On the prowl

Venturing a meaningful prescription for Bihar is an impossible task. Is dismissal of the Rabri Devi ministry a solution for the massacre in Aurangabad district in which 34 people of her clan were killed on Friday night? Hardly. Remember, it was a massacre at Senari, just 10 km from the site of the latest incident, that prompted the Atal Behari Vajpayee ministry to recommend the dismissal of her government in February last year. But her eventual return to power showed that her dismissal was politically incorrect. After all, within a few days of the dismissal and imposition of the President’s rule, the state had witnessed one more massacre. Massacres do not become less heinous if they happen during President’s rule. If anything, all this just shows how complicated the situation is in the benighted state. Friday’s grisly act is reportedly the handiwork of the upper caste Ranvir Sena and is in retaliation to the killing of 13 Bhumihars in nearby Nawada district on the night of June 12. The root cause of thekillings and counter-killings is the rivalry between two criminal gangs, one of which is led by the husband of an independent legislator. What’s worse, the local police are also alleged to have played a nefarious role in these incidents.

This raises questions about the effectiveness of the Bihar government. To say that the government has failed miserably to maintain law and order is to indulge in understatement. After all, was not this said a long time ago when worst incidents had occurred? Is the dismissal of the government a remedy then? Given the fact that the killings were the handiwork of a private army patronised by the upper castes, the dismissal will be seen as playing into its hands. There is also a flip side to such a dismissal. Nothing will bolster Laloo Prasad Yadav’s image better than such a dismissal for he will be able to claim that the upper castes had conspired to have his wife’s government removed by engineering massacres. For all one knows, his wife may even bounce back to power with greater clout. That leaves the state with no constitutionally acceptable solution to the problem besetting it.

It is virtually pointless to argue that the state has withered away at least in central Bihar which has, over the decades, become a large battleground of caste senas, armed brigands and ideologically-indoctrinated lumpens. Once this is conceded, any demand that the police should be deployed in larger numbers so that there is better patrolling to avert incidents of the kind becomes infructuous. In the absence of gainful employment and spurred by a misplaced sense of courage, caste identity and vendetta, a large number of the unemployed are attracted to the senas proliferating in the area.

Political parties, which accuse one another of patronising these senas, have in any case lost their influence on the people. Thus parts of Bihar have become truly independent of Patna and New Delhi. Here it is the writ of the gun that runs. In such a scenario, not many would shed tears over the victims of the Ranvir Sena, when it is a matter of certainty that, sooner than later, the Lorik Sena of the Yadavas or some suchoutfit will strike at the upper castes in retaliation. It seems the nation has to reconcile itself to the grim situation in Bihar.