Rasheeda Bhagat

Patna , April 3

EVEN as Rashtriya Janata Dal Chief Laloo Prasad Yadav was filing his nomination papers on Friday from the Chapra constituency, barely 90 minutes drive from Patna, the State's capital was reverberating with shock waves. Yet another kidnapping had taken place that morning and this time it was 71-year-old S.M. Sahay, a prominent industrialist of Bihar. As Sahay was driving in his Santro from his residence in Patliputra colony to pick up his brother and then proceed for a game of golf, as was his routine, his car was intercepted, he was dragged out and pushed into a Maruti 800 which then sped away.

Welcome to Bihar, where, point out Laloo Yadav's political opponents, kidnapping has become an industry. As the business community of Patna took out morchas to protest against the daylight kidnapping, once again the talk in drawing rooms centred around the flight of businessmen and professionals from Bihar.

Rehana Mithaiwala (name changed on request) is a professional psychologist and her husband's family has been running a manufacturing industry in Patna for the last four decades. She and her husband are relocating to Bangalore, where they have opened a marketing arm of the company. In the next phase, they are planning to set up a manufacturing unit in the southern town and slowly phase out their operations from Bihar.

Rehana relates the story of her friend Vimala, who lost her husband recently and wanted to relocate to Kolkata. "As she was going through the process of selling her property and her husband's business, she got a call from Beur jail here saying that the caller was well aware of her plans to leave Bihar. He threatened her that if she did not part with at least 30 per cent of the money realised through the sale, she would not be allowed to leave Patna in one piece." The woman was so mortified that she just left the city, telling her relatives to finish the formalities.

Kidnappings, extortion calls, burglaries, and deteriorating law and order situation is compelling many people to relocate to other cities. Bangalore and Hyderabad are two favourites, followed by Kolkata, Pune, and the like.

G.S. Kang, a senior IAS officer in Patna, who is currently the Social Welfare Secretary with additional charge as Administrator, Bihar State Road Transport Corporation, estimates that in the last 10 years to 12 years about Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 12,000 crore of business capital has gone out of Bihar. "It's actually very simple.

Industrialists want infrastructure, not only of the roads, electricity, water variety, but social infrastructure too. In Bihar, successive administrations have never thought of developing towns as infrastructure. Why is Bangalore inviting so many people? And look at the amount of money Chandrababu Naidu has invested on Hyderabad. These are attractive places for people to come and stay. On the other hand, in Patna, not only do you not have decent roads, you do not even have a decent club."

Ruing that many of his friends have left Bihar in the last decade, Kang says one is in the process of leaving right now. "More than anything else, he is worried about the prospects for his sons in Bihar." About extortion threats received by the business community, he says the rumours are that "if you want to celebrate a marriage in Patna, you have to shell out a certain percentage of your expenditure... but I must say that I recently celebrated my daughter's wedding and I received no threats." So is all this going to affect the Bihar strongman Laloo Yadav's performance in the Lok Sabha polls? The BJP has of course made the election plank to be development and better law and order situation versus "the kidnapping industry" of the present dispensation.

In the 1999 Lok Sabha polls, the RJD put up a pathetic show, winning only seven seats, with Laloo himself losing from the Madhepura constituency. But this time it will not be so bad, opines Dr. Shaibal Gupta, Member Secretary of the Asian Development Research Institute in Patna. An important factor is that he has got Ram Vilas Paswan and his Lok Janshakti back as an ally, as well as the Congress.

Even though the Congress has become a spent force in Bihar, the Paswan vote, along with the Muslim and a bulk of Yadav votes, will help the RJD improve its tally. "Let us not forget that last time Mr Paswan was in the BJP-led front." But on the issue of businessmen leaving Bihar because of extortion, Dr Gupta thinks this is highly exaggerated. He gives the instance of the Patna branch of the Delhi Public School (DPS), which is promoted by a close friend of his. "There is general talk here that Laloo Yadav's brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav has bought that school. I was joking with him that you have become an election issue. Most of the NDA candidates are saying that even the DPS has been taken over by Laloo's family. He very seriously asked me how to convince people that this is not true. He said even his relatives do not believe its not true... you see people want to believe such stories." But Rehana, whose son was a student in this school till last week, has another spin on the entire affair.

She says that this rumour was deliberately floated by politicians whose "recommendations" were not being accepted for admissions. "Once people think that Sadhu Yadav has bought this school, there will be panic among the parents and the next step will be a scramble to take out their children from this school!" Will surprises ever cease in Bihar?

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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