No one killed Dalits in laxmanpur Bathe. Because the very idea of violence in Bihar is medievalistic in nature. We need to change this
It was the last leg of lalu Prasad Yadav’s rule. I was in Bihar to attend the marriage of my friend Rajesh Paswan’s sister. We were on the way to the Siwan countryside. Train had just left Gorakhpur. After Deoria, we were supposed to enter Bihar. Being a chain smoker then, I stood at the gate.
“When will the train enter BiharIJ” I asked a fellow passenger. Maybe it was third or fourth time that I had raised this query. “Whenever paddy crops look grey”, he replied. This triggered a debate in the train compartment. Consensus was easy to arrive. Paddy crops looked dark green till the Bihar border. In Bihar, however, paddy crops did actually look grey.
“Irrigation is so bad here,” said the co-passenger. Not that Uttar Pradesh had a chain of irrigation projects in eastern districts, but there would be electricity for at least eight hours a day and also irrigation canals at places.
“Can you see any electric pole in the area”, the passenger asked. Minutes latter, I screamed: “There is a pole!” The fellow smoker asked, “But is a wireIJ”
Although Paswan’s village was in Siwan district, we had to alight from train at the Chhapra railway station, thanks to unique location of the village. As a good host, he had hired a Jeep that was to take us to the village. We boarded it after leaving the train. Once outside Chhapra town, I spotted electrical polls that had wires.
“No one dies by electrical currents in Bihar,” the driver said. The countryside would hardly have any electricity supply.
Paswan had hired a jeep, and not a car, because he knew the kind of road we were to travel. The road was absolutely un-motorable. The driver felt sorry for us. “This is a maternity ward, sir”, he told us jokingly. “Women in pain deliver babies while travelling on this road — without doctors and nurses.” Apparently, the sitting Member of Parliament had built the road a year ago at the cost of millions of rupees!
I smoked a kind of cigarette that was large in size and white in colour. Cigarettes connect people fastest. I loved talking to villagers and, in the process, lost the five packets I had kept for two days. Next day, I found it difficult to get the brand of cigarette I smoked. Even Capstan cigarettes, otherwise popular in the Hindi heartland, were not available in the Siwan countryside.
The countryside markets didn’t have goods that were common in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Not many people wore ironed clothes. Most, in fact, didn’t have cloths that were washed properly. No wonder, there were very few varieties of washing and bathing soaps available in the market.
About three years ago, we visited Baxar. Even the Civil lines area was badly managed. Hardly any one wore shoes that were polished. I even waited for some time to see if the judge wore shoes that were polished!
Sure enough, by taste, Bihar is an ideology-driven society where buying non-essential goods is seen a kind of social crime. Citizens in the State despise cities like Mumbai and Delhi as consumerist societies. Because Bihar is ideology-driven, all kinds of ideologies have thrived in this State. Since people don’t spend much, wealth-creation is nominal in this State. look at the kind of dress Bihari politicians wear.
Since Bihar is medieval in terms of investment in lifestyles, its culture too betrays medieval characteristics. Violence, therefore, is celebrated in the State. On the night of December 1, 1997, some 58 Dalits, including women, children and infants, were massacred in laxmanpur Bathe. A couple of weeks ago, all the accused were let off by the Patna High Court. Sure enough, none killed Dalits on that night!
Is it the Bihar judiciary that has failed justiceIJ No, it is Bihar as a society that has failed the idea of justice. The State desperately needs civility that is in sync with the idea of justice.