To Mahendra Singh, a salute

For the police, a nightmare; for the establishment, a terror; but for the people, a messiah. Mahendra Singh, three-time CPIML MLA from Bag...

For the police, a nightmare; for the establishment, a terror; but for the people, a messiah. Mahendra Singh, three-time CPIML MLA from Bagodar of Girdih district, Jharkhand, was murdered on January 16 last year. His life was one long struggle. He was a simple man whose piercing eyes, shining through his spectacles, reflected his urgency of purpose. His loud but sure voice represented confidence in his mission.

As the superintendent of police of Giridih when it was still in Bihar, I shared a love-hate relation with him. In a land where most MLAs were corrupt, he was known to be a man of integrity. I respected him for that. However, for revolutionaries like him, opposing the entrenched interests and arrogance of the state was a mission. The police, the most visible agency of government, often became the target of his struggles. He was certainly a pain in the side for us. Which SP would like to see a national highway that connects Delhi and Kolkata blocked or his police station picketed? Singh was sure to do all this, to correct some wrong, highlight some injustice. No assembly session passed by without some uncomfortable questions from him on the police.

He was a great believer that political power should flow up from the masses. Long before panchayati raj, he organised his own panchayat elections in all the villages of his constituency. The panchayats were so effective in resolving minor disputes that the local police were often without work.

His confrontation with the state soon landed him in cases of rioting and disturbance of peace. He was convicted to life imprisonment and spend several years in jail on charges of murder, but was later acquitted by the high court. Occupational hazards of being in revolutionary politics.

Singh had many enemies. When the unholy politician-contractor-contractor nexus couldn8217;t have its way, he became an enemy. He was an enemy of the underground Naxals too, because they couldn8217;t spread their influence in his area and also because he opposed their extortions. He was an outspoken critic of the government, and exposed corruption from the block office to the highest levels. I recall one instance when he created a commotion by revealing a false travel allowance racket carried out by fellow MLAs.

After Bihar split and Jharkhand was born, he was the only member of his party in the assembly. But with his grasp of issues, mastery of procedure and force of personality, he was not just a one-man opposition, but the unofficial leader of the opposition. One day after he filed nominations to the assembly elections that would have made him MLA for the fourth time, Mahendra Singh was brutally killed by hired assassins. His enemies finally got him. Another rare voice against injustice was silenced. I sincerely hope that the CBI, which is investigating into this murder, expose those who were behind the killing of this revolutionary leader of Jharkhand.

The writer is an IPS officer, now with the UN