Bihar betrayed once again

When Lalu Prasad Yadav took over as chief minister of Bihar on 10th of March, 1991, the people of Bihar heaved a sigh of relief over the end of long years of Congress misrule and the common man was euphoric over the prospects of a new Bihar where development was supposed to be the new buzzword. Their joy knew no boundaries as they believed that finally the reins of power has gone over in to the hands of a person who comes from a very humble background, has borne the brunt of poverty, looks sincere and has promised to make a new Bihar by ushering in an era of all-round development. After taking the oath of office, Lalu Prasad did not disappoint his admirers and made all sorts of promises to the people. He went on to say that future roads of Bihar would be as smooth as Hema Malini’s cheeks. On corruption he was categorical; being corrupt was nothing short of eating cow beef. People were mesmerized and believed the messiah has arrived and very soon Bihar’s darkness would be a thing of the past. The false promises and deceptive slogans helped Lalu and his spouse rule Bihar for 15 years and when they were ousted from power by the disillusioned electorate, the critics pointed out that he forget about Hema Malini’s cheeks even Om puri’s cheeks looked thousand times better than the roads of Bihar and as far as corruption was concerned plethora of cases against the husband and wife duo, ranging from fodder scam to disproportionate assets, bore testimony to their massive misuse of public money.
When Lalu’s charisma was on downslide, Nitish Kumar was fast emerging as a new ray of hope amongst those who were hoping against hope that a day will come when development would be a reality in the state. It’s not that Lalu’s opponents had no differences amongst them but they decided to bury their differences in favour of Nitish Kumar for the sake of development. It was this thirst for development which brought Nitish Kumar into power. For once, castism gave way to development and all those who felt being let down by Laloo rallied behind Nitish Kumar cutting across caste, creed and religion. Nitish Kumar, too, made development his poll plank as he fully knew that he can’t fight Lalu on the turf of caste politics because Lalu was invincible in that game. Lalu’s own caste men Yadavas form almost 12-15 percent of the electorate while Nitish Kumar’s caste men Kurmis are hardly 2-3 percent in the state. Besides that, Lalu had the unflinching support of the Muslim community who are almost 16 percent in the state. These realities forced Nitish Kumar to make development his poll plank so that Lalu’s opponents could be brought under one umbrella. The strategy paid off handsomely and Lalu was made to bite the dust for the first time in Assembly elections in last 15 years.
When Nitish Kumar formed the government on 24th of November, 2005, the expectations were as high as it were during Lalu prasad’s swearing in. Like Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar, too, promised to blow the pleasant wind of development in the state very soon. Nitish government would be completing three years in office on 24th of November, 2008 and after three years; unfortunately, there is the same sense of déjà vu among the hoi polloi of the state. Nothing has changed on the ground. No new investment is coming in and Bihar still is not on the radars of the big corporate houses. Bihar has vast potentials in agro-based industries but it seems there are no takers even here. The government had promised to reopen sugar factories in the state but every thing seems to have got stymied due to lack of political will and absence of a clear cut vision. So far as roads are concerned the government has thrown its hands up in despair. Even Patna’s roads are in pathetic condition not to mention about roads of other parts of the state. At first, they committed the blunder of entrusting Tantiya Constructions, a Kolkata based firm which was already blacklisted in a few other states, for construction of capital Patna’s roads. As was expected from a company of dented credibility, Tantia failed to deliver on time and the Bihar government stopped them from carrying on the work and went to the extent of blacklisting the company. The question is why was a company with dubious record entrusted with making of the capital’s roads, in first place? Now they are back at the doors of sarkari machinery for the construction of roads. It surely is a reflection on the capability and sincerity of this government. The state of electricity and potable water is as good or bad as it was during RJD’s regime. Asia’s largest residential colony Kankerbagh gets converted into a living hell every year during rainy season because there is no proper drainage system in place and this government had promised to solve this problem on war footing. Three years have passed off and the residents of Kankarbagh are still waiting for the government to help them get rid of this chronic problem. Now if a government can’t put in place a proper drainage system of a residential colony in three years what can be expected of them for the whole state in five years?
One of the biggest promises which Nitish had made was to create enough employment in the state so that people of Bihar would not be forced to migrate for earning their livelihood. The truth is that since there is no investment in Bihar the employment scenario remains as grim as ever. People are still migrating in hordes and this is something which is further tarnishing the image of Bihar outside. We all know about whatever is happening in Mumbai. It’s true that Political compulsions have forced Raj Thackeray to embark upon this anti north Indian drive with tacit support from congress which hopes to benefit from a division in Shiv Sena’s votes but it’s also the failure of successive governments of Bihar in creating enough employment for its people which is responsible for the humiliation which Biharis are going through in different parts of the country. The frustration among Bihari youth has reached to this extent that Rahul Raj, a Patna boy could not stand this humiliation anymore and chose a wrong path to express his anguish in Mumbai and it cost him his life. So Mr Nitish Kumar, you are also responsible, in one way, for the killing of Rahul Raj. And the kosi embankment breach is another blot on this government. It was utter carelessness of the government agencies which resulted in unprecedented flood in a big part of north Bihar which was nothing less than a catastrophe. The government has come up with massive recruitment of Ad hoc teachers ( Shiksha Mitras) but the entire process has in-built drawbacks leading to massive corruption in recruitments. Further, the quality of teachers is such that it can’t make any difference to the quality of education in the state.
One might think that in view of failures galore, the present dispensation in all probability would pay a heavy price in the upcoming parliamentary elections. But the truth is that despite all these instances of non performance, the NDA can not be written off because they have delivered on at least one front - law and order. During Lalu-Rabri regime, the law and order had gone from bad to worse. In fact the complete lawlessness during Lalu-Rabri regime horrified the people of Bihar so much that they decided to rally behind Nitish Kumar, forgetting their all other differences, in order to throw off a government which was seen as patronizing dreaded criminals. Ask any business man in Bihar, he would come out openly in the support of this government. Even he aspires for quality roads and uninterrupted power supply but he won’t mind traveling on horrific roads and working under lantern as long as the government protects him from criminals and extortionists. Says Manoj Kesari who runs a garment shop,” Even I would love to see better roads and quality infrastructure in Bihar but I’m still happy as now no one can dare enter my shop for demanding whimsical amounts of money as extortion.” It is this sense of relief among common man and entrepreneurs which is giving repeated extension to the honeymoon period of this government. The common man of Bihar is yet to forget the dark memories of RJD’s misrule of 15 years. These horrific memories have created a TINA (There IS NO Alternative) factor in Bihar. People are clearly disenchanted with this government but they don’t want the return of RJD’s tyranny. And it is this compulsion which is giving a new lease of life to this government day by day.
Apart from Law and Order, there is nothing this government can boast of. Better law and order is a basic requirement in a democracy but it can’t be a compensation for failure on all other fronts. This government clearly lacks the political will and vision for development of the state. During a press conference before 2005 Assembly elections, I had asked Nitish Kumar whether he had any blue print for development in the state and he laughed it off saying he had every thing with him, let him first win the elections. Even after three years we have not got any impression that yes, this government has a blue print for development. Clearly, Bihar, once again, has been betrayed by a person who promised the moon but could not deliver even basic amenities. The people of Bihar are wondering whether it’s a fit case of ‘Much cry, little wood.’ Power equations have changed in Bihar but the life of common man remains stranded at the same stop. They are still waiting for a true messiah.

Raj Kumar Singh