MI Khan, TwoCircles.net
Patna: In a harrowing display of community strife, Dalit victims in Bihar are pleading for “patta” (lease deeds) of land to resolve a bitter ownership dispute over government-owned land. This urgent call comes as dozens of impoverished families from the Mushahar and Ravidas communities find themselves homeless, forced to endure the elements after their thatched and bamboo huts were set ablaze in Nawada district. The flames were allegedly ignited by powerful people from the Paswan and Dusadh communities, also Dalit groups, raising alarming questions about the struggle for land and dignity in a region rife with caste tensions.
The survivors of the incident have been living under the open sky since the night of September 18. They claim that their huts were set ablaze by a mob mainly led by armed Paswan, with the aim of taking hold of the land where their huts stood and asserting this “gair majarua malik zameen” (government-owned land) as their own during the ongoing land survey in the state. However, the victims are determined to maintain their claim on the land and have sought government intervention to provide “patta” of land without delay.
The burning of 34 huts — 21 fully damaged and 13 partially — in the Dalit tola (hamlet) of Krishna Nagar village, situated just 1 km from the local Mufassil police station, has become a significant embarrassment for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in the state led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. This incident not only involves Dalit victims but also saw Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi directly blaming the Yadav community, a powerful OBC caste, for the arson.
However, it soon emerged that this was a Dalit versus Dalit conflict. The main accused, Nandu Paswan, a retired police constable in his late 60s, locally known as Dabang (muscle power), led the mob and was arrested along with 14 others by the police. According to police statements, only one of the 15 arrested belongs to the Yadav caste.
The police have lodged an FIR against 28 named accused and others in this case, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to arrest the absconding accused.
Ironically, Manjhi, former Bihar chief minister and founder of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), an ally of the ruling BJP-led NDA, who himself belongs to the Mushahar community, attempted to deflect blame by naming the Yadav community, associated with opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, as responsible for the burning of the huts. However, as reports emerged confirming Paswan’s involvement, it became an embarrassment for the NDA, since Paswan overwhelmingly supports Union Minister Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (R), an ally of the BJP-led NDA. Most of the survivors were supporters of Manjhi, while the accused were supporters of Chirag Paswan.
RJD leaders targeted Manjhi for spreading false information related to the incident.
An initial probe into the incident by district police revealed that the accused who attacked and burned the huts were claiming the government-owned land as their own and had been eyeing to take possession for a long time, despite the fact that this land has been occupied by several families of Mushahar and Ravidas for years.
While it is clear that this latest violent incident in Nawada relates to a land dispute, it differs from previous conflicts. It was not a case of Dalits versus powerful upper castes. In this instance, the poor and landless Mushahar and Ravidas, struggling for survival, were targeted by a group of Paswan, who have emerged as a politically powerful Dalit community. It appears that the burning of their huts was part of a calculated effort to force them off land where they have lived for years.
A dominant factor in this incident is that Paswan, largely considered better-off compared to Mushahar and Ravidas, behaved like a feudal force against the poorer Dalits, who fight for basic existence daily.
According to the socio-economic data from the Bihar caste survey report made public in November last year, the ground reality of land ownership among different castes, including Dalits, is stark. The Mushahar population is 3.9%, but they own only 0.2% of the land; the Ravidas population is 5.2%, but they own 0.5%; while the Paswan population, also at 5.2%, owns 1% — the highest among Dalits.
The data highlights that poverty is rampant in Bihar, with 34.13% of all families classified as “poor”. The highest number of poor families is among SCs and STs, followed by OBCs and EBCs. Among SCs (Dalits), poverty is most severe among the Mushahar community, with about 54% of Mushahar families living in poverty, followed by 53% among Bhuiyan and 42% among Jatav or Mochi (Ravidas).
Mushahar are known as one of India’s most marginalised communities in the caste hierarchy, primarily working as landless laborers to earn their livelihoods. Historically, Mushahar have been forcibly displaced by powerful landed classes, mostly from upper castes.
Asharfi Sada, president of the Musahar Vikas Manch, noted that most in this community live with their families in thatched houses built on government-unclaimed land, as neither they, nor their fathers or grandfathers, owned any land. This situation has persisted for generations. “For centuries, the Mushahar community has lived in Musahari or Musahar Toli (exclusive hamlets) on the outskirts of powerful upper or dominant caste villages across Bihar, and they are still considered untouchable,” he told TwoCircles.net.
According to last year’s Bihar caste survey report, there are 215 castes in Bihar, and the total population of Bihar is 13.7 crore, which includes 36% Extreme Backward Classes (EBCs), 27% Other Backward Classes (OBCs) (OBCs and EBCs together account for 63%), 19% SCs (Dalits) and 1.68% STs (Adivasis).
Over three million Mushahars live in hamlets spread across drought-prone central and southern Bihar and flood-prone northern Bihar.
Dhiru Manjhi and Laxminiya Devi, both from the Mushahar community, have lived for years in thatched huts on gair majarua jameen but were forced to take shelter under a nearby tree after their huts were burned by Nandu Paswan and others.
“We are living for over three decades and fully aware that this is government land and not private land. Nandu Paswan and others are eyeing to capture this land; they attacked us and burnt our huts. But we are landless and poor, and the government should give us land patta to end this dispute,” Laxminiya said.
Dhiru Manjhi lamented, “We lost everything, including goats, clothes, food grains, and utensils when the accused set our huts on fire. Now we are left with some half-burnt bamboo from the thatched roof scattered around, fully damaged food grains, and household items. We have to rebuild our huts, and it will take time to return to normal life.”
Gorelal Ravidas, another survivor, recalled, “Armed attackers surrounded our huts, and Nandu Paswan loudly ordered the mob to set the huts on fire and destroy everything. Nandu Paswan had threatened us repeatedly to set our huts on fire to vacate the land; he finally did it. He also warned us not to allow us to live on this land. The government should distribute land patta to us now to end the dispute over this land.”
A police official stated that Vayas Muni, a witness to the incident, said it is an old land dispute and a title suit is in the district court of Nawada. Muni reportedly informed the police that the attackers, some on motorcycles, fired indiscriminately in the air to create panic among the poor settlers on the government land, set huts on fire, looted household items, and threatened them to vacate the land or face dire consequences.
According to Muni, he heard that decades ago, a Muslim landlord claimed ownership of this land; later, he transferred it to another Muslim man, who reportedly sold the land to Nandu Paswan and others. With the fresh land survey underway, Nandu Paswan and others attempted to take possession of the land to claim it as their own.
Land disputes are not new in semi-feudal rural Bihar. They remain a primary cause of violence and crime, including killings. After the Nawada incident, Chief Minister Kumar publicly admitted last week that the number of killings over land has decreased from 60% to 46.69% over the past few years.
Taking serious note of the burning of Mushahar and Ravidas huts in Nawada, he directed that compensation be provided to the victims and asked a top police official of ADG rank to oversee the ongoing investigation and ensure the arrest of all accused.
Satyanarayan Madan, convenor of the Jan Pahal, a people’s organisation, stated that a team visited the incident site but police and local administration did not allow them to talk to the victims. “Heavy police deployment made it difficult to meet and talk to the victims. But a few victims informed us that local administration officials ordered them not to talk to outsiders and to praise the government measures like community kitchens and other relief provided to them after the incident.”
Different teams from the RJD, the CPI(ML) and the ruling JD-U visited the victims on September 19 and 20.