HVK Archives: Whither social justice?
Whither social justice? - The Pioneer
Ajay Singh
()
5 April 1997
Title : Whither social justice?
Author : Ajay Singh
Publication : The Pioneer
Date : April 5, 1997
The brutal assassination of Chandrashekhar Prasad, former president
of the Jawahar Lal Nehru university students union, by the henchmen
of Janata Dal MP Shahabuddin is illustrative of grim
socio-political realities in Bihar and an ostrich-like approach of
the political class.
On March 31, Prasad was addressing a small public meeting at a busy
street corner in Siwan. At least 25 assailants pumped bullets in
his chest. Prasad died on the spot. This happened right in front
of local residents but there was hardly any resistance as the
assailants were associated with the dreaded MP of Siwan.
Shahabuddin figures in police record as a gunrunner and notorious
criminal.
The killing of Prasad had several parallels with the fate of Safdar
Hashmi, an artiste who was killed in broad daylight in Sahibabad on
Jan 1, 1989 while his Jan Natya Manch was staging a street play
highlighting the exploitation of workers by industrialists. Both
Prasad and Hashmi lost their lives for their convictions. Both
fell foul of the powers-that-be by their efforts to take up the
cause of the deprived and helpless. However, while the Hashmi
murder triggered a nationwide protest by artists and intellectuals,
perhaps, because of its proximity to New Delhi, the killing of
Prasad in a remote area of Bihar failed to evoke the same reaction,
even in the State.
In the National Capital, the Delhi Police not only underestimated
the anger of JNU students who staged a demonstration at Bihar
Niwas, it also acted as dumb spectator when the students were being
fired at by Laloo Yadav's "goons" indiscriminately. According to
eyewitnesses, it was nothing short of a miracle that no student
lost his life in the firing. The FIR lodged by JNU students named
Sadhu Yadav, Chief Minister Laloo Yadav's brother-in-law, as one of
those who fired at the students.
Prasad who took up a full-time assignment in Siwan, a backward
district of Bihar, from his party CPI-ML (liberation), was not from
the herd of JNU academics. He was leading a march of the oppressed
in a small township of Bihar. His task of leading social underdogs
was different from that of running a union of students drawn mainly
from the upper social strata. The boarded activist always wore an
innocent smile and won the hearts of landless peasants of Siwan.
His presence inspired confidence among those who had reconciled to
humiliation and hunger as their fate. Indeed, the former JNU
president found his new assignment the most challenging job in his
brief career.
In his last visit to New Delhi, he admitted that his ground level
experience of politics was unique in more than one way. He was
experimenting with linking student politics with the movement of
land less peasants. Prasad belonged to Siwan district and was well
aware of the social realities in Bihar. Coming from a backward
caste, he chose to go back to his roots and work for the oppressed
social section with whom he consciously identified.
The whole issue reveals the grim reality in Bihar where landless
peasants are massacred in Naxalite-infested belt of Arrah, Siwan,
Gopal Ganj, Patna and Gaya. Even worse crimes against Dalits does
not wake the administration from its slumber. Self-proclaimed
messiah of "social justice and secularism" Laloo Prasad Yadav is
hardly bothered.
The on-going clashes between Shahabuddin and CPI-ML (liberation)
activists in Siwan expose the myth about Laloo Yadav's social
justice. It is no secret that Shahabuddin personally led the attack
on the Siwan Superintendent of Police when the latter tried to
cheek booth-capturing in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. When the
police official lodged a formal complaint against the incident and
tried to arrest the culprit, he was summarily removed. More
recently the police administration turned a blind eye , when
Shahabuddin's gun men virtually went on a carnage-spree, killing
Dalits on the pretext that they were Naxalites. The spurt in the
killings of Dalits in Bihar clearly indicates a consolidation of
feudal forces against poverty-stricken peasants who have started
asserting themselves. The killings of Mushars (mice-eaters) just 30
km away from Patna exposes the patronage extended by the State
Government to feudal lords.
Those having close allegiance with Laloo Yadav have openly aligned
with the dreaded upper caste army, Ranvir Sena, in Bhojpur
district. The scant regard to the law enforcement authorities
shown by this outfit was reflected in a day-light attack on the
district party office of the CPI-ML recently. In this part of
Bihar, land is the only source of sustenance in the absence of
other economic activities. Even in adjoining districts like Rohtas
where industries prospered in the past, the economic activity is
centred around the agriculture.
Indeed, the land relations have undergone a sea-change since 1970
when Naxalism took grip in Bhojpur, specially in Sahar and Sandesh
areas. The land concentration from upper cast(, feudal lords
gradually shifted to intermediary castes like Yadavs and Kurmis.
This explained the overt support to the caste armies by former
Union Minister Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav.
The changing alchemy of the land relational strengthened the feudal
forces with support from rising intermediary castes. With Laloo
Yadav as the Chief Minister, there is virtually no stopping for the
caste-based armies or persons like Shahabuddin.
This also exposes that Laloo Yadav's upper caste bashing was only a
sham. His tirade against upper castes was aimed at consolidating
his own support base rather than his commitment for "social justice
or social equity". This became evident when during his first stint
as the Chief Minister, he brought a senior IAS official K B Saxena
to Patna, ostensibly for land reforms. Saxena remained without
work for .about two years before he managed to get himself
transferred to New Delhi on deputation.
If any person who is really worried over the rising political
aspirations among Dalits in Bihar it is Laloo Yadav. He is
incapable of carrying on land reforms as it will antagonise his
social base, specially landed intermediary castes which are more
aggressive and violent than upper caste feudal lords of
yesteryears. He lacks political conviction to see beyond his own
self. The forces unleashed by him in the form of certain
individuals like Shahabuddin's, Sadhu Yadavs or Dilip Singhs are
beyond his realm of control. As of now, the genie of social
anarchy and chaos is out of the bottle.
In the past also, Bihar passed through many turbulent phases but
the present social turmoil is more foreboding and serious. It is
also reflective of cynicism with which the ruling elite of Bihar
take up the complicated social and economic issues in the State.
For last one year, this political class has adopted an ostrich-like
approach to the killings of Dalits.
The BJP has its aversion to Naxalism for ideological reasons. Hence
it would be unfair to expect Hindutva votaries to raise these
issues. And Laloo Yadav considers emergence of Dalits as a threat
to his political position. In Siwan and Bhojpur, the perceptible
difference between the Janata Dal and the BJP is almost blurred as
upper castes sees a "Robinhood" in Shahabudddin.
Prasad refused to be allured by middle-class dreams and decided to
chart his own course by linking student politics with the social
realities. His commitment to radical Left did not come in the way
of his wider understanding of other political streams. This was the
reason for his growing popularity among peasants in Siwan - which
was precisely the reason for his assassination.
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