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COVER STORY
Violent response in Bihar
KALYAN CHAUDHURI
| Trains and passengers from the northeastern region, mostly from Assam, come under attack in Bihar following allegations that Bihari candidates were prevented from attending the Railway test in Assam. |
At the Patna railway station, Biharis who fled Guwahati.
EARLY morning on November 12, a group of students stopped two Guwahati-bound trains at the Jamalpur and Munger stations in Bihar, barged into the compartments, attacked around 200 non-Bihari passengers, mostly Assamese, and looted their belongings. The passengers complained that no one came to their rescue during the hour-long ordeal. Within 24 hours of the incident, violence erupted in Assam where Biharis became targets of attack also by militants of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). While Assamese do not have a substantial presence in Bihar, more than 15 lakh Biharis are engaged in various kinds of jobs in Assam, including trading and unskilled labour.
At Munger station, 15 km from Jamalpur, armed students blocked the Mahananda Express and entered the compartments and attacked and looted the passengers. According to railway officials, a group of soldiers travelling in the train thwarted the attackers to some extent, until the Railway Protection Force (RPF) came to the scene and brought the situation under control. The same day, the Brahmaputra Mail and the Sealdah-Varanasi Express were stopped between Ratanpur and Jamalpur and a student mob attacked the passengers.
To pre-empt further violence, the Railway authorities diverted all Guwahati-bound trains through Malda in West Bengal, instead of letting them pass through Katihar in Bihar. Two RPF companies were deployed in Katihar.
Apparently, the students were angered by an incident on November 9, when around 50 students from Bihar were allegedly prevented from participating in examinations for Group D posts in the Northeast Frontier Railway held in Guwahati and Jorhat. It was also alleged that they were beaten up. "We were treated like foreigners. Any argument on our part prompted them to slap us," said Ashoke Singh, a 21-year-old graduate from Katihar.
Violence began on November 11 as hundreds of Bihari students assembled at Katihar station and attacked trains and passengers from northeastern India. Even the police failed to bring the situation under control and the violence spread to neighboring towns. Several Assam-bound trains were attacked and non-Bihari railway passengers were assaulted and robbed in Ratanpur, Bhagalpur and Kishangunj. At Katihar, the police fired several rounds to disperse a mob that tried to attack passengers and damage public property. Non-Assamese too were not spared. A girl from Mizoram travelling on the Guwahati-Dadar Express on November 12 alleged that she was sexually assaulted when the train was attacked at Katihar. Even elderly people were not spared. The attacks on trains in Bihar continued for three days. Even an assurance from Railway Minister Nitish Kumar that the Bihari students who were prevented from sitting for examinations in Guwahati and Jorhat would be allowed to take the test again under the Katihar division failed to quell the students' anger.
Alarmed by the spate of attacks, the Bihar government provided armed escort to trains passing through the State. Immediately after the November 12 incidents, Chief Minister Rabri Devi ordered the removal of the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police for failure to contain the violence. "What happened at Katihar and Jamalpur stations was the result of utter failure of the administration," she admitted. Rabri Devi assured Nitish Kumar of full cooperation in tackling the situation.
Meanwhile, the Bihar police started investigations into the "role" of Pappu Yadav, Member of Parliament from Purnea, in the anti-Assamese violence. Local police personnel reported that Pappu Yadav's supporters were involved in attacks on the trains coming from Guwahati in Katihar and Kishangunj. Yadav, an independent MP, is facing trial in the case relating to the murder of Communist Party of India (Marxist) Member of the Legislative Assembly Ajit Sarkar. He is an accused in several cases of murder and other crimes.
Eighty per cent of the agricultural land in Bihar is held by landlords belonging to the upper castes such as Rajputs and Bhumihars, who form 10 per cent of the State population. Severe unemployment has led a large number of Biharis to leave the State in search of jobs in neighbouring West Bengal, Orissa and Assam. In Assam, about 60 per cent of tea garden workers belong to the backward classes and tribal communities of Bihar. More than 80 per cent of rickshaw and handcart pullers in Kolkata are Biharis.
Owing to an acute financial crisis in Bihar, government-sponsored development projects have virtually been abandoned half-way, thereby denying educated young persons an opportunity to find jobs in the State. The situation has compelled them to try their luck in Central government establishments through competitive examinations held in various parts of the country. This, in turn, has triggered resentment in other States. Six months ago candidates from Bihar and Orissa were beaten and forced to leave the examination centres for the appointment of primary teachers under the Jharkhand government in Ranchi.
The spreading violence with ethnic overtones has forced the Railways to postpone the tests in the two States and ask its recruitment board to "be sensitive to local issues".