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Journalism of Courage
Bhairopur village in Dariyapur block of Saran district is agog with activity since Monday morning. There is heavy police deployment with a good part of the village roads blocked. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is about to reach here to inspect a footwear unit opened by Jeevika workers. There is no public rally or public interaction scheduled, unlike his previous yatras. Some people can be seen jostling with the police, but they are held back by the barricades. Frustrated, they take any vantage position they can find near the footwear unit.
The CM, who has been on his Samadhan Yatra since January 5, reaches here after covering West Champaran, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Vaishali and Siwan. The current leg of his yatra will conclude on January 29, after covering 18 districts.
The CM’s Saran visit holds importance because the district was recently struck by Bihar’s worst-ever hooch tragedy, with deaths reported from Mashrakh, Amnnour and Issuapur villages barely 25-30 km from Dariyapur. Several people standing on the sidelines can be heard talking of the tragedy in hushed tones, because of the presence of policemen around them. “Lagata hai ek ek aadmi par ek policewala bitha diya hai (It looks like there is one policeman deployed for each villager),” says an elderly local, who has not seen the Bihar CM in person yet.
Their apprehension about the CM would be borne out in his subsequent half-hour visit, during which he barely spoke about the hooch tragedy and the apparent failure of his biggest electoral plank over the past two terms, prohibition.
It is about 12 noon. The sun is not yet out. As the CM’s cavalcade arrives and comes to a halt, policemen ensure villagers do not breach the barricades on either side of the road. Wearing a grey coat and sporting a cap and a muffler, Nitish Kumar emerges. Accompanying him are Deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Finance Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary and several top bureaucrats and police officers.
Through a narrow lane, he is taken on foot to the shoe unit opened by Jeevika workers. Leather shoes and flip flops are neatly arranged on racks. Two workers are on leather stitching machines. The CM beams at them and expounds upon how the Jeevika experiment has been generating good employment. Outside the venue, slogans are shouted: “Hindustan ka PM kaisa ho, Nitish Kumar jaisa ho.” Several people with complaints want to reach out to the CM, but entries are only allowed against passes.
From the footwear unit, he proceeds to meet a teenaged girl whose underage wedding has recently been prevented by villagers. Later, talking to reporters, the CM says: “Did you not see how happy the girl was? Society has helped to prevent such child marriages. I’m also happy people are getting employment in their backyards.”
Just a few yards from where the CM would return to his car on his way to Chhapra town, the capital of Saran district, where he is scheduled to monitor the progress of a hospital building later in the day, there is a flex displaying an anti-dowry slogan and another on evils of alcoholism.
The CM leaves barely after 30 minutes after he arrived. As the cars move away, several Dariyapur residents look upset with him. “I had come from neighbouring Shitalpur. I had to tell the CM that the Nal Jal Scheme is not working in Ward Number 2, and mukhiyas are not delegating any work to ward members these days,” says Dhananjay Kumar. He adds: “We were under the impression that the CM would do something to deal with repeated hooch tragedies. Illegal liquor is being sold everywhere. It will be good if the liquor ban is lifted. Ban or no ban, drinkers will be drinkers. The more the government tries to enforce prohibition, the more it is being violated.”
Rambujhawan Manjhi, a Bhairopur resident, could not agree more. “My two sons are working in Gujarat. The third one, let me not lie, is in the neera (palm toddy) business. I want to know why, when the government has allowed neera sale, why the police harass us. Just a fortnight ago, my son was arrested and I had to pay a fine of Rs 4,000 to free him from custody,” says Manjhi.
Ragini Devi, a Jeevika worker from neighbouring Mujhauna panchayat, says: “I am a Jeevika worker. I have been working towards the CM’s goal of women’s empowerment. My husband Umesh Rai has been suffering from blood cancer for seven years. I have two sons and a daughter. I am not getting any help. I had come to meet the CM but to no avail.”
Rajshekhar Rai, a villager who was arguing with the cops for not letting him near the CM, says: “About 25,000 people of this area are affected by floods in the Ganga. We have been demanding a bridge over the Mahi river for the last 20 years, without any success.” A group of women who were also upset at not being able to meet the CM, agree the liquor ban is not working. “A pouch of illicit liquor used to be available for Rs 30 before the ban. It’s now available illegally for Rs 100,” says Jyoti Kumari, a housewife.
Later in the day, Nitish Kumar reaches Chhapra and interacts with Jeevika workers. After hearing of the success stories of some Jeevika workers, he says: “Do you know Bihar now has 1.2 lakh Jeevika workers? I have told DMs that from now on, you will be the people who will inspect schools and alert the district administration about absence of teachers. We have over 10 lakh self-help groups now in the state.”
He then addresses the tricky subject of prohibition and recurrent hooch deaths. “Sometime in 2015, a group of Jeevika workers suggested to me to ban liquor in the state. After we won again in 2015, we first enforced the ban on desi liquor. There was animated protests from women. Within five days, we enforced a total liquor ban… But there are always some people who are opposed to what we do.”
After reviewing several schemes at the Saran headquarters, the CM leaves for Patna. There is no word on whether the recent hooch deaths were among the things he had reviewed. So far, he has avoided meeting the general public. He has only been meeting a people pre-selected by the administration. People on the sidelines have many questions to ask, but the CM looks to hurry through his “Samadhan Yatra” without looking for actual suggestions.
