BIHAR A DREAM TURNED SOUR -A CASE OF LEADERSHIP FAILURE PART -1

WANTED LEADERS FOR BIHAR DESPERATELY

Bihar has been known to be a laboratory of social re-engineering in the modern Indian history. The burning desire of people to correct what is wrong was reflective in the immense support received by Gandhi during his maiden foray in the state of affairs of his countrymen in the form of the Indigo Satyagraha. The name of Rajkumar Shukla might be lost in the immense numbers who have dotted the freedom movement but for the audience, he was the man who requested Gandhi to show the way to his fellow sufferers in Champaran and ignited the concept of Satyagrha along with his Kheda counterparts from 1914. 

Post-Independence the State was led by mass leaders like SK Sinha and AN Sinha but in the 60's it fell victim to the autocratic whims off the central leadership which could only be shaken by a mass movement. This movement on the lines of the Navnirman Movement (1974) of Gujarat was the Sampoorna Kranti movement spearheaded by Jayprakash Narayan. The unease with the status quo showed the burning desire of Bihar to correct what was wrong in the infancy of India’s existence.  Here again the Bihar Chaahtra Sngarsh Samiti (BCSS) invited JP to lead the movement which became the first massive movement which has strengthened the democratic set up of India. 

Unfortunately despite of having luminaries in terms of idealism and thought (SN Sinha,Mahamaya Prasad,Rahul Sankrityayan etc.post JP ), the state could never get a leader who could channelize the energies and strengths of the millions and it was reduced to what was referred to as an anti-establishment and anarchic state. Post the JP Movement nothing much changed except some random changes in political landscape none of which had a vision to take the state in the march to development -both in terms of economic growth and social development. 

Then came Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, a leader who started with a bang but ended with a disaster. The initial years of the 90s saw a number of populist schemes and measures which also saw a not so silent social revolution with the caste hierarchies rewritten and the Yadavs becoming the new Brahmins. The allegations and charges of corruption, hooliganism, law and order failures was  succinctly put in the Economist  "Bihar [had] become a byword for the worst of India, of widespread and inescapable poverty, of corrupt politicians indistinguishable from mafia-dons they patronise, caste-ridden social order that has retained the worst feudal cruelties". In 2005, the World Bank believed that issues faced by the state were "enormous" because of "persistent poverty, complex social stratification, unsatisfactory infrastructure and weak governance". 

Nepotism and puppet government saw a new high with Mr Lalu anointing his wife whose only introduction to political life was being the wife of the Chief Minister and sister of strongmen in Bihar politics. The ease with which the wife was anointed the chief could not be possible even in a monarchy. Not to state the obvious while the rest of India started reaping the fruits of Globalization post 1990’s the leadership once again failed to deliver. With no vision and plan the state was reduced to fighting floods and tackling day to issues of safeguarding the corrupt. The bureaucracy was reduced to being the custodians of an anchor-less ship which in turn reaped the maximum benefits from the poorest state and its inhabitants. The leadership including the bureaucrats became parasites who sucked on the already impoverished body of its emaciated masses.

A new hope was established in 2005 with Mr Nitish Kumar coming to power. He seemed to have a vision and whose interactions with central government and industries seemed to be on the right track. The masses could breathe easy with better law and order, improvement in services and dream of a better future. People could be seen talking about returning back to Bihar and contributing to the development and supporting the new chief minister in whatever ways possible. The Chief Minister of Bihar for the first time in our generation could be seen on magazine covers as not a jester or a villain but a man with an immense burden trying to deliver.

This hope was however shattered. The coalition government with a national party (BJP) was broken down due to individual sense of righteousness which some also blame as blind ambition of the man who could have delivered. He could have still been forgiven if it was just a case of over ambition or sense of righteousness but what happened subsequently was the repeat of political opportunism unparalleled anywhere else in the country. The anointing of a political no one as Chief Minister in his place, not as a sacrifice but as a puppet and the new found love with someone whose defeat was orchestrated on the hopes of revival has once again stopped the march to progress even before the parade began.

The present Chief-minister can at best be described as a political creeper with ties to almost all parties having a presence in the state. He honeymooned with INC,(1980-1990) flirted with  Janata Dal (1990-1996), fell in love with RJD (1996-2005)  and remarried with JDU in 2005 and is looked as a possible compromise candidate for his ex-party. Can we expect anything from someone who does not seem to have any self-goal except for remaining in power? On a conciliatory note, the past many a times is not the correct indication of the actual value of a person. Closing with the wish that Jitan Ram Manjhi turns out to be the Man who changed Bihar or at least delivers on one of his still unspoken plans and ignites hopes and aspirations.

It is surprising to note that the state could not produce a single relevant leader who could steer us or at least show a dream.

The writer is an exiled Bihari owing to lack of opportunity in his state and believes that the term Non Resident Bihari is applicable to voluntary exits only