Bihar's growth story marred by return of badland politics

This was the second time in the recent history of Patna when a motley group of lumpen elements ran amok on the streets of the state capital, burnt several police and private vehicles, torched hutments, smashed windowpanes of cars and buses, thrashed journalists and policemen before shouting slogans ‘Khoon ka badla khoon se lenge’ (blood for blood), ‘ek ka badla sau se lenge’ (we will kill hundred people for one killing).

The marauders were self-proclaimed supporters of Ranveer Sena, a banned outfit floated by militant uppercaste landlords, and were protesting the killing of its founder Brahmeshwar Singh.

This was a grim reminder of the incident on October 31, 1984, when thousands of people took to the streets after the news spread that the then prime minister Indira Gandhi had been assassinated. This correspondent (then a student) was an eyewitness to what a senior police officer had told an unruly mob that day:  “Aaj sab choot hai. (Today, it’s free for all). Do what ever you want to do. We will keep our eyes shut.”

The unprecedented violence, loot, arson and vandalism which took place for the next few days were a blot on the state’s legacy.

The only difference between the two mob furies was that in 1984, people were protesting the killing of a prime minister, while last week, the mobsters were seething with rage over the killing of a self-styled demi-god who himself faced more than 200 charges of murder.

But hasn’t the government machinery learnt its lessons one bit on how to handle the lumpen elements who were holding the entire state to ransom? How could the police leave the Patnaites at the mercy of vandals?

On Friday, when Ranveer Sena founder was killed, his supporters burnt BDO office and circuit house in Ara, smashed the window panes of Rajdhani Express, set ambulances and police vehicles on fire. Such was their audacity that when Bihar DGP Abhayanand (who himself belongs to the same caste as that of Brahmeshwar) went to meet the bereaved family, he was heckled by the irate mob.

After all these incidents on Friday, were the police not aware of what was going to happen during the funeral procession on Saturday? Why and who allowed them to come to Patna for performing Brahmeshwar’s last rites?

And if at all, they had to come to Patna, who allowed them to pass through the main thoroughfares of the state capital? Was it a design to allow them to show their (marauders) strength to the national media, (which could have gone unnoticed had the cremation taken place in Ara). Abhayanand is rated as one of the most efficient IPS officers of the state, but his (in)action has led the people of the state in general, and Patna in particular, doubt his intentions and leadership skills.

Failure of police

Was it not a failure of police intelligence which could not gauge the mood of vandals? When thousands of people from different parts of Bihar were moving towards Patna, what were the Bihar Military Police (BMP) jawans doing? And what about the Central Reserve Paramilitary Force (CRPF), State Auxiliary Police (SAP) and Rapid Action Force (RAF), besides thousands of Bihar police personnel? How could the law-enforcment agencies, with adequate force at their disposal, allow innocent people to be stoned, abused, ravaged and beaten up.

The entire nation was shocked to watch the mayhem unleashed by a motley group of marauders, who forced even the police to run for cover. All this happened when Nitish Kumar was boasting about the good governance which made Bihar the fastest growing state for the second consecutive year with 13 per cent growth, which was the highest in the country.

While very few people would take his ‘growth rate’ story on face value, what will haunt the battered lot in the days to come is: Whether the Nitish regime is competent enough to protect its citizens when the situation so arises? Or will its 80,000-strong police force continue to sleep when lumpen elements burn the city, kill the innocents and destroy anything or everything that would come their way.

The top police brass and administrative officials made themselves a laughing stock when soon after the vandalism, they convened an ‘emergency’ meeting and instructed junior police officers to identify and book the culprits. How could the hapless police identify the 25,000-odd mob? And why should the mediamen, who risked their lives to cover the mob frenzy, share their footage/photographs with a police force which fled from the scene when the mob was about to storm a police station?

The DGP, however, has his own explanation. “Some people might have felt my decision was inappropriate. But given the circumstances, we did exactly what appeared to us was the best way out. We took a conscious decision of not retaliating or provoking the marauders. Or else, any tit-for-tat would have led to more bloodshed. And Bihar would have been up in flames for several days to come,” argued Abhayanand. Though there were not many takers for his argument.