Bihar’s Ban On Obscene Bhojpuri Songs Returns — But Has Anything Changed?

Recently, the Bihar government issued a strict order banning obscene and double-meaning Bhojpuri songs in public places. The state’s Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister, Samrat Choudhary, has instructed the police that FIRs will now be registered against anyone playing obscene or double-meaning songs in buses, autos, trucks, e-rickshaws, or any public place.

The government says that such songs have a negative impact on society, children, and the dignity of women. Therefore, the public playing and circulation of such songs is being prohibited, and violators will face strict legal action.

Similar orders had been issued earlier in 2025 by the Bihar Police as well, before Holi. This year, too, these orders have been released ahead of Holi. Nothing has really changed. Only the year is different, and the same old paperwork exists to rein in obscene Bhojpuri songs. Had these orders actually been implemented on the ground, perhaps the Bihar government would not have needed to issue them again before Holi.

Last year, as well, when the police issued such directions, Bhojpuri singer Chandan Tiwari shared a post on social media along with a copy of the police order. Tiwari had expressed hope that the earlier values would return to Bhojpuri songs. She had thanked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the government order that spoke of administrative action against the public playing and listening to obscene, double-meaning, and anti-woman Bhojpuri songs.

A sense of deja vu

Now, reacting to this year’s order, Chandan Tiwari tells Outlook India, “I once again welcome the government’s order and hope that obscene songs will be stopped. But the question is, what happened after the earlier instructions? After that, obscene songs have only increased; they are being written and sung even more. All the leaders dance to these very songs. On one hand, you say you are banning them, and on the other, people from your own party and those in power invite singers of obscene songs to their programmes and dance to them.”

According to Chandan Tiwari, the government will have to ensure monitoring to actually implement these orders so that obscene songs and programmes can be stopped. She also appeals to those lyricists and singers who serve obscene songs only for money and millions of views.

Sharing her personal experience, Chandan Tiwari tells Outlook, “Where is society heading today? And where are we taking it through obscene songs? We can sing good songs too. We can take good songs to the people. And those chasing a million views should think that there are women in their homes, too. They also listen to the obscene songs you write and sing. At least think that much. I was also told, ‘Chandan, sing something different, you have many followers and subscribers.’ I replied that I have never sung such songs, and I never will. I am a woman. I have my own family, and I have a responsibility regarding what I am giving to society.”

The political connection

Among the artists associated with controversial and obscene Bhojpuri songs, and those directly or indirectly linked to politics, names like Khesari Lal, Ritesh Pandey, Pawan Singh, and Guddu Rangila stand out. Khesari Lal Yadav and Ritesh Pandey both contested the Bihar Assembly elections last year. Pawan Singh directly entered electoral politics by contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Ara as an independent candidate. Earlier, ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, he had joined the BJP and campaigned for the party. This clearly shows that the stream of Bhojpuri music, often accused of vulgarity, has also become a tool for political parties to gather crowds and cash in on popularity.

When Bhojpuri singer and actor Khesari Lal faced the media after receiving a ticket from the Rashtriya Janata Dal, he said that he comes from the same land where Bhikhari Thakur was born. Then, with a sideways glance, he added that from the same land, one Bhikhari was born, and another Khesari.

Khesari may have praised himself, but in doing so, he also revealed his standards.

“Piya Gayeilen Calcutta Sajanwa, Chhod Gayeilen Humke Akel Ho Ram” through this song, Bhikhari Thakur expressed women’s pain of separation, loneliness, and economic dependence. He raised women’s questions: Is the world only meant for men? Who will understand my desires and my suffering?

On the other hand, crude singers like Khesari Lal, through vulgar and obscene songs such as “U maza naikhhe hamra bhatara mein, jon maza devra ke chhehtra mein,” have woven soft pornography into the minds of the youth.

Born in 1887 in Kutubpur village on the banks of the Ganga in Saran district, Bhikhari Thakur is called the Shakespeare of Bhojpuri. Over his 84-year life, he emerged as a folk artist, playwright, poet, and singer. Through his works on issues like the dowry system and women’s discourse, he exposed social evils. Through songs, he gave Bhojpuri culture a national identity and carried its popularity abroad.

But when voices even from Bhikhari Thakur’s own family say that Bhojpuri now makes them feel ashamed, it is not just sad, but it is also deeply alarming.

Bhikhari Thakur’s great-grandson, Sushil Kumar, is so hurt by today’s obscene Bhojpuri songs and singers that he told Outlook, “So much filth is being spread in society through Bhojpuri songs today that mothers and sisters cannot listen to Bhojpuri anymore. How do singers of such obscene songs call themselves big stars? I now feel ashamed even to speak the Bhojpuri language.”

There are hundreds of researches and writings on Bhikhari Thakur’s personality and contribution, which must be read. The question is, how did a language that became globally known through Bhikhari Thakur, how did Bhojpuri, which reached foreign lands through songs, become so normalised in obscenity through dozens of today’s singers and actors like Khesari Lal, Pawan Singh, Ritesh Pandey, Guddu Rangila, and others?

For years, there has been a demand to include Bhojpuri in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Among those raising this demand is Bhikhari Thakur’s great-grandson, Sushil Kumar himself. But Sushil feels that this path is no longer easy, because obscenity in Bhojpuri songs has reached its peak.

Earlier, the history of actors becoming politicians was limited to Bollywood. But in the past decade, this trend has spread to the Bhojpuri industry as well. That is why Bhojpuri stars like Manoj Tiwari, Ravi Kishan, and Dinesh Lal Nirahua have reached Parliament.

Recently, a video of Pawan Singh, often in the news for crude and obscene songs, went viral, showing him touching a fellow female artist inappropriately during an event. When this became a major issue on social media, he had to apologise to the artist. This was not the first such incident; several allegations have been made against him earlier as well.

Prashant Kishor’s party Jan Suraaj, which talks about political purity, joined the same league in its very first election by fielding Ritesh Pandey, who is known for singing obscene and vulgar songs, from Ara. This is a pattern that hardly any party contesting elections in the Hindi belt seems untouched by.

Yes, one can debate whether Ritesh Pandey’s eligibility for the ticket came from his millions of followers—or from songs like, “Lavandiya London se layenge, raat bhar DJ bajayenge…”

Last year in March, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Mauritius, he was welcomed with Bhojpuri music and tradition, and he delivered a message in Bhojpuri. This shows how Bhojpuri crosses geographical boundaries and evokes pride on foreign soil, especially through music.

People often talk about learning from Bhikhari Thakur’s songs and plays, especially his Bidesia style. Bidesia is a famous Bhojpuri folk theatre form, credited to Bhikhari Thakur, depicting the pain of migrant labourers, social evils, and everyday struggles. But the women whose pain and voices Bhikhari Thakur brought to the stage through Bhojpuri music, today’s Bhojpuri society appears to stand in complete opposition to them.

Reasons behind the decline

It is also important to understand how obscenity in Bhojpuri reached this extreme. Experts say that one reason is its visualisation and filmisation. Music was meant to be heard, and cinema to be watched. What is being shown today in Bhojpuri never existed in its tradition.

Renowned music critic and historian Padma Shri Gajendra Narayan Singh once said in an interview that bringing Bhojpuri into visuals would ruin it, and society would stop recognising even its own sisters. His words are proving true today.

After the 1990s, Bhojpuri changed completely, and obscenity in songs became common. Before that, Bhojpuri had a golden history. If Bhikhari Thakur gave voice to women’s struggles, singers like Mahendra Misir of the same era wrote songs that articulated women’s emotions.

Born in 1886 in Mishrauliya village of Saran district, Mahendra Misir was titled the “Emperor of Purbi” in Bhojpuri music. He enriched the Purbi style and took it to great heights, singing thumri, dadra, kajri, chaiti, jhula, and virah. He especially portrayed the pain of tawaifs, their emotions, and society’s injustice towards them.

After Mahendra Misir’s death in 1946, Bhikhari Thakur continued to fight for women through Bhojpuri songs until his last breath in 1971. After them came professional singers, with Mohammad Khalil considered the first, who attempted to take Bhojpuri beyond traditional songs and into modern styles.

At the same time, folk singers Sharda Sinha and Vindhyavasini Devi were also singing Bhojpuri. Mohammad Khalil and Sharda Sinha moved away from purely traditional songs and began singing modern and cult songs.

This was the era when legends like Mohammed Rafi, Hemant Kumar, Mahendra Kapoor, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Asha Bhosle, and Lata Mangeshkar were singing Bhojpuri. This period is considered Bhojpuri’s golden era, when many renowned musicians contributed.

Senior journalist and Bhojpuri expert Nirala Bidesia believes that Bhojpuri’s legacy got disturbed during this very golden era with the entry of Baleshwar Yadav. Though he sang many good and popular songs, his popularity soared, and he became widely known across the country.

Nirala Bidesia further tells Outlook, “When the visual era began, Baleshwar lost his way and started singing obscene songs. He sang the first obscene Bhojpuri song—‘Chana ka khet chhota hai, ganna ke khet aana’—which was essentially a sexual invitation.”

Then companies like T-Series and Tips arrived. After the Baleshwar era, album culture began in the 1990s, followed by Manoj Tiwari and Ravi Kishan, and songs like lehenga choli uthana became common.

Nirala says that when obscenity entered Bhojpuri, songs shifted from a woman’s mind to her body. Society did not strongly reject it then. That is why a land that witnessed Ravi Shankar and Bismillah Khan suddenly produced lyrics like “Nathuniya pe goli mare.”

Political parties accepting singers of obscene and vulgar Bhojpuri songs during elections is an example of moral decline in politics. These are the same artists whose songs have fuelled sexist thinking and gender inequality, and now the same faces are being pushed into public representation. When politics abandons ideas and dignity and starts chasing cheap popularity and crowd-pleasing entertainment, it is not just a decline of politics but also a deep injury to public sensitivity.

Nivedita Jha, who has long been associated with theatre, believes that the Bihar government’s recent instructions are not strong enough. She says, “On one hand, you talk about stopping obscene songs on autos, buses, and carts. On the other hand, you bring those very singers into politics and power. No action is taken against them. This contradiction must be taken seriously. To stop obscene songs, the industry producing them must be reined in first. FIRs must be registered against singers of obscene songs. Orders must be strictly implemented. Otherwise, these are nothing more than empty proclamations.”

Nirala Bidesia believes that obscenity in Bhojpuri music has spread like a festering wound. To control it, the Bihar government’s orders alone are not enough; far stricter steps will be required.