People's Democracy

BIHAR

The Drum Beat of “Sushasan” and the Real Picture

Arun Kumar Mishra

PRINT and electronic media are hell-bent these days on making Nitish Kumar an icon of corporate India. Day in and day out, he is being idolised and praised sky high for his symbolic work that are being portrayed as path-breaking. Issuance of certificates to Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi for good governance by an American organisation has fuelled the speculation for the race of prime ministership in the 2014 parliamentary elections. Gossipmongers have a field day, and the print and electronic media are gaga over the issuance of certificates for the so called “deshbhaktas” of India whose souls rest in the U S of America.

With all this hullabaloo around, what is the real picture of Bihar in any way? On September 13, the Bihar Police went berserk before the Noor Sarai police station where the villagers had assembled in connection with the murder of a woman in which the involvement of ASI Ashok Kumar Singh of the said police station was suspected. The villagers were agitated and they wanted immediate action against the accused. But, instead, they were chased and beaten up mercilessly. Young and old, men, women and children all were beaten up black and blue which was captured by cameras and shown live on television channels. Noor Sarai happens to be a police station in the chief minister’s district. No less than 40 women had been hospitalised and they were undergoing treatment in government and private hospitals.

The opposition parties have been demanding a high level enquiry as the entire district police administration is in the dock.

On September 14, a worker named Govind Rajbhar, who had been arrested on charge of theft, was found dead in the police lock-up in Siwan Town police station. The entire town is on the boil and the relatives of Govind Rajbhar have alleged that he was tortured to death.

On September 12, when the workers of Bansal Private Limited were peacefully raising their demands before the employer, the police station in charge of the Industrial Area police station of Hajipur came to the spot and started canning the assembled workers. Later, a protest meeting was organised under the banner of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and since then workers have been carrying on their struggle.

Peasants are the worst sufferer under the present dispensation. Everyday they are taking to the roads, demanding supply of adequate fertilisers as these are perpetually in short supply. Reports of road blocks and gherao of local government officials have become the daily news. The state government is squarely blaming the central government for the present state of affairs but it has no answer for the rampant black-marketing in fertiliser. The skyrocketing prices of each and every agricultural input and the vagaries of nature have pauperised vast sections of the peasantry of Bihar. Even the government has conceded that Bihar needs 165 lakh tonnes of grain to feed its population whereas it produces only 129 lakh tonnes of grain. The question being widely asked is: Despite the abundance of water and fertile land, why is there no turnaround in the last six years of the Golden Rule of Nitish Kumar?

As the Nitish government abandoned the recommendations of the Bandyopadhyay commission report regarding land reforms, the landlords of Bihar have become further emboldened, which has resulted in renewed attacks against landless agricultural workers and poor peasants in different parts of Bihar. Recently, on September 2, landlords carrying firearms and their musclemen raided the Bajitpur village of Begusarai district and started ploughing the land long held by the villagers. It is the same village where during Karpoori Thakur’s regime the landlords had tried to evict the peasants by resorting to large scale violence. Top level leaders of the CPI(M) and the Kisan Sabha had visited the village at that time and, after their intervention, the villagers’ possession of the land was ensured. When Nitish Kumar came to the helm of affairs in Bihar, the landlords once more tried to evict the villagers but they were resisted and beaten back. Four villagers got bullet injuries and they had to be treated in the PMCH at Patna. All the injured peasants belong to the CPI(M) which led resistance of the peasants of Bajitpur village to the armed landlords and their goons.

The CPI(M) state secretary visited the village on September 3, and addressed a large gathering. While addressing the assembled peasants, he warned the Nitish government to desist from pursuing anti-peasant policies or face the wrath of the peasants who are groaning under a severe crisis.

CPI(M) STATE

COMMITTEE MEETS

The state committee of the CPI(M) met at Patna on September 10 and 11, and reviewed the situation developing in the state.

The state government has only spent a tiny sum of 3,074 crore rupees out of the 24,000 crores rupees at its disposal for yearly planned expenditure. It is a deliberate attempt by the bureaucracy and the vested interests to siphon off the money at the fag end of the financial year. The indictment of the Nitish government by the CAG for AC, DC bill is well known.

Corruption has become more rampant at different levels. Police atrocities against the common people have increased manifold. Atrocities against women, incidents of rape, anti-woman violence at workplaces and homes are being reported daily. Custodial rape in the Manjhi police station and police violence against agitating women at Noor Sarai police station have fully exposed the so called “sushasan” (benevolent governance) of the Nitish Kumar government.

The so called development of Bihar has failed to generate employment in the state. Agricultural production has gone down. It’s is the bureaucracy which runs the government.

The CPI(M) has carried out many state and local level agitations in the intervening period. It has lost Comrade Yogendra Sah who fought against corruption in Indira Awas Yojana in his panchayat. Land issues have also come to the fore.

As the CPI is engaged in the preparation for its all-India congress to be organised at Patna and the CPI(ML) has stepped up its anti-CPI(M) tirade, the CPI(M) has decided to go it alone till this situation persists. The state committee has decided to organise people at the panchayat level and fight on the local issues concerning them. On September 29, party branches all across Bihar organised demonstratives and dharnas before the panchayat offices for corruption free implementation of the pro-poor central and state government schemes.

The party’s branch conferences are already on. The party has issued instructions about abiding by the time table fixed for the completion of conferences right from the branch level to the state level.

Sarvodaya Sharma presided over the meeting as Hannan Mollah guided the proceedings.