The Politics of Liquidation : Excerpt From Vikas Kumar Jha's ‘Bihar, Criminalisation of Politics’

The stillness of the dark night was broken by the noise of a speeding car on the Patna-Fatuha road going towards Patna. At Fatuha, a police petrol party signalled the car to stop suddenly in the middle of the road. The car came to a screeching halt much to the surprise of the occupant of the car. Seated at the back of the car, was a lean khadi-clad gentleman. Nonplussed at the suddenness of things, he asked, "What is the matter?" answering in a cold voice, a.policeman said; "This is an anti-smuggling squad. We have to search your car."

The khadi-clad gentleman, unable to conceal his anguish, introduced himself as Professor Abdul Bari, President of Bihar Pradesh Congress. Prof. Bari was obviously in a hurry as he wanted to be in Patna on time to receive Mahatma Gandhi. It was for this reason that Prof. Bari had left Hazaribagh in the night. The police brushed aside Prof. Bari's arguments and insisted on searching the car. In the cover of darkness the police dragged Prof. Bari out of the car and shot him point blank. 

The freedom fighter could not even fight for his life. The police party's shots silenced him forever and he fell into the arms of Mother Earth. The soil of the nation was indeed sanctified by the blood of one of her dedicated sons. But why was the blood spilt at all?

At that time there was an interim Congress government in Bihar. It was during the interim government of Congress that the President of the party became the first victim at the altar of the violent politics on 28th March, 1947. This gruesome tragedy on the eve of Independence had numbed everybody. With the passage of time people may have forgotten the supreme sacrifices of Prof. Abdul Bari in the freedom struggle and his contributions as the president of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee. 

The dead cannot complain but can posterity really free itself from the shackles of  such mortifications? The memory may sink into the bottomless pit of time but can history be erased? The unfortunate soil of Bihar has been drenched by innocent blood and painful tears. The son of the soil has repeatedly failed to gauge the kindness of this good earth. Bihar became an agonised state constantly fighting against brutalities and burying them one after another. The soil of Bihar was crying for the milk of human kindness.·

Professor Bari's life is a saga of sacrifice for the freedom of the country. In return he asked for nothing. A noble son of the Mother land and true follower of Mahatma Gandhi. Bari's motto was simple living and high thinking. He had a humble beginning born in an ordinary family at Koelwar in old Shahabad district. Abdul Bari became an extraordinary soldier of the National Movement for Independence. He threw himself whole heartedly into the movement at the call of Gandhi during the 'Salt Satyagraha' in 1930. The spirit of this freedom fighter soared higher even when the body was tortured by the British mounted police. In 1934 he became the President of the Congress Socialist Party and in 1937 the vice-chairman of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. During the 1942 Quit India Movement he was again imprisoned and sent to the Hazaribagh Jail. In the wake of the partition of the country in 1946, communal riots spread far and wide. The fire of communal riots spread to Bihar also and it was then that Prof. Bari was at his secular best trying to extinguish the fire of communalism. 

Later after the return of normalcy he invited Gandhi to visit the riot tom country side of Bihar. Gandhiji came and stayed for about a month. As the President of the Pradesh Congress Committee since 1946 Abdul Bari established contact between the party organisation and the general members. Prof. Bari is probably best known for his active role in Bihar's labour movement.

Abdul Bari was a senior and respectable politician. What business did the police have to question such a leader on smuggling? This question was on the lips of one and all in Bihar. The police realising its folly tried to cover up its barbarity by lame excuses that the shots were fired by mistake. Those days even Congress leaders admitted that it was a political murder because many politicians considered Abdul Bari's popularity a threat to their own political existence. Some people also say that Abdul Bari was very impulsive and quick tempered and when the anti-smuggling squad questioned him at Fatuha, he flew into a rage. This led to heated exchange of words and the shooting of Bari. This is a baseless argument as Abdul Bari was a well known figure not only in Bihar but also in the country. Therefore, it is a hard pill to swallow that the Bihar police had not heard of Prof. Bari. 

Worst still Abdul Bari was shot by the police even when he had introduced himself'. Why did this happen? This question still remains unanswered and was drowned in the din and noise of Independence. After Bari's death Gandhi visited Koelwar and met the bereaved family. Bapu was visibly moved at the pathetic sight of abject poverty of the freedom fighter's family. There was no money for the funeral of the leader and Prof. Bari left this world and his helpless family inherited nothing but poverty and dejection. The Congress party announced a monthly amount of rupees two hundred and fifty to Mrs. Bari but after a couple of months even that paltry sum of money ceased to be given. The Bihar government decided to give two hundred acres of land within the Bettiah Raj to the family but even that remained a lip service only. In Patna two Kathas of land was given to the hapless family on lease but even that was taken away with the expiry of the period of lease. 

The Bari family was in a dire state with no help from any quarter. The sons Salauddin and Shahabuddin were totally confined to the mofussil. Shahabuddin did try to become active in Congress politics but faced all round rejection from the party stalwarts. The dynastic politics of the Congress party had no scope for the son of Abdul Bari. After Independence, for about two decades, there was no murder of political leaders of Professor Abdul Bari's stature.

Growing criminalisation of politics was obvious from the way public life was affected. There were serious cases of police firings which threw normal life out of gear. The police firing in Patna on 12 August, 1955, during the tenure of Dr. Srikrishna Singh, the first Chief Minister of Bihar, was really over nothing. But the police firing turned a non-issue into a major issue which posed a serious problem to the ministry of Dr. Srikrishna Singh. Students of the local Bihar National College were agitated over the non-availability of buses for students. Leading the students was Dinanath Pandey who was in the last leg of his teenage and married hardly a few months back. Pandey lost his life in the police firing. A precious life was lost and Dinanath Pandey became a martyr for no cause. His young bride Shanti became a widow. Her life changed overnight. Later on she married a local doctor and became Shanti Ojha.

The day Dinanath Pandey died the Chief minister Dr. Srikrishna Singh entered the assembly in a dramatic manner-bare feet and eyes filled with tears. There was a hushed silence and in a choked voice br. Srikrishna Singh said, "Today my daughter has become a widow." It was criminal politics which transformed Shanti Pandey to Shanti Ojha. Later, the Das Commission was constituted to enquire into this police firing. But the agitating students refused to call it a day. Finally, prime minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru visited Patna and addressed a massive rally at the local Gandhi Maidan. It was after this that students were pacified and the agitation was withdrawn. The next serious police firing was on 5th January, 1967, during the chief ministership of Krishna Ballabh Sahay.

An agitating mob of about ten thousand had gathered near the Gandhi Maidan and police fired about seventy five rounds while there were approximately one hundred and fifty rounds of tear gas shells.· According to the then Patna District Magistrate J.N. Sahu, the police had to resort to firing as public property worth crores of rupees was damaged and law and order was seriously jeopardised. Official sources put the death toll to nine but the opposition figure was thirty-five.At Jamshedpur on 6th January, 1967, an anguished Jai Prakash Narayan had queried what will happen to a sensitive state like Bihar where political dictatorship is tightening its grip. During  the K.B. Sahay regime, corruption in Bihar had assumed alarming proportions and this was considered a prelude to the police firing on 5th January, 1967. J. N. Sahu who was leading a retired life in the posh Patliputra Colony of Patna recalling the incident of 5th January, 1967, remarked that it was nothing but a fall out of the internal political bickering of the Congress party.

The event took place at a time when the allotment of party tickets to prospective candidates for the forthcoming election had entered a crucial phase. Some Congress stalwarts bitterly opposed to Chief Minister K.B. Sahay wanted to politically weaken his stand by creating an awkward situation, since Sahay proposed to stand from the west Patna, the disgruntled Congress elements wanted to embarrass him in the state capital Thus, K.B. Sahay's dictatorial style of functioning, compelled with the inner politics of the Congress party, had adversely affected the development of Bihar. However, K.B. Sahay in spite of his administrative acumen remained a controversial figure in Bihar's political history due to his super ego and obstinacy. Even K.B. Sahay had an unnatural end in 1974 when he was no more the Chief Minister. He died in a road accident and there.were endless whisperings about it. Many held Bihar's criminalised politics responsible for it.

The 1960s saw the development of unholy political alliances and defections on a large scale. Many prominent political personalities were guilty of destroying political morality and directly encouraging political instability in Bihar for their own narrow political interests. A definite tum in that direction took place just before the general elections of 196 7. On 26th December, 1966.Mahamaya Prasad Sinha a senior Congress MLA announced at the Patna Anjuman Islamia Hall packed to its capacity, that he was leaving the Congress and forming a new party. The new party was called the 'Jankranti Dal' and he was its founder President. This was a big blow to the Congress though the party had faced a similar crisis earlier in 195 7, when Sardar Harihar Singh left the Congress. But when Mahamaya Prasad Sinha walked.out of the Congress with his supporters at such a crucial time, the blow seemed harder for the party. However, for Mahamaya Prasad Sinha the entire act was like a repeat performance. He had been changing his party the way a person changes clothes.

Before again joining the Congress he was in the Socialist Party in 1955. Mahamaya Prasad had another angle to his personality full of histrionic talents. His dramatic challenge that he would see K.B. Sahay at the hustings. Then again, describing the students as "Jiggar Ka Tukra"- meaning my loved ones. Jiggar is a vital part of the body and he was probably indicating the fact that students formed a vital part of Bihar's body politic. This sort of theatrical references had a negative outcome which affected the state. Student unrest on flimsy grounds and indiscipline because rampant, disturbing normal academic life. What a pity, the state’s academic life was at a nadir still. But something more was required than theatrical bluff to enter the political arena with a bang. Mahamaya Prasad Sinha and allied supporters romped home with success in the 1967 elections. A nervous K.B. Sahay had filed his nominations from a number of places - Patna west, Jharia assembly constituencies and fourteen out of sixteen assembly constituencies in Hazaribagh. He. was badly defeated and resigned on 4th March, 1967. 

The police firing just before the elections and its political consequences had created a situation of no return for the Congress and K.B. Sahay in Bihar. The opposition had made most of the issue and hence after taking oath on 5th March, 1967, Mahamaya Prasad Sinha announced that there would be a judicial enquiry into the January police firing. It was primarily this incident that compelled K.B. Sahay to make an inglorious exit. In 1964, Sahay became the Chief Minister under the famous Kamraj Plan and the then Chief Minister Binodanand Jha stepped down quietly. The hallmark of K.B.Sahay and his ministry was corruption which had become all pervasive. The public outcry against the Sahay ministry corruption was so deafening that the Government Gazetteer announced the constitution of the Aiyyar Commission to probe into the matter. The T.L. Venkat Ram Aiyyar Commission was the first of its kind to investigate into the various charges of corruption against politicians in Bihar. Prominent politicians who faced corruption charges were K.B. Sahay, Satyendra Narain Singh (Congress CM in 1989), Ramlakhan Singh Yadav, Mahesh Prasad Sinha, Raghvendra Narayan Singh, Ambika Sharan Singh.

Aiyyar while submitting his Report on 5th February, 1970, said in an emotion-charged voice that this Commission was asked to investigate 189 charges against six politicians. This must be understood clearly that this is only a fact finding tribunal and has nothing to do with politics. I have conducted this investigation not out of fear of man but out of fear of God. Submitting this Report I hope that it will encourage a clean and fearless administration in Bihar. Right from.the beginning, Bihar has been important in the political and cultural life of this country. There was Maharshi Yagyavalkya in Mithila, Gautam Buddha and Mahavira in Magadh. In ancient India, the two most illustrious administrative systems that of the Mauryas and Guptas flourished here. Therefore, while submitting this report, I desire that this state will think of its prestigious past and rise.

The Madholkar Commission was the second major commission to inquire into the shady deals of Bihar's politicians. Mahamaya Prasad Sinha who headed a constitutional government along with his thirteen ministerial colleagues were in the net of Madholkar Commission. These ministers were Raja Kamakhya Narayan Singh, Hashibur Rehman, Bhola Prasad Singh, Sri Krishna Singh; lndradeep Sinha, Chandra ShekharSingh, TejnarainJha, Karpoori Thakur, Kapildev Singh, Basant Narayan Singh, Basawan Singh, Ramanand Tiwari and Vijay Kumar Mitra. The Madholkar Commission submitted a lengthy Report but met the same fate like the previous Aiyyar Report. Both these fact finding reports languished in obscurity. This boded ill for Bihar's political future. Since there was no follow up action after the sensational reports of major fact finding commissions, political corruption found natural breeding grounds since there was no fear of the law. Politicians easily muzzled all democratic procedures and legitimised political corruption. 

If there is all round corruption, can crime be far behind? It seemed as though there was no written law in Bihar. Political corruption was not new but the novelty lay in the fact that corruption was now conducted in a systematic manner. Even before Independence, there were disturbing signs of bribery and corruption. The colonial administration of course took advantage of such situations to discredit the national movement and its leaders in Bihar. To cite an example, Resolution No. 1366{A) dated 8th ·April, 1938 stated about the constituting of the Bihar Corruption Enquiry Committee to look into cases of bribery and corruption in the Bihar Legislative Assembly. The committee was to find reasons and suggest remedial methods This much talked about committee had eight members who were well known public figures.

The Chairman of the Committee was the famous Bar­ at-law Sayed Abdul Aziz. Members were retired Judge Rai Bahadur Amarnath Chatterjee, Retd. Excise Commissioner Rai Bahadur Brajnandan Singh, Mahesh Prasad Narayan Singh, MLC, Abdul Jalil MLA, Bindeshwari Prasad Verma, MLA and Justice Maulvi Mohammad Ibrahim. This committee worked on war-footing, toured throughout the state and then submitted its report. But the political devil stalled things and the committee's findings did not see the light of the day. The wheel of political corruption did not come to a full circle. It went round and round non-stop. The government of Dr. Srikrishna Singh faced serious corruption charges. It was indeed unlucky 13th April, 1955 for the Dr. S. K. Singh ministry when it had together all wits and stave off a no-confidence motion brought by the opposition. The visitor's gallery was packed to its capacity. Prominent by their presence were senior bureaucrats, a minister of West Bengal who was in Patna in connection with some work. 

Placing the motion in the House, the leader of the opposition S.K. Bage dwelt at length on the government's corrupt ways and its total failure to maintain law and order. Supplementing the charges of the leader of the opposition, Mahamaya Prasad Sinha, then a member of Praja Socialist Party, said that the highest number of dacoity cases were in Bihar. S.K. Bage further added that in 1952 there was a dacoity in his house. Mahamaya Sinha intervened to say that the Legislative Council's Deputy Chairman's house was also burgled.

To drive home the truth, comparative estimate of one year (1954) was given: 

State    Number of dacoities

Bihar-  1581

Bombay-  575

Hyderabad- 344

The opposition leaders further cited examples of the government's evil ways. They said that the government misused its position and took profit from big industrialists like Dalmia and gave it to the Rohtas Sugar Mill as compensation. Mahesh Prasad Singh, the then minister of Transport and Industry justified the government's act on the ground that this was done to help the sick sugar mill. There were more instances, like the one related to land. The government, it was alleged, had wrongly leased out about 214 acres of land in the Murli Hill. Krishna Ballabh Sahay, cabinet minister in the Dr. S.K. Singh ministry tried to list justifications. However, Dr. S.K. Singh ministry got a new lease of life when the 'no confidence' motion fell flat. But politicians learnt no lesson as successive governments of Binodanand Jha and K. B. Sahay failed to rise above the evil practices of their predecessors. 

Then came the government of Mahamaya Prasad Sinha, followed by that of B. P. Mandal's. In between came the three-day-old government of Chief Minister Satish Prasad Singh of the Shoshit Dal. Later, he joined Congress and became an MP. The interregnum ministry and the Chief Minister was in the news later when on 17th December, 1971, he was arrested for bunglings in the Pataliputra Medical College, Dhanbad. This was the first time when a former chief minister was arrested. At that time, Bhola Paswan Shastri was the Chief minister. Political corruption worsened during the Chief ministership of Shastri, Daroga Rai and others. Bhola Paswan Shashtri's ministry particularly gained a very bad reputation on account of the notorious Rupaspur massacre. The main suspect was Lakshmi Narayan Sudhanshu, Ex. Speaker of the Bihar Vidhan Sabha.

In a democracy people's reaction is inevitable and essential too. Therefore, with the mounting corruption in politics which was gradually seeping into various parts of public life, the general people in Bihar became restless finding the situation intolerable. For the politicians, the most effective way to retain hold on politics was to stifle public opinion through arms and by terrorising.

The beginning of the 1970s saw the entry of anti-social elements and criminals into politics in a major way. The Kedar Pandey ministry, which power-in March 1972, witnessed the murder of eminent politicians of the state. It began the day the ministry took oath. 19th March, 1972, was an important day asKedar Pandey and his colleagues were administered the oath of office by the governor, Devkant Barooah. The Pandey ministry seemed to have begun on a wrong note and this became clear from the following events. 

Kedar Pandey, after taking oath, was surrounded by supporters and well-wishers when suddenly a police officer made a beeline for him and whispered something into his ears. The newly installed chief minister was in for a rude shock.

Manzarul Hasan Khan, the newly elected CPI MLA from Hazaribagh district was shot dead in his MLA flat No. 102 at about 7.30 p.m. The 45-year-old MLA was relaxing in his room when miscreants suddenly entered and pumped bullets in his body. The chief minister along with senior officials rushed to the spot but the culprits could not be nabbed. Manzarul Hasan Khan was a prominent Trade Union leader of Hazaribagh. In recent times, he had become controversial after the Bongai village murder case. He was in jail for seventeen months and had come out on parole to fight the election. 

Within a few days, Bodulall, the former Congress MLA from Ramgarh, was arrested for his involvement in this murder. However, Khan's murder was a forerunner of things to come and more murders followed. On 5th April, 1972, Revenue Minister Daroga Prasad Rai, admitted in the assembly that crime in Bihar was increasing and there was no sign of it being checked though there was an increase in the number of various police officials. 

The very next day, i.e. on 6th April, 1972, Ram Parikshan Singh Yadav was murdered on the Fatuha-lslampur road in Patna district. The murdered person was the brother of Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav, a senior Congress leader and his (R.L.S. Yadav) right-hand man. This murder raised a lot of hue and cry in the Bihar assembly but the Chief Minister, Kedar Pandey, dismissed it as a coincidence and not a political murder. Out of all the political crimes during Kedar Pandey government, the one in 1973 that shook the very foundation of Congress rule not only in Bihar but even at the Centre, was the murder of the famous freedom fighter Suraj Narain Singh whose bravery made the Quit India Movement of 1942 in Bihar a memorable one.

Suraj Narain Singh then (1973) in the Socialist Party represented Madhubani in the Legislative Assembly. The great escape from the Hazaribagh Jail on 8th November, 1942 has become quite a thriller of the freedom struggle. It was Diwali night and forty two diyas were lit to celebrate the significant events of that year. While some jail inmates sang 'Diwali Agayi Sajni' (It is Diwali my beloved) a few scaled the walls and fled. All of them were freedom fighters, notable among them were Jai Prakash Narayan, Suraj Narain Singh and.others. It was Suraj Narain’s strong shoulders which helped J.P. to scale the prison walls. The British government announced a prize of Rs. 50,000 for nabbing Suraj Narain Singh dead or alive. Such things never deterred the brave freedom fighter, who often hummed-

“The flag asks

Day and night

Why do you suffer oppression?

Why do you keep silent

rise and strike like a gale.”

The same courageous fighter became a victim of criminal politics almost two and a half decades after Independence. In 1973, Kedar Pandey headed the Congress ministry in Bihar. The Socialist Party MLA Suraj Narain Singh's voice resounded in the State legislature and the treasury bench used to be shaken badly. After Independence, Suraj Narain Singh rose to prominence as a labour leader and gave a positive direction to the Hind Mazdoor Sabha, the labour wing of the Socialist Party. The Hind Mazdoor Sabha under the leadership of Suraj N. Singh had effectively organised the workers of Usha Martin Company at Tati Silwe near Ranchi. As a counter poise to Suraj N. With Singh's popularity the Congress managed to set up a pocket union under Ramanika Gupta, which was sustained by the government and the management of the Usha Martin Company. This no doubt was creating a lot of tension in the Usha Martin Company. But nothing could dampen Suraj Narain Singh's fight for a just cause. 

On 14th April, 1973 the labour leader began his fast unto death in front of the Usha Martin Company for a redressal of the workers demands. Local administration and government agents were bent on turning the table against the workers and their leader. What happened was an uncalled for attack on the workers and when Suraj Narain Singh rushed to their rescue he was badly beaten up by the police and the goondas. A badly wounded Suraj Narain was rushed to the hospital. It was a matter of time and on 21st April, 1973, he breathed his last. But the brave one's soul must have been tormented at the sight of bickering for the dead body. The callousness of the authority knew no bounds and after a torturous debate, the dead body of Suraj Narain Singh was finally handed over to his family. 

He was finally consigned to the flames on 22nd April, 1973 at Bansghat in Patna. At the funeral Jai Prakash Narayan, one of his closest co-workers since the days of the freedom movement, was inconsolable. A sobbing Jai Prakash Narayan said, "I am more overcome with grief at Suraj Narain Singh's death than I was at the death of my wife Prabhawati." He recalled that heroic night when the late leader helped him to escape from the Hazaribagh Jail. The murder of Suraj Narain Singh was nothing but manifestation or criminalisation of politics which had entered the body politic of Bihar and the entire state was in the midst of political chaos. It was this political catalepsy which became a prelude to the J.P. led movement in 1974, better known as 'Sampurna Kranti'. 

The murder of Suraj Narain Singh was a catalytic agent only. It's not that the situation could not be changed for the better. The blood of Suraj Narain Singh did not taint a soporific Pradesh Congress, which was engrossed in inner party bickerings. The two warring titans of the Congress were Kedar Pandey, the Chief Minister and the almighty Lalit Narayan Mishra, Cabinet Railway Minister in the Indira Gandhi cabinet. Mishra wanted to consolidate his position in his home state but the main hurdle was the equally powerful Kedar Pandey for the time being. Mishra managed to clear his path. Pandey had to bow out and Abdul Ghafoor, a Mishra protege became the Chief Minister. A proverbial lean and thin personality, Ghafoor remained insignificant in state politics and his achievements remain microscopic even under a magnifying glass.

The trouble is that the mighty in politics has always been like a banana tree under which nothing grew. Ghafoor at that time was a member of the Bihar legislative council though according to norms he should have been an MLA. Later on this norm was flatly violated by eminent politicians of Bihar - Bhagwat Jha Azad, Satyendra Narain Singh and Laloo Yadav. They all became chief ministers as members of the legislative council. The immediate problem of Ghafoor was to get elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly. The hunt for a safe constituency ended in Madhubani, which was vacant due to Suraj Narain Singh's death. The late leader’s widow Chandrakala Devi was the opposing candidate. 

The people of Madhubani angered at Singh's brutal murder, wanted his widow to win. It would have been so had the elections been fair but when the Chief Minister himself was a candidate where was the scope for any fairness. The big fish naturally swallowed the small one. For Ghafoor it was a thumping majority. It was clear that nothing succeeds like success. But success at what cost? It was democracy which paid the price. Jai Prakash Narayan, already aggrieved at the death of his close associate Suraj Narain Singh, was now totally numbed at the murder of democracy. In anguish he cried, "Murder of democracy cannot be tolerated any more." With this battle cry began the movement of 1974 which became a watershed in the politics of India. J.P. at that time was in voluntary political hibernation and was active in Sarvodaya work along with Vinoba Bhave.

But, 1974 he re-entered the political arena with a bang and his movement unnerved even the leviathan of Indian politics - Mrs. Indira Gandhi. The Sarvodaya group did not quite endorse

J.P.’s political leap. This resentment at mixing politics with Sarvodaya found its echo in Vinoba Bhave’s Paunar Ashram. The famous Sarvodaya leader Nirmala Deshpande conveyed her reservations about J.P.'s activities to Vinoba Bhave thus, "If this continues to happen then Sarvodaya will soon meet its end". On Vinoba Bhave's enquiry as to what had happened, Nirmala Deshpande informed him that Jai Prakash who has been a Sarvodayi, is busy opening the Chhatra Sangharsh Samitis (Student Struggle Committee) at the Sarvodaya office. Indian politics was taking a very serious and curious tum. 

Even before J.P. 's movement, there was a massive student movement against the corrupt Chiman Bhai government in Gujrat. The lanes and by-lanes of Gujarat reverberated with slogans like 'Gali gali mein shor chhe, Chiman Bhai chor chhe.' (from lane to lane, one hears that Chiman Bhai is a thief). In the meantime in Bihar began a massive movement spearheaded by the students and youth under the aegis of the Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti and at the apex was the one-time freedom fighter Jai Prakash Narayan. This movement gradually spread from district to district and soon the entire State was in turmoil throwing normal academic life out of gear. At the beginning even a scintillating mind like that of Mrs. Indira Gandhi failed to size up the movements present and future. Worst still, the Prime Minister and her cabinet colleagues were deliberately blind to the movements forewarning of lurking danger which was likely to upstage them. The monolithic Congress regime of Mrs. Indira Gandhi never thought that the fire of 1974 would touch her or the party.

It happened in fact sooner before she and the Congress could even realise what was happening. The first scintilla of the 197 4 movement fell on her potential Railway Minister L. N. Mishra who had put Bihar on India's railway map. Jayanti Janata Express was a new train on broad gauge line connecting New Delhi with Samastipur in Bihar. This new train was decorated with the famous Madhubani paintings. The railway minister had gone to Samastipur on 2nd January, 1975 to flag off this new train. Seated on the dias along with him were many political bigwigs including his younger brother Dr. Jagannath Mishra, then an upcoming politician. 

Suddenly there was a powerful explosion and everything and everybody on the dais were thrown off stage. A fatally injured L.N. Mishra struggled for his life but the end came on 3rd January, 1975. Dr. Jagannath Mishra was badly injured but came out of danger. This gruesome tragedy boded ill for the nation. For the first time a cabinet minister was killed in broad light and in full view of the masses. The L.N. The Mishra murder case generated a lot of political heat and dust. The needle of suspicion pointed towards many a political luminaries. Some also considered the prolonged railway strike at that time responsible for the railway minister's murder. His ruthless policy aimed at suppressing the strike was seen by many as causing widespread resentment and may be some disgruntled, anti-social elements resorted to such violence. The C. B. I. held the Anand Marg Organisation guilty of the murder. Strangely enough, the slain minister's widow Kameshwari Devi absolved the Anand Marg of all charges. 

Naturally, the million dollar question that was on everybody's lips was who killed L.N. Mishra? The answer still lies in the womb of the future because even the Mathew Commission of enquiry failed to unravel the mystery. This tragedy had hit hard Mrs. Gandhi. This was obvious from her pathetic but terrible foreboding. The media was quick to capture that tragic mood of the Prime Minister. A few days after Mishra's death on 7th January, 1975, a much distressed Mrs. Gandhi remarked that L.N. Mishra's violent end was a prelude to one of her own. Clearly the feeling was one of cruciation. This cannot and should not be treated as a painful utterance of the Indian Prime Minister whose shoulders were weighing down under the burden of the country's political disturbances.

More aptly this remark when viewed in the light of broader political perspective amounts to political vivisection of the growing lawlessness and political crimes which were increasing at an alarming speed. The climax was the spread of terrorism and the increasing number of terrorist outfits. But more political crimes were committed. A shocked nation and the world was struck dumb with grief at the murder of two prime ministers of India in quick succession. There is no doubt that by the 1970s politics in this country was in the deeply forays of crime.

The cruel event of 2nd January, 1975 was an indicator of things to come. It made it amply clear about the emerging and alarming shape of politics in India. At the same time Jai Prakash Narayan's anti­ corruption movement aimed at upsetting the Congress government, was fast expanding its horizon. To make matters worse came the sensational judgement of the Allahabad High Court on 12th June, 1975 declaring Mrs. Gandhi's election as null and void. Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha gave the verdict.

A defiant Mrs. Gandhi instead of gracefully listening to the voice of justice, demolished India's democratic fabric and declared a state of Emergency on 26th June, 1975. India was under a siege and the people fuming and fretting at the abrogation of their democratic rights. Indian democracy was at frightening stage and the nation was passing through one of its most crucial phases. But the democratic minded Indians refused to give up democracy as a gone case.

General elections were held in March, 1977 and the Congress was routed and Jai Prakash Narayan's pipe dream was fulfilled with the establishment of the Janata Party government at the centre and states. But the dream turned sour because of the dangerous fall out defeating the main purpose of the architect of 'total revolution'.

Growth of negative trends is after all common to all revolutions. The most distressing development was the legitimization of the entry of the indisciplined lot in the movement. In fact, the real management of the movement fell in the hands of the lumpen elements. Laloo Yadav the much talked about Chief Minister of Bihar in the 1990s who supposed to have made it to the top from the lowest rung of the ladder was a prominent member of this group. Laloo Yadav entered the political arena during the 1977 election after having won the Chhapra Parliamentary seat. It was in 1977 that the seeds of future politics in Bihar was sowed. As for the Congress it was again on the. threshold of another great divide, after the fall of the mighty. 

The events of the 1970s also demonstrated that the son also rises. The emergence of Sanjay Gandhi and his band of lieutenants, officially the youth Congress at the helm of Congress affairs, was a challenge both inside and outside the party. Inside the party many a stalwart had to crawl for just the crumbs and outside it challenged the Janta Party's new-founded political hegemony.

The utterly chaotic decade closed on an equally troublesome note. After the 1977 election, the Karpoori Thakur ministry came to power. Karpoori Thakur headed a very troubled Janata government. The Karpoori Thakur government was controversial because of the carnage at Pipra and the burning issue of reservations of white collar jobs, better known as the 'Karpoori Thakur formula.' The entire state, specially the important towns and universities were rocked by caste violence which broke out in the wake of the reservation issue. The capital city of Patna naturally bore the brunt of it. The third major issue which shook the Karpoori Thakur ministry was the murder of the prominent Communist Party MI.A Sitaram Mishra on 23rd August, 1978. Sitaram Mishra was a prominent public figure who hailed from the Matihani constituency of Begusarai. 

Finally in 1979 Karpoori Thakur made an inglorious exit and the next Janata ministry headed by Ram Sunder Das came to power, on the circuitous support of the Congress. Change of hands merely did not show any downward trend of the state's crime graph. In fact, during this Janata government's regime political instability was further aggravated by corruption, carnage and crime. Criminalised politics was obvious during the Bihar assembly elections of 1980. Notorious characters with unending criminal track records got tickets, won in the elections and became respectable members of the state legislature. Prominent among such criminal-cum-MLAs were Bir Bahadur Singh, Birendra Singh Mahobia, Sardar Krishna Singh, Kali Pandey and Vinod Singh. In reality they were nothing but personification of criminalised politics of the state. These terrorist legislators unleashed a reign of terror in Bihar and it seemed as though crime was being legitimised.

However, Bihar's politics got some respite in 1985 when the trio Bir Bahadur Singh, Birendra Singh Mahobia and Vinod Singh were defeated in the elections. But the criminal saga of these political musclemen of 1980 did not fade from public memory altogether. It is said that crime begets crime and so it was. The criminal trio became victims of criminal politics which was their own creation. And so it happened. The first to fall to the assassin’s bullets was Bir Bahadur Singh the independent MLA from Jagdishpur in Bhojpur district.  Known as the 'scourge of Bhojpur', his murder had created widespread terror in the district for quite some time. The fear stricken masses anticipated death and terror any moment, specially the people of village Karath under Tararvi police station. 

It was in Karath on 1st May, 1987, that Bir Bahadur Singh was shot dead while attending a get-together at the residence of an acquaintance. Tragedy struck the dead MLA's family, specially grief stricken was his only son Sarvajeet, a young lad who was yet to enter his teens. Speechless with grief, the wide innocent and tear stained eyes of Sarvajeet spoke volumes without saying anything. His eyes were burning with the fire of revenge. The same burning aim of vengeance which his late father had at the sight of his father Brij Raj Singh's bullet ridden body. Bir Bahadur Singh's crime graph always showed an upward trend. The inhabitants of MLA flats at Patna, will probably never forget the MLA's criminal offences like bodily lifting up a ticket collector and throwing him out of the running train, snatching an engineer's vehicle or kidnapping the manager of a circus at gunpoint for ransom.

Bir Bahadur Singh committed such crimes with ease and they became part of his daily routine. He was involved in about twenty two serious murder cases. There was hardly a jail in north India in which the MLA had not spent some days. No wonder a people's representative with such a criminal record faced gun shots himself. Strangely enough, Bir Bahadur was killed not in an alien atmosphere but at an old friend Gupteshwar Singh's house at village Karath.

On that fateful day at about 6.00 PM Bir Bahadur visited Gupteshwar Singh's house at the latter's invitation for dinner. Within an hour or so after his arrival suddenly the quietness of the village life was disturbed when about two hundred rounds of shots were fired and the body of Bir Bahdur Singh ridden with almost forty bullets fell to the ground. Death was instant. According to eyewitness accounts Gupteshwar Singh was not present at home to welcome his guest, instead his younger brother Kunwar Singh played the host. But Gupteshwar Singh arrived soon thereafter, accompanied by Jainarayan Singh of Barkagaon. 

The atmosphere became tense when all were relaxing after dinner and the body guard of Gupteshwar Singh's brother took his seat alongwith the guest. Bir Bahadur Singh immediately flew into a rage at such insubordination and abused the bodyguard and asked him to leave. But the insolent guard turned a deaf ear. Singh shaking with anger at this insult fired from his pistol but the guard was only badly injured. This was like a green signal for the rest of the armed guards of Gupteshwar Singh, they raised their guns and bullets rained from all sides. Bir Bahadur Singh died and his associates fled for their lives.

Some eye witnesses also claimed that all this was pre-planned because since the morning of that eventful day, Gupteshwar Singh was busy in giving final touches to·'operation Bir Bahadur.' For the finale hired armed guards were brought to the Karath village and Gupteshwar Singh took Bir Bahadur Singh into confidence and treacherously got him killed.

For quite some time the murder of Bir Bahadur Singh by Gupteshwar Singh, a well-known anti-social element of Bhojpur, remained a burning political issue. At the root was the cut throat competition for political supremacy between these two Rajputs. Gupteshwar Singh in spite of best efforts failed to consolidate his political power in the Bhojpur area. Once he even forfeited his deposit in the Lok Sabha election. He held fellow caste man Bir Bahadur Singh responsible for such dismal failure. In spite of his efforts and obvious show of armed strength he could not impress fellow Rajputs. While Bir Bahadur Singh won elections after elections with Rajput votes. 

Since Bir Bahadur Singh monopolised the Rajput votes the only way out was elimination of the rival. Home Commissioner B. K. Singh's account stated that Bir Bahadur Singh died in an encounter with the Naxalites. However the slain MLA's nephew Shamsher in his first information report mentioned the names of Gupteshwar Singh, his brother Kunwar Singh and a certain Babban Dusadh. While the dead politician's elder brother Surya Kumar Singh categorically stated that his brother's murder was planned well ahead. While another relative Brajbasi Singh claimed that Bir Bahadur Singh who had been recently released from the Bankipur Jail had cordial relations with people. 

The Naxalite factor was not totally out of context as it was still a strong force in Bhojpur and the landlords were under constant threat. Some underground Naxals had earlier killed Bir Bahadur's father and paternal cousin Ramkripal. His family stayed at village Bagen under Brahmpur block. Here police parties were posted for the safety of the Singh house­hold. According to the villagers of Bagen the real objective of the police was to keep under check the armed gangs owing allegiance to Bir Bahadur Singh. Thus ended the criminal lifestyle of a politician and the people of Bhojpur got some respite from terror.

Binod Singh's lawlessness was a byword in Bishrampur in Palamu district. In spite of a proven criminal background, Binod Singh got elected to the Bihar Vidhan Sabha in 1980. Even as an honourable member of the House; Singh was behind prison bars in June, 1982. His life story is like a crime thriller with about eighty criminal cases registered against him. These included the worst types of offences including murder. The law of the land looked helplessly at a trigger­ happy MLA who had opened his criminal account far back in 1970 by murdering a police sub-inspector. 

It was an extremely hard task for Kishore Kunal, a conscientious police officer who was able to imprison Binod Singh under Crime Prevention Act, but imprisonment made no difference to a professional criminal who was always out on bail and back to his world of crime. His house of operation was his own village Malhan in Palamu. Binod Singh had converted Malhan from a sleepy village to his exclusive island of crime. Malhan became a legend of crime and terror and the dumb mass, the worst sufferers. The untold stories of terror were endless.

One episode of such an untold story was the kidnapping of the youthful and beautiful girl Meghni. Fifteen-year-old Nandu's search for his sister seemed unending. His pathetic utterances were heart rendering, 'Meghni......my sister's whereabouts are not known....'..one night Binod Singh's musclemen forcibly took her away...... after that Meghni has not returned......when the family members went to Chandwa police to lodge a report, Binod Singh threatened as with dire consequences".

The wretched family was terrorised that they could not even cry in sorrow. The soil of Malhan was soaked with many such crimes of Binod Singh. According to the villagers Singh and his henchmen did not even hesitate to commit a crime in front of the people. The most nauseating case of this type according to the inhabitants of Malhan was the open gang rape of Sahju Ganju's daughter Sahunia by Singh's men. These and many other criminal acts had so aggravated the otherwise timid Malhan villagers that one day they attacked Binod Singh when he was on his way to Malhan from Mahua Milan Station. 

An agitated Binod Singh was quick in taking revenge. His wrath fell on Fazal Mlan, Kamruddin and Sahju Ganju. He tied them and kept on whipping till they fainted. This was not a rare incident of whipping as the 300 poor tribals of Pipra Tola, Kekrahi Tola, Chattar Tola, Nawa Tola, Patri Tola and kendua tand Tola have testified that such inhuman oppression was almost a matter of daily routine. The saddest part of such sordid drama was that the wretched villagers could not evenapproach the guardian of law for justice. The police also appeared to be a silent and helpless witness. This type of oppression of the wretched of the earth in Palamu had quite a history.

Long before Independence, an English bureaucrat named T.W. Bridge was appointed to make a socio-economic survey of Palamu. According to his findings, the whole of Palamu was under the nefarious "Kamiauti System". The landed magnates got their land cultivated by forced labour and the depressed peasantry lived on the border of starvation.

Their status was akin to that of the European serfs. Serfdom then was the order of the day in Palamu and there were about 60,000 serfs who were known as "Kamiauti''. During active period of cultivation the bonded labourers got a little more foodstuff in return of their labour than during off season. Another English officer Shiftan , also reported about this system. There was an attempt to end this system through the Bihar and Orissa Kamiauti Agreement Act 1920.

The Kamiauti system was abolished in theory only and remained very much in practice in Malhan village. To escape from the clutches of this dreaded system many villagers fled from their homeland. Frightened by this system Fazal Mian, Ibrahim Mian and others fled to safer places. Those who were not so lucky had to stay on, testify to the atrocities unleashed in the name of the Kamiauti system. These dreadful eyewitness accounts of the Malhan villagers was as pale as death. Said 25-year-old Chamua Munda, "Babu, we are Kamiautis...My mother, sister and other family members are a 'begar' at Binod Singh's place. From the time of sowing seeds till harvest time we tirelessly do begar.

If we are absent even for a day, we are badly beaten up." The story of fifty-year-old Lalvi was equally moving. There was a time when she had 26 acres of land and was well to do. But later on Lalvi was poverty stricken and utterly dejected. With eyes downcast and in a whisper like voice she narrated, "Babu saheb has forcibly taken and occupied our land, as a result the entire family is on the verge of starvation." Even then no family member had the bare minimum courage to seek police help. This was l.alvi's life and Madina Khatoon's plight was pathetic too and she was totally terrorised. In a trembling voice Madina Khatoon recalled, "Babu Saheb constantly threatens us to surrender our land without a word of protest or the entire family will have to leave the village." 

Kamruddin's experience was nerve shattering. Displaying flog marks of Binod Singh's whipping he narrated, "I was flogged when Binod Singh's hench raided my house and took away three buffaloes, tied to the pole, in spite of my loud protests." These were not the tales of Lalvi Devi, Madina Khatoon and Kamruddin only but of almost all the villagers of Malhan. Justifying his stand Binod Singh pointed out that "Villagers have been instigated against me by the governor of Assam-Meghalaya, Bhishmanarain's son Premshankar who extracts rangdari tax. Therefore, there is no truth in the allegation that the villagers of Malhan are an oppressed lot. Let anybody say so in front of all". The Malhan villagers certainly could not possibly dare to air out their grievance in the open.

There were many other strange and nerve shattering real stories about Binod Singh. One such was related to his strange obsession for a mad elephant. As the story goes, Vaishali's number one strong man And MLA Birendra Singh Mahobia was curiously fascinated by a mad elephant at the famous Sonepur fair. There was no buyer for that mad elephant and the seller was quite dejected about it. On hearing this, Mahobia to prove his muscle power arrived on the scene with his goons armed with spears and sticks and bought the mad elephant. This mad elephant had apparently become a status symbol. After the murder of Mahobia, Binod Singh bought this elephant, which became another medium of terror in the Malhan village. 

During the Dussehra festival, Binod Singh suddenly got infuriated with Lalla the 'mahout' and hung him upside down and thoroughly flogged him. After that nobody in Malhan ever saw Lalla anywhere around. In hushed tones people expressed their fear that Lalla probably was done to death. Unfortunate family waited for Lalla to return but in their heart of hearts they also feared the worst. At nightfall, the quietness of the sleeping Malhan village used to be pierced by the trumpets of this mad elephant which made hair on one's body stand.

The already terrorised villagers shuddered to think of the consequences when Binod Singh would be no more and then blood thirsty mad elephant was let loose, it would go on a rampage and nobody knew how many would come under its feet. Such blood curdling thoughts made the Malhan villagers live in anticipated fear.

That awesome day arrived as on 25th June, 1987 Binod Singh was shot dead by unidentified gunmen while he was relaxing in the Birla Guest House at Chandwa, about eighty kilometres from Daltanganj. The popular view of Palamu was that the people of Malhan had done to death their oppressor. This suspicion gained ground as about a year back there was a murderous attack on him at Mahua Milan Station.

In the first information report unknown people were mentioned as culprits. In all probabilities such suspicions were not entirely baseless. The Malhan villagers were so thoroughly oppressed by Blood Singh that the entire village was on a razor's edge and nothing, not even killing of the oppressor would come as a surprise.

Agriculture was the mainstay of the people in Malhan and when Binod Singh forcibly took away their land, countless numbers of peasants found themselves homeless, without any means of survival. If his wrath fell on any poor person even for no reason, the poor villager used to be badly beaten up. Women seemed the worst sufferers as they lost their homes, menfolk and their self honour. Binod Singh's gang used to bodily lift any woman at any time they wanted. The crimes that Binod Singh perpetuated even surpassed the 'real crimes', it was hard to believe but it was real.

Binod Singh's criminal lifestyle was naturally legitimised when associated with frontline politicians, like Vishwanath Pratap Singh also known as the Raja of Manda (Uttar Pradesh). On 12th June, 1987, the Raja Manda had gone to Aurangabad along with Binod Singh. Both shared the same platform too. After the end of the function, he returned to Palamu and for security reasons thought it better to spend the night at the Chandwa Guest House, little did he know that it would be the last night of his life. After dinner at the house of Lal Saheb, a friend, he returned to the Guest House. Binod Singh had just laid down when he was shot from the open windows of the bedroom. 

The suspicious stories arising after Binod Singh's murder was well summed up by Chandrashekhar Dubey alias Dadai Dubey of the Congress who had defeated Binod Singh in the assembly elections. In his words, "Rumours of Binod Singh's death were heard several times earlier. Therefore, on reading about his murder, it was difficult to believe that he was dead. Of late he was not involved in criminal activities. Probably, this murder was the result of the vengeance of the Malhan Villagers".

 The 1980s can well be described as the 'decade of the criminal politicians.' One such politician was Birendra Singh Mahobia of Vaishali district who was also murdered a few days after losing the assembly election on 8th August, 1985. ‘Bir Mahobia Kram Kram Vaishali mein dhram-dhram’ was the slogan of a people's representative. He was none other than Birendra Singh Mahobia an independent MLA representing Jandaha assembly constituency.

Like his political mentor, Dr. Jagannath Mishra, Mahobia's ten fingers were decorated with expensive rings to please the stars. It is said that once he sold all his rings to perform a Yagya. Such a man, a keen believer of God, won the elections at gun point. In 1980, despite a Congress wave he romped home with thumping success.

His election mongering was terribly unusual as he did not seek votes but made it compulsory for the masses, as he claimed, "You are like my brothers...like my uncles, if I don't get votes from your village then after elections be prepared for dire consequences". Mahobia stood apart and even things connected with him were easily recognised like on his vehicles the slogan 'Kram Kram...' was inscribed and even the police kept away. Who was this Mahobia who roamed around so thoroughly armed?

People outside Bihar may require an introduction of Mahobia but the people of Bihar were well acquainted with the name of Mahobia and his activities. His activities made him as famous as any character of popular stories. 

The story of his daughter's marriage was like a fairy tale. This marriage was a strange arrangement. Elaborate arrangements were made for the bridegroom party. Specially, attention was given to constant water supply. Mahobia contacted P. H. E. D. authorities and overnight more than one hundred and fifty taps were fitted at his residence. He went to Delhi to acquire an airplane and on the wedding night flowers were showered from the air on the wedding place the whole night. Equally odd were Mahobia's habits. He kept mad elephants as pets, besides camels and horses. In 1985 when he went to Hajipur to file his nomination, the scene was something never seen before. 

It was a procession of animals of various types-elephants, horses, camels and donkeys perched on top of these animals were countless numbers of people. Onlookers were dumb founded at this strange scene. Another curious side of Mahobia's character was that he was quite a lover of Kirtans (devotional songs). He had even won prizes at All lndia Kirtan Competition. At his MlA flat in Patna, there used to be nightlong singing of Kirtans much to the annoyance of the neighbours. If anybody plucked up courage and asked to tow down to a high pitch of singing­ Mahobia used to scare him away. This lover of devotional songs was expelled from his home district (Vaishali) on various criminal charges.

In 1980 from Biharsharif in the Nalanda district the victorious candidate was another strongman called RamNaresh Singh. An oversized and hefty Ram Naresh Singh was feared in the area from Biharsharif to Patna. He was defeated in the election in 1985 but won in the next round of assembly election in 1990. In 1995 he again lost the seat as a Samta Party candidate. The election of 1980 saw the victory of another much talked about politician. This was Raghunath Pandey who earned notoriety from Muzaffarpur to Patna for forcibly capturing other people's land and houses. lnspite of such ill fame Raghunath Pandey continued his winning space in assembly elections.

In 1990 also he won the assembly election on a Congress ticket. But during the 1991 Parliamentary election he was defeated by the Janata Dal stalwart George Fernandez and in the 1995 assembly election he again lost in the Janta Dal-Wave. But Pandey was never involved in any other type of crime besides forcible occupation of land and houses.

The 1980s were particularly unfortunate for Bihar in terms of political crime. There were quite a few much discussed incidents. Bhagwat Jha Azad who later became the Chief Minister of Bihar, was then the minister of state for rehabilitation and relief in Mrs. Gandhi's Cabinet. His security guard, the forty year old Tejpal Singh was shot down at his (Azad} 7, Ashok Road official residence at New Delhi. There were other political murders. The list of such killings in 1981 is impressive in an awesome manner also. First in the list was the murder of Parmeshwar Yadav, a student leader of Lok Dal of Madhubani.

Just before this murder, another Lok Dal leader Shivnandan Prasad Chandrabanshi was murdered in Patna. The third Lok Dal youth leader to be murdered was Upendra Shanna in June, 1981. His was a gruesome murder. He was beheaded and the head was offered as a sacrifice in a temple. It was sometime then that a Congress MLA Ashwini Sharma expressed his fear in the assembly of being murdered.

At that time the ever powerful Jagannath Mishra held the reins of government in Bihar. He showed dictatorial streaks. The passing of the controversial 'Press Bill' earned him the label of an autocrat. The pathetic Bhagalpur jailblinding case occurred during the Mishra regime. It is a pity that an academician (Economist) like Dr. Mishra headed a corrupt administration and functioned in an undemocratic manner.

The crimes of previous years spilled into 1983 as there were many crimes - small and big. The year opened with a sensational murder in the vicinity of Balua Bazar, which drew its importance from the fact that the then chief minister Dr. Jagannath Mishra hailed from this place. At Chainpur, about two kilometers from Balua village in the beginning of 1983, Comrade Raj Kishore Jha alias Comrade Masiha (messiah) was killed. Soon after this on 11th February, 1983, an up and coming popular Congress leader the thirty six year old Pitambar Jha was murdered.

Congress politics of Madhubani district was held responsible for this crime. The then superintendent of police of Madhubani Ranjit Sinha in his confidential report remarked that the, "dead Pitambar Jha was a rising leader of the local Congress (I) party and it was generally discussed by the local people that this murder was motivated by political reasons."

The year 1983 was particularly tormenting for Begusarai, which saw a spate of murder. Many well known political personalities were killed in a gruesome manner. Two prominent political workers were murdered in Bihar within Begusarai. They were Bindeshwari Singh, a young Communist worker who was murdered in broad daylight. Santlal Singh was also silenced by bullets. Quite a few Communist members of Begusarai Zila Parishad were done to death. They were Bibhuti Bhushan Singh, Ram Kishun Sahni,Ram Sagar Choudhry and Satyadev Singh. The names of the victims of criminal politics in Begusarai do not end here. There were many others - Ram Bilas Singh, Pramod Kumar Singh, Gangotri Singh, Ramchander Singh, Kamo Singh, Anil Mahato. The list is too long and such gory details have been covered by the sheet of politics. 

On 2nd October 1983, the CPI MP Surya Narain Singh submitted a memorandum to the District Magistrate giving names of thirty one Communist workers who were murdered recently. Earlier the Youth Congress leader Shyam Sunder Sing!) Dhiraj along with several Congress workers of Begusarai sat on dharna. Dhiraj also submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister giving details of Congress workers murdered in Begusarai. It has been learnt from reliable sources that in 1983, there were fifty-three murders in Begusarai alone. The police figures were of course lower. It was forty three only. All these were political murders. 

Those days Begusarai had become a death trap for politicians. The politicians themselves were responsible for turning Begusarai into a heaven for criminal politics. Political leaders rested their guns on the shoulders of notorious criminals for firing at their political opponents. In fact, Begusarai for quite some time witnessed how political crimes were openly aided and abetted by politicians.

The people of Begusarai were awed and puzzled at the unending political crimes in their district. What led to such political crimes? The people saw an unholy nexus between politics and crime. Politicians had totally cut themselves off from the society and were increasingly getting closer to criminal gangs for political purposes.

In Begusarai the Communists ruled the roost and the district very aptly was labelled as "Bihar's Moscow." It is said that when the Congress party found it difficult to carve out a niche for itself, it then sought the active help of the notorious smuggler Kamdev Singh and his gang. It was after this that Communist leaders fell to the assassin’s bullets one after another and in quid< succession. Thus Kamdev Singh became the guillotine with which Communists leaders of Begusarai were being eliminated gradually.

In defence the Communists also sought help from criminal elements. It was a classic example of eliminating poison with poison and in Begusarai there was a continuous chain of violence begetting violence. With the death of Kamdev Singh in a police encounter violence seemed to abate in Begusarai for the time being. But that brief respite seemed like a lull before the storm as things were back to square one very soon. Begusarai continued to be a battle ground where the Congress and Communists fought pitched battles for political supremacy with the help of newly organised criminal gangs. 

The battle of Begusarai found echoes in Patna too. Yogi Singh the well known Communist leader of Begusarai was found murdered near the party central office called 'Ajay Bhawan' situated quite in the heart of the state capital Patna. Among the seven assembly constituencies in the 1980 assembly election the Communist and the Congress won an equal number of seats with the Lok Dal winning one in Begusarai district. The three Congress MLA's were Pramod Kumar Sharma, Ramdev Rai and Bhola Singh (a former member of the Communist party). The Communist MLAs were Rameshwar Singh, Sukhdev Mahato and Ramchandra Paswan. The Lok Dal MLA was Shri Narayan Yadav who later in 1990 became a minister in the Laloo Yadav ministry.

Even the two parliamentary seats of the district were equally shared by the Congress and the Communist. The Congress MP was Mrs. Krishna Shahi and the Communist MP was Surya Narayan Singh. In 1991, both of them were elected. Clearly in Begusarai the two political giants were the Congress and the Communist and both fought bitterly to no end for political hegemony. The sway of red politics was being challenged by the tricolour In Begusarai. As a result, whenever there was a political death in Begusarai the Congress and the Communists blamed each other. 

While the Communists charged the Congress leaders Ramdev Rai and Bhola Singh for encouraging criminals in politics, the Congress charged the leftist like Surya Narayan Singh for patronising criminal gangs under the leadership of MLA's Rameshwar Singh, Sukhdev Mahato and Ram Chander Paswan. The sole Lok Dal MLA Shri Narayan Yadav blamed both the parties for perpetuating criminal politics in Begusarai.

One murder that shook Begusarai was that of the Communist stalwart, Comrade lndradev Singh on 18th September, 1983. He was the party assistant secretary of Begusarai district. Singh was murdered in a gruesome manner. His body was found almost eight days after the murder. The Communist party organised massive protest marches on the death of lndradev Singh. Of special importance was the one on 26th September, 1983. The dead communist leader was a close relative of the Congress leader Bhola Singh. According to Communist Party sources Bhola Singh was expelled from the Communist party for anti-party activities. Here were protests, demonstrations in front of the office of the district magistrate.

Leading the protest were Surya Narain Singh, Rameshwar Singh and others. According to them the murder of Indradev was the handiwork of criminal supported by the Congress. But the Congress MLA Bhola Singh had quite a different story to tell. According to him Indradev's murder was due to the inner contradictions of the criminal gangs allied to theCommunist. According to him Indradev Singh was murdered by the Kishore Gang whose chief organisers were Hitler Singh, Maso Singh and others. lndradev Singh's murder was the outcome of previous murders. 

Parmanand Singh of Balia police station was murdered at the instigation of the Communists. The dead man's paternal cousin Manlaggu Singh was murdered in broad light about one and a half years back in the Begusarai court compound. The Kishore gang and Hitler gang had a hand in this murder. Bhola Singh held these gang responsible for his brother's murder own also. There was a long-standing rivalry between Kishore gang and Yogendra Singh, a member of the Communist party's district council. Yogendra Singh was murdered at Patna. Yogendra Singh's goons murdered Kishore Singh's ageing father and made an unsuccessful murder attempt at his younger brother who escaped unhurt. As revenge, the two gangs of Kishore and Hitler killed Yogendra Singh's followers like flies.

In this connection Communist leaders forcefully asserted that the infamous Kishore and Hitler gangs were carrying out the order of the Congress leaders. As after the death of Kamdev Singh, the Congress leaders carried on their politics of annihilation through these criminal gangs and such criminal leaders like Raj Kishore Singh and Ashok Singh.  The Congress on the other hand strongly denied having any connection with such criminals and their gangs. The Congress MLA Bhola Singh pointed out that how could the Congress be associated with the Kishore gang which was responsible for the murder of his own brother. 

Those days the people of Begusarai trembled at the very mention of the name of Mukhiya Paswan, a notorious criminal who remained scot-free, in spite of being involved in serious crimes. The Congress MLAs made the counter allegation that the Communist leaders of Begusarai had testified in power to Mukhiya Paswan.

In fact, Paswan in tape-recorded acknowledgement in presence of the superintendent of police had categorically mentioned the names of those Communist MLAs and MPs at whose Instigation he (Mukhlya Paswan) had committed various crimes and murders. On one side the Congress accused the Communists for the murder of Tripti Narain Choudhary, a prominent leader.of Bachhwara block. But according to the Communists this heinous crime was committed by the goons of the former minister of state Ramdev Rai as Choudhary had the audacity to contest the assembly elections against a close lieutenant of the minister.

Moreover, the Communists held the same minister's gangmen guilty of the double murder of a senior Communist leader Gangotri Singh who was also the principal of Chamaria High School and Rambilas Singh of Bhagwanpur.

But the supporters of Ramdev Ral alleged that Tripti Narain Choudhary was murdered by the Marxists while Gangotri Singh was a victim of the fatal internal political differences of the Communist party. The Congress asserted that in Begusarai the germs of political crime was sown in 1969 with the murder of Anu Singh of the Congress. In the first information report of this murder, well knownCommunist personalities like Surya Narain Singh, MP, Rameshwar Singh MLA and Ramchandra Paswan MLA were mentioned. A chargesheet was issued in their names also. However, with the Central Intelligence Department taking over the case, the whole issue was watered down.

The 'Ayodhya Prasad Shivpuri Trust' in Begusarai was a burning example of how land can be a major factor behind crime and murder. This trust owned vast tracts of land measuring to about six thousand seven hundred and thirty five acres. The Communists were agitating since 1946 for distribution of this land but the matter could not be settled. Influential leaders of the district committed heinous crimes for ownership of this land. Ram Kishun Sahani and his son who opposed illegal occupation, were murdered.

Throwing light on the shady deals concerning the trust land, Rajendra Rajan a Communist member of the Begusarai District Secretariat made a certain strange revelation. According to this Communist leader, Parmanand Singh, closely associated with the Congress, was guilty of the murder of father and son.

Singh got his sister married to Braj Kishore Prasad alias Hira Babu's son. Hira Babu was a lawyer by profession and an important trustee of the Shivpuri Trust. It was after his son's marriage that Parmanand Singh managed to illegally occupy hundreds of acres of trust land. Landed magnates utilised the services of Bhola Singh for political protections and used Parmanand Singh for collecting arms and ammunition. The Communists further alleged that Parmanand Singh was at cross roads with Manlaggu Singh, a close relative and hence he (Parmanand Singh) got the latter murdered. 

The Communists gave more proof of Parmanand Singh's criminal activities. It was Singh's henchmen who murdered Pramod Kumar a Communist activist of Balla and made a murderous attack on Suresh Singh, the Mukhiya of Bariarpur. Mukhiya's life was saved but his son was killed. Later on Parmanand Singh was also done to death. Bibhuti Bhushan Singh, the Communist leader of Khanjahanpur was killed. Soon after this, there was an attempt on the life of the Mukhiya of this place. His life was saved but he became a cripple.

The Congress activists accused Sukhadev Mahato a Communist MLA, for this murderous bid on the life of the Mukhiya. Dismissing such accusations as unjustified, the Communists claimed that the Mukhiya was a victim of his criminal politics. This was not all as this was Begusarai's political crime graph for the year 1983 only. So Begusarai was Red but was it the Red background of the sickle and hammer or Red of another variety - human blood?

The district of Siwan may not have been a hotbed of political crimes like Begusarai but all the same in 1983 there were a series of crimes in this district too. On top of the list was the murder of Rajaram Choudhary on 27th August, 1983. He was killed in a bomb attack. He was a MLA and had represented Siwan twice. The police groped in the dark and failed to unravel the mystery of his murder. Un-identified sources mentioned the names of certain leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party involved in this bomb attack.  Strongly refuting such allegations, BJP sources claimed that Rajaram Choudhary was caught in the web of political crimes created by him.

The most sensational murder of 1983 probably was that of Shwet Nisha Bobby popularly known as the 'Bobby Kand' (incident). It was the murder ofa glamorous girl. This was a burning example of how sex, politics and crime can create an unholy axis. This case not only revealed the nexus between sex and politics but also the debauchery of certain political bigwigs and their wayward sons.

Bobby was an attractive young lady. She was the adopted daughter of Miss Rajeshwari Saroj Das, the Deputy Chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council. It is said that she came from mixed stock. Her father was probably a polish priest and mother a brahmin lady. Middle aged politicians and their corrupt sons had dubious liaison with young Bobby who herself had a concealed background. These very persons who utilised her for immoral purposes one day pushed her into the jaws of death.

On 7th May, 1983 Bobby died under mysterious circumstances. Bobby died but left behind a legacy of controversies and doubts and involved in it were some well-known and respected political personalities. This case was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation and all investigations related to the Bobby murder was buried in a hatchet. Names of two persons were most discussed in this context. One was Raghuvar Jha, the prime suspect, who was the infamous son of Radhanandan Jha, the then speaker of the Legislative Assembly. The other was SSP of Patna Kishore Kunal who was the Chief Investigating Officer. 

This case was initially in the hands of the senior Superintendent of Police Kishore Kunal. An agitated Raghuvar Jha loudly claiming innocence said, "I do not have the faintest idea of who Bobby was. This is a murky conspiracy to defame my father whose name is being mentioned as the future chief minister." A conscientious police officer like Kishore Kunal always regretted that proper justice was not done in the Bobby case. Philosophically he mused that the culprit may not have been dragged to the court of law but his identity has been revealed in the people's court-leaders involved in this case were not given party tickets in the next elections. The then Chief Minister Dr. Jagannath Mishra was coaxed into handing over this case to the C.B.I.

Crimes related to politics continued with more or less the same fury in 1984 too. This year's most discussed murder was that of Ramnagina Singh. At that time Chandra Shekhar Singh was the Chief Minister of Bihar. The murder of Ramnagina Singh, the Congress MLA from Maner in Patna district further darkened the political sky of Bihar. On 15th January, 1984 the weather was awfully bad. Strong icy winds blew throughout the day. The sky was grey and seemed ominous. Ramnagina Singh stayed indoors to avoid the cold and relaxed the whole day in his village Hulasi Tola, about two miles from Maner. 

According to his private secretary Prem Kumar, the MLA heard the afternoon news on the radio and then decided to go to Maner but with the assurance that he would return home by dusk. He (Ramnagina Singh), took his briefcase as usual. His bodyguard Jaggu Choudhary had taken leave on 14th January because of 'Sankranti' but before going he submitted his service revolver to the MLA. Singh had kept that revolver in his briefcase and went for Maner with a few associates. At Maner, Singh and his associates had tea at Bipin Sahu's restaurant situated at Maner Chowk. He heard the local evening Hindi news at 7.30 PM. His associates urged him to leave as the weather had worsened. 

Singh asked them to proceed with the assurance that he would soon follow them. According to Prem Kumar, a few hours earlier Bhola Rai of Hulasi Tola had proceeded towards Bihta. When he reached the famous Mahadev Asthan of Maner, he found the former Mukhiya (village headman} and friends sitting at the restaurant. At that moment it so happened that the then co-operative minister Budhadev Singh in his car was crossing that area. The car stopped and the minister talked to the former Mukhiya and the rest of the people sitting at the tea stall. Later the minister left the people sitting at the tea stall. The minister left for Arrah. Prem Kumar's version was that, after the departure of the minister, the former Mukhiya and his fellowmen said that they intend to fix Ramnagina Singh.

It was difficult to know how much of Prem Kumar's assertion was correct. However, the pertinent question that arise was that if a minister had any intention of murder then would he disclose his sinister plans in a public place? However, Prem Kumar forcefully asserted that soon after the minister's departure, Bhola Singh had informed Ram Nagina Singh about it at the tea stall. But Singh dismissed the whole thing and said that these people will heave a sigh of relief only after an election in the notified area constituency is held.  

Prem Kumar further claimed that election to the notified area was scheduled for 15th January, 1984 but on the 14th of January, Ramnagina Singh got the election postponed by raising certain legal aspects. For years, elections to the notified area were being postponed. Ramnagina Singh adamantly objected to the way Budhadev Singh got his father and other near ones nominated to the notified area committee. Ramnagina Singh raised a legal point regarding this matter in the legislative assembly. He observed that since Budhadev Singh's village Hathi Tola was not within a notified area, therefore, it is illegal to nominate members from such an area. It was Ramnagina Singh's consistent objection that created a stalemate and the election could not be held.

Really, the murder of Ramnagina Singh was another gruesome episode of the ever increasing political crimes of Bihar. On that fateful night of 15th January 1984, Ramnagina left for home with some close associates - Ramanand Singh, Lalit Singh, Shivaji Singh, Mahatam Singh and others. When Singh and party reached the rivulet, a tributary of river Sone between Maner and Hulasi Tola, they saw some persons sitting in the dark. As soon as the unfortunate leader took a few steps forward, these unidentified persons sprang forward and began chasing him. 

Singh ran through the rice fields for his life but he could hardly run through the muddy fields which were irrigated a day earlier. The assailants got the better of him. The MLA was shot from a close range. Death was instantaneous but even then the murderers did not spare the dead man as they slit his throat with a sharp weapon. Hearing the noise of firing the people of Hulasi Tola came running but to their horror found the leader dead. Ramanand Singh who was a witness to this heinous crime lodged a first information report.

Ramnagina Singh was a prominent figure in state politics from 1967, onwards. He remained a MLA from Maner and as a minister in the government headed by the late B.P. Mandal he (Ramnagina Singh) held important portfolios like Panchayat, Community Development and Home Guards. Who could have murdered Ramnagina Singh? The mystery was never unravelled but names like those of minister Budhadev Singh were being taken in this connection. Stoutly dismissing such allegations, the minister said that for years he had no connection with politics of Maner, therefore where is the question of his (Budhadev Singh) involvement in the murder.

On the contrary, supporters of Budhadev Singh charged the dead MLA for giving tacit support to the political crimes of the area. The minister's supporters listed the crimes too. In 1978 Sukan Yadav was murdered. In 1982, Jangi Singh, the honorary secretary of co-operative Bank was murdered. In the same year Jwala Singh was also done to death. After this came the murder of Shivdhari Singh, the Mukhiya of village Mohanpur. It was alleged that Ramnagina Singh's supporters were directly involved in all these murder cases.

The next Congress ministry was headed by Bindeshwari Dubey. The Dubey Government was rocked by genocides. The mass killings at Dalelchak - Baghaura have gone down in history. Numerous political workers were killed during Dubey's time. But the murder which shook the Dubey ministry was that of Nirmal Mahato, president of the most powerful tribal political organisation called Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). The murder of Mahato created a lot of inner party conflicts and controversies in JMM.

The murder of this young turk leader of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha on the morning of 8th August, 1987, at Jamshedpur had rocked the entire south Bihar. 'Bunds' were organised in prominent south Bihar towns including Ranchi, Jamshedpur and others. Agitated tribal masses murdered a few important persons, like Amrendra Singh a Congress worker of Gamharia, Prayag Paswan a forest guard at Dumaria and a youth called Satish Sharma in Adityapur. Particularly agitated were the Mahato tribes of south Bihar.  

Mass fury at Nirmal Mahato's murder could not be contained by the other leaders of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. The tribal activists of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha were sore at the fact that their leaders were unable to control the situation. Inner party sources revealed that the leaders themselves had serious differences and were so divided among themselves that none could rise above the situation. The Nirmal Mahato murder had thrown the major tribal political agitational organisation in the lap of uncertainty.

Suraj Mandal the then Jharkhand MuktiMorcha MLA from Poraiahat had a blood curdling story to tell about the murder of Nirmal Mahato. He was an eyewitness to the incident and was himself injured in the murderous attack. He was saved but the wound in his hand resulting from the gun shots took days to heal. He seemed visibly shaken even while narrating the violent events leading to the shooting of Nirmal Mahto His eyewitness account of the murder of the ace adivasi leader reads like passages from a crime thriller. In Mandal's words:

"The JMM working committee was to meet on 5th August, 1987, at Ranchi. All the JMM leaders had reached Ranchi to attend the meeting. On the evening of 7th August 1987, Nirmal Mahato along with two workers namely Babulal Soye and Shivaji Rai and Gyan Ranjan a former Congress MLA left Ranchi for Jamshedpur. We had to attend the 'shradh' (rites after death) at the house of a friend Avtar Singh Tari. Tari's mother had died recently. At about 10.30 PM we all reached Jamshedpur. It was decided that we would go to the TISCO Guest House better known as Chamaria Guest House, for spending the night there. Former MLA Gyanranjan often stayed in this Guest House during his visit to the Steel City. Fortunately, we got two rooms in this Guest House. The next morning (8th August, 1987) some JMM  workers came to meet us and some Congressmen came to meet Gyanranjan.

At about 9.30 AM a magistrate named T.N. Sharma came to meet Nirmal Mahato. Both Nirmal Mahato and I got ready and came out of the Guest House and met Kalipada Mahato, a relative of Nirmal Mahato. Kalipada Mahato had recently bought a car and insisted that we see the car in the factory. After seeing the car we decided to turn the car into 'Jharkhand Kranti Rath'. After seeing the car we returned to the Guest House and sent our worker Shivaji Rai to the party office at Sonari to get a jeep. By then it was already 12 noon. The jeep came and we got ready to go to the residence of Avtar Singh Tari. Till then Gyanranjan was in his room.

On reaching the portico of the Guest House we saw two local contractors Sunil Singh and Shankar Singh alighting from their car. They were also going to Sardar Tari's house. While we were all talking, a car with the number plate 2544 stopped nearby and four or five persons alighted from the car. Among them Nirmal Mahato recognised the two as Pandit and Pappu, the two brothers of Birendra Singh, a local contractor. Meanwhile two local journalists N. K. Singh and Sunil Banerjee also came to this place. 

Birendra Singh was a notorious local character, who had no respect for the law of the land. He was sitting in the TISCO Guest House lobby before the arrival of two brothers. Since we were getting late in going to Sardar Tari's house I asked I.K. Choudhary to summon Gyan Ranjan from his room. The moment Choudhary left Birendra Singh who was sitting with his brothers suddenly rushed forward screaming, "Finish off both of them here and right at the moment." Initially, I did not understand who were the two whom Birendra Singh wanted to finish off as four of us were there - Nirmal Mahato, Sunil Singh, Shankar Singh and myself. Before I could gauge the situation the attackers made a bid at Mahato and myself. In a desperate attempt to save himself Nirmal Mahato clung to Sunil Singh. 

Birendra Singh's brother Pappu was struggling to separate Mahato from Sunil Singh but I pushed him (Pappu) aside. Nirmal Mahato started running for his life but the attackers sprayed a fleeing Mahato with bullets. Profusely bleeding Nirmal fell down and I rushed to his aid. Just then another round of shots were fired and a bullet grazed past my right hand, wounding me also. Sunil Singh also fired at the escaping assailants. People present were totally taken aback at the tum of events. Gyan Ranjan wept bitterly at the sight of a bleeding friend.. We managed to take our wounded friend to the jeep waiting outside but alas we could not save him. Nirmal Mahato died on the way to the hospital."

The question that haunted everybody's mind was, after all, what was the need for Birendra Singh to kill Nirmal Mahato in full public view? The local people had an explanation for this. According to them both Birendra Singh and Nirmal Mahato were old rivals as both were contractors and they professionally vied with each other to secure contracts. This naturally created tension between both of them. On 8th November, 1986, there was a murderous attack on Birendra Singh at Sonari. In his first information report, Birendra Singh named Nirmal Mahato and six or seven workers of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. 

In this connection the police had confiscated the properties of all those named in the AR lodged by Birendra Singh. But sources close to Nirmal Mahato denied his hand in the attack on Birendra Singh and claimed that on that day they were not even present in Jamshedpur. The JMM MLASuraj Mandal leveled serious charges against Ramashray Prasad Singh, the then Minister for Irrigation and Parliamentary Affairs regarding this case. Mandal's version was that Birendra Singh was close to the minister and whenever the latter visited Jamshedpur, the former shadowed him everywhere.

Stephen Marandi the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLA from Dumka had also something to say about this crime. In Marandi's words, "The Subernarekha Project involved high cost tenders. Tenders were a vital cause for this tragedy. Nirmal Mahato consistently opposed outsiders getting contracts in this area." During the 1985 assembly election Nirmal Mahato stood from Chandil and was defeated by a narrow margin. The Subernarekha Project area was his main area of activities.

During the initial days of Bindeshwari Dubey's ministry there was another sensational case in the Adivasi area. This was the infamous Banjhi police firing in the Adivasi area of Sahebganj, in which Father Anthony, a former MP was shot dead. Many innocent Adivasis steeped in blind faith were also victims in this police firing. On 19th April, 1985, the people of Banjhi saw an unusual drama on the streets. A Santhal had a heavy dugdugi (tribal drum) tied around his neck and he was beating it vigorously. The curious Adivasi masses followed this man. The Adivasis were armed with bows and arrows.

From time to time, Adivasis from the crowd shot arrows in the air. It was then that the police started firing and one by one quite a few Santhalis fell on the ground. Even then the Santhal crowd did not retreat. There was a very special reason for this. The police were blindly firing at the Santhal crowd but on the other side naked Jan Guru, a famous Santhal Tantric, was chanting mantras (Invocation) for converting the bullets into water. The superstitious Santhal crowd was totally confident of the fact that the Tantric mantras would neutralise the total effects of the bullets. The crowd was horror struck when the Santhal drum beater fell to the bullets. 

By then the Santhal crowd was totally paralysed and began running. It was too late, as by that time almost fifteen bodies lay strewn on the ground. This sort of irrational behaviour was not only steeped in ignorance and superstition but also in the hatred for the 'Dikku' (Non-tribal outsider). This Santhal demonstration in the Banjhi area began to teach a lesson to the 'Dikkus'. The Dikkus in order to retaliate had fired at the Santhal crowd in the middle of the Banjhi bazar. Though no one was injured in this firing but noise of the gun shots was enough to create panic among the Santhals. When later, police started firing, quite a few were fatally wounded.

Among them was Father Anthony, a former MP. Later his widow Babiana Baski recalled, "On the day of firing three Santhals Hajra Murmu, Dena Murmu and Samu Munnu met Father Anthony at his residence and requested him to negotiate with the authorities.

So on 25th March, 1985, Father Anthony along with the local tribal chief Jeitha Murmu, Madan Murmu, Barka Murmu and Babulal Soren went to Banjhi, which was tense, to talk to the authorities." Meanwhile, agitated Santhals called a meeting of their Panchayat (Village Assembly) and decided to impose "Bithlaha" (expel) on the Dikkus. According to tribal custom before Bithlaha, leaves were taken around and shown in the area. This automatically meant that the tribal Panchayat was deliberating on some serious decision. After this, with the beating of drums it used to be announced that all Adivasis are expected to assemble at a particular place.

On that eventful day after the decision of the Panchayat a huge crowd of Santhals began its fateful journey to punish the Dikkus. Armed with bows and arrows the tribals were assured by their own Adivasi leaders that the police will not fire unless and until such orders come from Patna. Clearly, the leaders had kept their own hapless tribal brethren in the dark. Moreover, Tantric Jan Guru had also assured of converting the bullets into water. Naturally, the illiterate tribal masses felt assured that there would be no police firing. Meanwhile Father Anthony was busy conversing with the authorities for a solution to end the impassion. But the already agitated Dikkus combined with the police firing and started firing and all bell was let loose. 

In that melee, the police caught hold of Father Anthony and Madan Murrnu, dragged them to the Panchayat Bhavan and gave both a thorough beating. The police were under the impression that it was Father Anthony, who was the mastermind behind the tribal demonstration. The Santhals were ready with their bows and arrows. The moment news trickled out that Father Anthony and Madan Murrnu had been beaten up by the police, the Santhals started shooting their arrows. Police also started firing and it is said that about hundred rounds were fired. An agitated police party at this stage shot the priest and his associate.

When the police were firing blindly, the non-tribals also fumed the police in firing at the tribals. In this firing many innocent tribals were either wounded or lost their lives, who hailed from nearby villages like - Kari, Paharpur, Raksi, Savaiyya, Kindar, Badakendua, Jabardaha, Pokhria and Phoolpahar. This loss of tribal lives did not seem a matter of much concern for the State Government. How was the Government affected, if a few lives were lost in police firing in remote tribal areas.

The tension between tribals and non-tribals in Banjhi began a few months back on the issue of illegal felling of trees and official corruption. Moti Bhagat of Banjhi was a prosperous person. He cut trees in the jungles and sold the wood in an illegal manner. Henry Baski of Banjhi village regretted the fact that non-tribals without proper licence fell trees in this.areas, in an illegal manner and are making a lot of money out of this illegal trade. Motl Bhagat of Banjhi procured a permit in the name of Gangu Paharia and carried on illegal trade. His task was made easy as the forest conservator Eric Hansda took no action since he himself was a party to this illegal trade.

Hansda got a part of the profit money from this illegal trade regularly. As it usually happens, thieves quarrel over stolen booty so it happened between Hansda, a government forest official and MotiBhagat, a forest mafia. Both Hansda and Bhagat fell apart on the issue of division of spoils, a few days before the firing incident. Hansda in a fit of rage lodged a case against Moti Bhagat in the Borio police station. Bhagat of course bribed the police officer concerned. As a result, he went scot-free but Hansda was involved in this case. A resentful Hansda took his complaint to some prominent tribal leaders while Moti Bhagat sounded the local Congressmen about this case. Being an adivasi, Eric Hansda had close connections with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. 

Matter headed for a direct confrontation as two most prominent political parties got involved directly. The JMM took up the matter on behalf of Hansda and the Congress supported Moti Bhagat. Thus, a quarrel between two dishonest individuals turned into a conflict involving two major political parties.

There was another incident on 25th March, 1985, which was a prelude to the Banjhi police firing. This was related to the controversy regarding the fishing rights of the Santhals in the Abra pond near Banjhi. Moti Bhagat had a fishing contract in this pond for rupees two thousand and five yearly. Bhagat had almost cleared the pond of fish before the Santhals arrived here for fishing. On 25th March, 1985, when the Santhals reached the pond, instead of fish they saw a dead body floating.

This was the body of a Santhal called Mahru Hijra of village Savaiya. The Santhali mob was sure that this heinous crime was committed by none other than Moti Bhagat. The Santhals were visibly agitated and the situation became quite tense. A police party rushed to the spot to control the situation. The angry mob was demanding the arrest of Motl Bhagat and the suspension of the daroga of the Borio Thana. But the district authorities failed to take prompt action. This was adding fuel to fire and the mob razed Moti Bhagat's house to the ground.

Apart from this there were a few more ugly incidents between 25th March and 19th April, 1985. The authorities managed to control the situation every time but every incident made it clear that something terrible would happen in the near future. One such incident took place in Ranga police station. The houses of three hill tribes of this area were subjected to Bithlaha by the Santhals. On 16-17 April, 1985, at the instigation of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leaders, the tribals looted the godown of lskan, which was laying Railway track between Lalmatiya and Farakka. It is said that property worth more than rupees ten lakhs was destroyed during this incident.

Growing lawlessness and an indifferent administration with no will power, really escalated the situation. The Santhal population was becoming restless at such apathy, while the number of murders increased. There were about four or five murders in and around Banjhi but police took absolutely no action. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leaders further fanned the flames of resentment of the Santhals constantly. Thus harping on police inaction, Banjhi was kindling to go up in flames at the slightest instigation. After all, Father Anthony, a former MP, lost his life. Father Anthony came into political limelight in 1973, when he unsuccessfully fought the by-election in the Rajmahal parliamentary constituency on Jharkhand ticket. But in 1977 he won on the Janata Party ticket. Later, he joined the Congress.

In 1984 during the parliamentary election in Rajmahal, he actively helped the Congress candidate Seit Hembrom, who was victorious. Father Anthony was a catholic and he entered active politics with the prior permission of the Pope of Rome. He hailed from Jiajuri village but settled in Banjhi, the village of his in­-laws.

After Father Anthony's deal, his widow Babiana Baski faced a hostile society and endless number of problems. A harassed widow Babiana Baski would have probably ended her life but her sole reason for survival was her only son. After her husband's murder the Bihar government had promised her adequate aid but it vanished before the ink on the paper dried. In vain Baski appealed to the Prime Minister of India and the Chief Minister of Bihar.

In July 1986, an Adivasi mela (fete) was held in Sahebgunj. Shibu Soren, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha stalwart was present at the meta. Even this eminent Adivasi leader assured Babiana Baski of all help. But there was no follow up action. A helpless and defeated Babiana did not know how to make her ends meet. She did not have even a piece of agricultural land which could have been her base of survival.

There was some respite for a few months when she got some sort of a job at a tailoring centre in Banjhi. She got a paltry sum of rupees four hundred as monthly salary but for the unfortunate Babiana, half a loaf was better than none. But unfortunately even this meagre means of survival was lost when the tailoring centre closed down. Bad luck seemed to follow this hapless widow like a shadow. Once again Babiana Baski was faced with the stark reality of hunger and poverty. For a handful of rice she went from pillar to post but without any success.

It was during those dark and poverty stricken days, that a certain S.N. Ranjan Iyengar met her. Iyengar was full of sympathy for Father Anthony's widow. He spoke well both in Hindi and English. Very soon he gained Baski's confidence. But lyengar's culture and good manners were a facade as he proved to be a professional cheat who indulged in fraudulent activities.

This trickster's game plan was to dupe the innocent Adivasis and utilize them for his dishonest purpose. For fulfilling this and when suddenly he came to know that Father Anthony's widow Babiana Baski was in dire straits. The swindler seemed to have struck a gold mine in the poor widow. Babiana Baski was not only a poor Adivasi but also the widow of a former MP, therefore, nobody could be a better shield for the prosperity and safety of Iyengar's unholy activities.

So Iyengar met Baski and assured her with providing employment. For Baski this was God sent and she fell into Iyengar's treacherous trap. Little did Baski know that she was being used as a pawn by Iyengar. With Baski's approval began lyengar's deceptive activities. Overnight he set up a ghost organisation called ‘Abhay Pahari Limpo Project' with its main office at a hotel in Bhagalpur. Iyengar himself became the managing director of this fake organisation and made the gullible Babiana its manager. The cunning Iyengar set up the organisation in such a manner that it was above official and public suspicion, specially since one of its prominent member was an Adivasi who was also the widow of a former MP. 

Many unemployed in search of employment from far off places like, Munger, Dumka, Godda, Sahebganj came to Iyengar's fake organisation. Iyengar extracted four to six thousand rupees from each such person for providing employment. He gave proper money receipts. Mahendra Paswan of Jagdishpur was thoroughly exploited by Iyengar. Mahendra Paswan had convinced his numerous friends and relatives of getting employment in Iyengar's project and they had all invested in his fake project. There were many other innocent people like here were many other innocent people like Mahendra Paswan who were taken for a ride by Iyengar.

Truth came out when inspector Harinandan Prasad of Bhagalpur Kotwali found lyengar's activities suspicious. After enquiry, his suspicions were confirmed and on 13th November, 1988, sometime around midnight he raided the hotel premises of Iyengar. Thirteen was indeed an unlucky number for Iyengar as on that day his shady deals were exposed. Initially Iyengar tried to hoodwink the police but seeing the inspector's firmness he surrendered. Both Iyengar and Babiana Baski were taken into police custody. Baski was an innocent victim of lyengar's perfidy but since she was directly involved, she could not go scot-free. What an irony that the widow of a fighter for social ideals was herself now being accused of cheating the society. But who was responsible for involving a gullible Adivasi woman in such skulduggery? 

Is it not a fact that an exploitative and cruel system made Babiana Baski desperate for meagre means of livelihood? The octopus of political crimes was spreading its trunks over the society. Nobody knows how many innocent persons like Babiana Baski became victims of such crimes.

The insidiousness of Iyengar pales into insignificance if one takes into account the treachery of Abraham, who was Secretary to Loknayak Jai Prakash Narayan for years. lnspite of being so close to a Sarvodaya leader, Abraham stooped so low as to cheat an innocent lady called Shobha Chakravarty. Abraham left his home state Kerala in 1965 and came to Patna to become the Secretary of Jai Prakash Narayan. He remained in that capacity till the Lok Nayak's death.

After that for a few months, Abraham was in charge of the dialysis machine in the Jaiprabha Hospital in Patna. He received a regular salary for this job. One day it suddenly came to light that Abraham had left Patna in a dubious manner. Before leaving he sold the house at Rajendranagar, Patna, in which he stayed, to a local doctor. This was indeed sensational because the house which Abraham sold was not his, but belonged to the Improvement Trust of the Bihar Government. This house was allotted in 1960 to Jai Prakash Narayan's close associate Pranhari Chakravarty's wife Shobha Chakravarty. Pranhari Chakravarty and his wife were associated with the Sarvodaya leader since 1956. 

When Abraham came to Patna he was on the look out for a residence. Mrs. Chakravarty kindly rented out the house to Abraham. In the meantime Pranhari Chakravarty passed away. After some time the Improvement Trust sent a notice to Shobha Chakravarty for non-payment of house rent and for vacating the house immediately. She showed Abraham the notice and asked him to pay the house rent. Abraham kept on putting off and suddenly one day he vanished from Patna after selling the house to a doctor and poor Shobha Chakravarty was left to tend for herself.

There is no doubt that during the chief ministership of Bindeshwari Dubey political criminals had a field day. Crime committed with such ease and confidence that it appeared that there was a political vacuum. Corruption had seeped into every layer of public life in Bihar. Besides, genocide and police firings had made the Bindeshwari Dubey Government very controversial. Finally the Dubey government fell and Bhagwat Jha Azad became the chief minister.

Right from the beginning the new Chief Minister made it clear that he was determined to take action against the mafia groups in the state. He was not paying any lip-service as he did bring some culprits to book. But the same chief ministers lured anti-social elements were responsible for the kidnapping of a girl called Papri Bose in Bhagalpur, which was his (CM's) area.

Even during Azad's time there were cases of genocide. He dreamt of changing Bihar but soon he also had to quit on ground of deteriorating law and order. The next Congress government was headed by Chief Minister Satyendra Narain Singh. Lawlessness and political violence were rampant during this Congress ministry also. In 1989 on the eve of the Lok Sabha poll Bhagalpur was seized by communal frenzy and for days normal life was paralyzed. The Bhagalpur riots have gone down as the worst since the partition days. The political fallout of this Bhagalpur riot undermined the popular base of the Congress. 

The Muslim population, specially in this state, were alienated from the Congress which cost the party its strength in the state legislature and In the Parliament. The Satyendra Narayan Singh ministry was further defamed by the murder of Triloki Harijan, a Congress MLA. Political crimes in Bihar were taking a new and upward trend.

On 7th July, 1989, at 11 a.m, when the state assembly began its sitting, suddenly the speaker Hidayatullah Khan got a message from the district authorities of West Champaran, that the Congress MLA Triloki Harijan representing Bagha reserved constituency was murdered by dacoits, the previous night. A stunned House heard the news.

This is an excerpt from Vikas Kumar Jha's book Bihar, Criminalisation of Politics published by Srishti Prakashan.