Control over thugs and rioters: Bihar's enduring political question

From Gandhi's 1947 warning to today's alliances, Bihar still battles caste and communal ghosts.

- ALOK MEHTA

“Congress has too many cheats today. There is a great wave of deceit. Those suspected of wrongdoing must either leave the Congress or be expelled. Some say there are many goons — but we must tell them, we will not fear you, we will keep working. Good people must tell goons, you may kill us, but we won't run away.”

These were not the words of any BJP leader, but of Mahatma Gandhi, spoken on March 18, 1947, at Bir village in Masaurhi, Bihar, after the communal riots. Seventy-five years later, Gandhi's words still echo in the political corridors of Bihar — a state where caste, crime, and politics remain tightly entwined.

Today, as Bihar gears up for elections, the old question of “control over thugs and rioters” resurfaces once again. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, projecting himself as the chief ministerial candidate, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi have accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's government of atrocities against Dalits and minorities. In response, the BJP, while not declaring its own CM face, has stood firmly behind Nitish, campaigning for votes across communities and minorities, while targeting the RJD-Congress alliance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a sharp counterattack this week, reminded voters that Bihar “will not forget the jungle raj for a hundred years.” He termed the opposition bloc not a gathbandhan but a lathbandhan — a coalition of criminals — since “many of their leaders in Delhi and Bihar are out on bail.”