By Mohammad Sajjad for TwoCircles.net
This is a response to Shaibal Gupta’s column, “Unimportance of Shahabuddin”, which was published in the Indian Express on September 21.
Shaibal Gupta is quite a respected academic. His studies and articulations about the contemporary Bihar is enviable. However, in this particular column, he seems to have acted more as a spokesperson of the incumbent Chief Minister and less as an independent academic.
In Bihar, there is a common parlance: “You need to have a criminal, or a police, or a politician in your family, if you have to live with ‘dignity’ in Bihar”. True, a lot has changed since Nitish came to power, notwithstanding what his motivated critics may say. This does not mean that Nitish has not done anything worth criticising/condemning. Bihar is also a place whose “dons” have themselves demonstrated to have become the intelligentsia. While Shahabuddin and Munna Shukla have obtained Ph.D. degrees from the BRA Bihar University Muzaffarpur, the other ‘dons’ Anand Mohan Singh and Pappu Yadav have become authors cum poets. For the former’s memoir in both prose and poetry, once, there was a news-item that Prof. Namwar Singh would be adorning the book- release ceremony.
It was so outrageous for me to know this news that I did not care to check if Prof. Namwar Singh really went to grace the occasion. Shaibal Gupta’s opening line is, “Bihar is one of the few states where the intimacies of the mafia and intelligentsia are celebrated in a demonstrative manner”. Much beyond that, my point is: In Bihar, mafia has not only become the legislators but also has announced to have become intelligentsia unto themselves. Shahabuddin too has been flamboyant about having read celebrated works like God of Small Things, Godfather, and fifty more books.
In the 1990s, when some of these “worthies” grew in strength, Nitish Kumar was quite a part of the ruling formation headed by his so called ‘elder brother’, Lalu. Even after having parted with Lalu, Nitish’s party/coalition did carry some of such worthies along, including Munna Shukla and Anant Singh. Thus, Bihar was never unburdened with these ‘dons’; neither pre-1990s, nor post-2005. Though one must add that in post 2005 years some of these figures were really chastised by the state. Nitish does deserve appreciation for such brave steps. This certainly does not absolve him of why and how Shahabuddin got bail. Even if, just for the sake of pushing ahead the argument, Gupta’s rather unrealistic and over-optimistic claim that in a “changed political economy”, if any, “dons” will no longer emerge is conceded, one cannot forget the tales of dreadful stories of the crimes that were perpetrated in Bihar.
The allegations of which had put the ‘don’ behind the bars. That an accused in the murder of a journalist, Rajdeo Ranjan, was seen in the palpably pompous cavalcade is just one latest instance of the failure of the state.
Gupta has talked of an economy of “JCB or Hyaba, road-roller or tractor” growing in Bihar. Hence, he is optimistic about non-emergence of criminals/mafia, within such an economic context. How can he be so naive about the Bihar affairs? How did he ignore the crimes of real-estates? Kidnapping for ransom, grabbing real estate and every such crime is passing him by. The acid killing of Siwan is also said to be about real estate. Just recently, a Muslim bahubali of Muzaffarpur has grabbed land of a poor Pasmanda Muslim in the town. This could not be put on record or be reported as the sufferer cannot dare saying ‘no’ to the ‘don’ otherwise he would lose his life. The Navruna case of Muzaffarpur is by all accounts about the same kind of crime to grab the real estate. How many of Muslims earning in the Middle East are paying ‘ransom’ to their mohalla hoodlums is something remains confined only to the knowledge of the neighbourhood and close kins. Shaibal Gupta has chosen to ignore all these instances. This is quite intriguing. Moreover, explaining, howsoever erroneously, is one thing. Justification of such menace is another. Gupta, by skipping the issues of criminal justice and its history almost borders on justifying the wrongs committed allegedly by the ‘don’. The ‘don’ after being released, in his press statements/interviews has shown no remorse, in fact, he has boldly asserted that he is not going to change his ways.
Gupta has also chosen not to look deeper into the meanings and messages of the huge, pompous cavalcade show-off by the ‘don’ and his crazy fans. The phenomena of such ‘dons’ having become ‘role models’ for the teenagers and youth across Bihar, has already become a menace for the people. Smaller ‘dons’ in mohallas have already been thriving on ‘ransom’ extracted through their neighbours, is another phenomena Gupta seems to be unaware of. These very characters are elected for the rural and urban local bodies. These characters are the “property dealers”, euphemism for criminals, property grabbers, and extortionists. I have narrated a profile of a goon in a north Bihar village, in my book, Contesting Colonialism and Separatism: Muslims of Muzaffarpur (2014). I have profiled a “career-criminal” among the rural lumpen-criminals operating these days in rural Bihar. Further, in my essays on the communal riots in Azizpur, Muzaffarpur (January 2015), in Agarpur-Lalganj, Vaishali (November 2015), and in Saran (August 2015), I have explained the roles of the hoodlums as the immediate agent provocateurs of the riots. Let me quote from my essay in the EPW (31 January 2015):
“It should also be remembered that in present-day Bihar villages migrations for livelihood have made male presence very minimal. The few who stay back often become part of the lumpen criminal politician set who work as brokers of nationalised banks as well as touts at police stations and in the community development blocks from where the panchayat development funds and the funds for social welfare schemes flow. There are reports that ever since the Nitish Kumar-led administration launched a crackdown on this network, many of them have taken to another form of crime – sex-trade and trafficking”.
Further, with each bout of communal tension/violence, these hoodlums expand and deepen their clout and base within their castes/communities. The growing communalization of contemporary Bihar is also intertwined with the rising phenomenon of the hoodlums in mohallas. This aspect and impact of the political economy should not be lost on anybody, particularly by the ilks of Shaibal Gupta, who prefer to rely upon the logic of political economy rather too heavily.
Last, the state-managers of the day should not stay complacent by such misleading formulations that the so-called political economy emerging in contemporary Bihar will prevent emergence of hoodlums. The release of the ‘don’ on bail has fuelled the aspirations of the hoodlums. This should be taken note of by the Nitish led administration.
The author is an Associate Professor at the Centre of Advanced Study in History. Aligarh Muslim University