Katta Culture

Voting in Bihar is never without bloodshed. The first phase of voting concluded on November 6. Just a week before that, 75-year-old Dular Chand Yadav, an old strongman of the Mokama Assembly constituency, was murdered on October 30 while he was campaigning in support of Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party candidate Priyadarshi Piyush in Khushal Chak area under Bhadaur police station of Mokama Assembly constituency.

- Vikas Kumar Jha

Yadav was never an MLA, but his status and fear were no less than that of any MLA. In this Assembly election, in the fierce battle between two powerful strongmen in Mokama— Anant Singh and Suraj Bhan—Yadav, the older strongman, was campaigning in support of the Jan Suraaj candidate.

While Singh was the candidate from Janata Dal (United), former MP Suraj Bhan belongs to Lalu Yadav's party, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

Yadav's murder became a turning point in the Bihar election. An FIR was filed based on the statement of Yadav's grandson. Five people, including two nephews of Singh, were named in it. It is clear that anger against Singh has erupted in the entire area. Enraged by the murder of Yadav, the Yadavs raised a furious slogan—“Until Anant’s blood is shed, there will be no peace for the Yadavs”. Amid widespread anger against Singh in the area, Patna police arrested him late at night on November 1. He was brought to Patna Police Lines under tight security. Political pundits were constantly predicting bloodshed in the run-up to the second phase of the Bihar Assembly elections on November 11. Bihar is a “soft state” when it comes to murder. This unfortunate state, which has been a victim of the culture of political murders since before independence, has not been able to free itself from the irony of the culture of murder till date.

HISTORY is like a sleeping lion. It is dangerous to wake it up. But sometime or the other, it has to be awakened. To trace the history of criminalisation of politics is like waking up the sleeping, bloodthirsty lion.