Bihar welcomes 2006

It took Bihar to caution the nation against the conceits of new beginnings. January 1, 2006, when a family of six from the Extremely Backward Castes was burnt alive by a member of the dominant Yadav community at Raghopur, was a day from a terrible past that refuses to die. Entrenched tyrannies and inequalities will not politely give way to the new order waiting to be born in Bihar. From Raghopur has come an early warning to the new man in Patna: it will take more than good intentions, and the heartfelt wishes of a whole nation. It will take more than a few right-minded transfers and postings. What Bihar needs from Nitish Kumar is sustained leadership to drive the message home into the towns and the deep recesses of the countryside: that the law, not the tyrant, will prevail. And that the state will no longer abandon the weakest and the most disprivileged citizens, like it did Vijyendra Mahto8217;s wife and five children, set on fire in their own home even as the police refused to come to their help on New Year8217;s day.

When Nitish Kumar won the mandate in November, he did not merely rout a marvelously durable but hopelessly discredited 15-year old regime. His victory held out the promise of something infinitely more hopeful. It promised a new deal for the people of Bihar habituated to the slow death of public institutions and the state. It pledged a better life especially to those whose lives have remained degraded in spite of social justice8217;s flamboyant rhetoric. These promises seemed to flow also from the nature of Nitish8217;s mandate 8212; a large chunk of his support was made up of the Extremely Backward Castes EBCs. The EBCs, almost 32 per cent of the state8217;s electorate, are those castes that have remained marginalised in all the political narratives of the state. They have neither land nor political representation. The politics of empowerment has sidestepped them completely, in substance and even in slogans.

On January 2, the prime minister chaired a meeting in New Delhi to set a road map for the new year. He promised to strengthen mechanisms to monitor projects launched in 2005, like the Rural Employment Scheme and Bharat Nirman, and to lay new stress on power, coal, road, infrastructure. On January 2, the nation awoke to news of Raghopur8217;s massacre. Somewhere in the horrific disconnect between these two reports lies Nitish8217;s real challenge. He must bring Bihar back to being on talking terms with the nation.