Bihar is in flames

PACHYDERMAL taciturnity, despite horrendous inhumanity, abounds in holy Bharat, particularly in the land of the Buddha, Bihar, where he preached compassion and practised renunciation and where his disciple Ashoka ruled over the land making edicts of tolerance and non-violence, a practical policy of governance and social order. The glory and greatness of this cultural heritage has been a noble stream fertilising our ancient country over the millennia; but Quo Vadis India now? Whither the hallowed Buddha bhoomi (Vihar or peaceful monastery, now incarnating as Bihar of Lalu Raj)?

My fingers are burning with rage even as I hold the book of S. K. Ghosh titled Bihar In Flames. He has portrayed, through a collection of essays, the poignant scenario of that second largest State, every page of which, as we proceed to read each chapter, stings our conscience and shocks our patriotism.

The pages of this brief book are painted by a seasoned police officer who has had access to actual facts which reveal painful happenings the like of which of no eye had seen, no heart conceived, and no human tongue can adequately tell. Indeed, the foreword is written by a highly sensitive police officer who, notwithstanding a long career in uniform, still sustains his humanism, soul force and allergy to savagery. He begins with the paragraphs I quote:

"I confess I was stunned on reading the

manuscript of S. K. Ghosh's book Bihar

In Flames. He has depicted a state of

affairs which I never imagined would

or could exist in a state in India. He has

done a public service by putting

together all the infamous acts

committed in the State, and he has

showed how democracy can be

subverted, how all institutions of the

State damaged, how all avenues of

justice blocked, and how corruption,

unemployment and savagery can

overtake a State ruled by venal

politicians.

The worst feature is that most of us do

not know what is happening in the

State, and the Centre has not been able

to take steps to change a government

that has blackened the face of our

democracy, or punish those who

have violated financial regulationswith

proud defiance".

Mass torture is commonplace, monstrous reprisals routine and survival of life in rural areas amid barbarine cross-fire an astrological freak. Police violence, politician-mafia nexus, misuse of public funds are "business as usual". Human rights are under eclipse. Were I Edmund Burke, and the protagonists and perpetrators of the politico-criminal nexus Warren Hastings, I would have borrowed the impassioned words of rage used in the impeachment of that super-criminal arraigned in the House of Commons and charged the Bihar bosses Incarnate:

"I impeach him in the name of the

people of India, whose rights he has

trodden under foot, and whose country

he has turned into a desert. Lastly, in

the name of human nature itself, in the

name of both sexes, in the name of

every age, in the name of every rank, I

impeach the common enemy and

oppressor of all!

There may be others in other States, who deserve this anger since Corruption Almighty is ubiquitous. Alas, Gandhiji is dead, the Buddha has been extradited and we have, in the commanding heights of political power in various states, "rogues, rascals and free booters" (words used by Winston Churchill while opposing the Indian Independence Bill).

What shocks and shames every conscientious Indian is not merely the frequency of mass slaughter and huge loot in Bihar, but the barabbasque social order flourishing in that State of harrowing humanity. I quote to illustrate:

"Bihar has achieved the distinction of

being the most corrupt State. The list of

big scams and the amounts involved

are staggering, in crores. Fodder 700,

Land 400, Bitumen 100, Forest 50,

Medicine 100".

India has distinguished itself as among the most corrupt countries, an achievement which history can never forgive when we realise that it is one billion strong in population and half a million are half-starved and the State of Bihar, itself, like others, is bankrupt. The criminal dimension of our social system and of the instrumentalities of government baffles description and yet we have a benami conjugal arrangement of chief ministership, barbaric gang wars and dacoity as a way of life. Culpability and corruption are all over Indian geography and our soft State harbours the largest poor, globally speaking.

Bihar is in flames and the fire-fighter (the High Court) is helpless. Bihar bears the palm in conflicts over land, atrocities against women, police brutality, dalit massacres, illegal gun factories, naxalite movements, running a parallel justice system, gangsterism unlimited and criminal cabals constituting cabinets. The people are demoralised. The better elements in the bureaucracy manage to survive. Prisons are dens of vice, scams a common phenomenon. The public treasury is often private property and the polls, at various levels, panchayat to parliament, are smeared with terror.

Let me excerpt a page from the book:

"Civil servants in Bihar could be

forgiven for thinking that in the

comparative comfort of their offices,

they could consider themselves safe

from the violence which stalks theland.

Not so. The calm atmosphere of their

bureaucratic citadels was broken in

1992 when Ram Sharan Yadav,

Janata Dal, MP barged into the

chamber of the Health Commissioner,

Mr.T.C.A. Srinivasa Ramanujam.

Flanked by his gun-loting son Bibhuti

and a collection of goondas, Yadav

abused and assaulted Ramanujam.

His offence? Refusing to give his

prompt attention to a file which

recommended that the daughter of one

of Yadav's friends be admitted to the

Jamshedpur based MGM Medical

College on the Tata's quota. It seems

the MP had virtually forced Chief

Minister Laloo to put forward the girl's

name. The threat he used was that he

would desert the Janata Dal and join

Ajit Singh's camp.

"This is the kind of price we are paying

now for being in the domain of the

dons," said a young member of the IAS

association, referring to the insults and

intimidation they face from politicians.

In its initial fury, the IAS officers

decided on a one-day strike to protest

against the abuse and assault. But after

a furious night-long debate behind

closed doors, the association itself split

down on pro and anti-Laloo lines, not

to mention pro and anti-Mandal lines.

In the end, it cancelled the threatened

strike on the feeble ground that the

Chief Minister had already apologised

on Yadav's behalf (India Today, April

15, 1992).

Laloo, within years of his misrule, has

divided the bureaucracy on caste lines,

lowered their status and authority in

the eyes of the people; politics has

created a situation to defy authority

and the rule of law.

Violence against women has been

increasing fast. With an insensitive

social structure and an apathetic,

completely politicised administration, a

miracle is needed to make Bihar a safer

place for women to live and work.

I do not have the heart to proceed in this strain because truth is subversive. The CAG report, which reveals the bankruptcy of the State and the gross mis-management of Government treasury, does not bother the political heavy weights. Even State aeroplanes fly on corrupt wings and the Ganga itself has no purity left, polluted by the blood of private militia and fratricidal caste wars which replace the rule of law. There is a noble institution - the High Court of Patna - but human rights violations on a colossal scale cannot be controlled by the High Court writs. Bihar is in flames, so is India. We live amid traitors, fobbed off as patriots - the last refuge of scoundrels as Dr. Johnson put it.

S. K. Ghosh has done his duty as a senior citizen in producing a book which is an indictment of the governance of Bihar and the criminal justice system in that State. The nation can no longer blink at this Bihar monstrosity - Do buy the book, read every page, rage if you have any anger left, or succumb in consternation to the desperate situation that is the reality. No. India must remember the "do or die" call of the Mahatma, lest Bihar and Bharat be incinerated by thuggery, muggery and skullduggery.

V. R. KRISHNA IYER

Bihar In Flames, S. K. Ghosh, A.P.H.Publishing Corporation, Rs. 300.

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