed due to bad maintenance and industries closed down.  The real anarchy could be seen. People were suffering and farmers who had 100 of acres of land were going to Punjab, assam, calcutta, bombay, Delhi and many other places in search of job. Bihar became a labor contractor.

Gradually several leaders came forward to challenge Lalu. BJP had bania votes and as congress grew weaker, the upper caste votes also shifted towards BJP. JDU with several OBC leaders attracted non yadav OBC votes. T.N Sheshan played an important role by controlling booth capturing and many other electoral malpractices by bringing Punjab police on election duty which had no roots in Bihar and could remain above the caste consciousness.

After almost 15 years of Jungle Raj, Nobody had big expectations with BJP-JDU combine. Biharis wanted only one thing and that was  to control the criminals. Nitish govt controlled kidnappings and many criminals were sent to jail. Biharis could make Bihar developed by themselves. Government had one job to do and that was to give protection. For those who have never been to Bihar, Movies like Onkara, Pan Singh Tomar are good fiction stories but it can be lived in many villages of Bihar.

Industries collapsed in Lalu raj as industrialists could not do business in Bihar. Suta patti, Asia's biggest cotton market based in Muzaffarpur which had a big community of Marwaris, they all shifted to Gujarat. If someone says that Bihar exports poor,  he must acknowledge that Bihar exports industrialists too,

King Mahendra, richest MP in present parliament is from Bihar but his whole business setup is in Maharastra.

Biharis have always been a strong agricultural labor force and this is the reason Mauritius has bhojpuri as its second language. British exported this labor force to many parts of  the world. 

The sorrow of Bihar Kosi River is an uncontrolled rage which has left no option to the farmers of Bihar but to witness the destruction of their homes and to sit on a high ground and wait for some helicopter which comes to throw food packets. Almost every year, floods destroy unimaginable hectares of standing crops and force the village folk to migrate to other states. This can be controlled by constructing dam which is only possible on the Nepal side and by linking the rivers.

Nitish era brought some respite to people but as power comes, Leaders start to get authoritative and this is happening with Nitish. Earlier he used to appease Muslims to confuse them so that they didn't vote to lalu en masse. This is the reason he ensured the absence of Narendra Modi in electoral campaigns in 2009 and it was a clean sweep for NDA. Now he is trying to make OBC-Muslim combo so that he can dump the upper castes and still remain in power. 

In 2009 General elections, Gujarat, BJP fortress and having presence of Narendra Modi, gave 15 seats to BJP and congress could manage 11 seats. In Bihar, BJP+ got 32, lalu 4 and congress 2 seats. If BJP managers keep this in mind, They will understand how important is this flood prone area where 3 lakh hectares of land was under 6-10 feet flood water in 2008 . 

If Modi wants to lead the electoral campaign, he should understand that he will never be seen as a secular leader. His USP is Hindutva and he can bring BJP to power by making Hindutva supported with development as an election issue. By promising the People of Ram temple in ayodhya and overall development, BJP can win with absolute majority. 

Don't forget that BJP had 2 seats and Advani brought it to 80 seats by the rath yatra of Ayodhya. Modi should lift the baton left by Advani and bring BJP to absolute power. In UP, Bihar or any other state, you can take vote in the name of Mandal or kamandal but let me tell you. The development is invisible when the state is under 10 feet of flood water. 

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