It was during the heydays of a “social justice
warrior” as the head of state of Bihar, that a colleague in Patna told us these
stories. We have heard time and again variations of the first. Anyone who had
been to Bihar in its “dark days” would not dismiss it even as an apocryphal
story. The second, however apocryphal it might appear, was vouched as a
real-life incident:
“A famous surgeon in Patna
was kidnapped. His kidnappers demanded a ransom of two lakh rupees for his
release. He informed his kidnappers that they had better release him as he was
one of “you know who’s” personal physicians. The kidnappers laughed and told
him that if he was so confident he could call his “patron”. The surgeon called the
“patron” and requested him to get him released. Instead of intervening with the
captors, the “patron” just asked about the amount of ransom demanded. When the
surgeon told him the figure the “patron” reportedly advised him he had better
pay up and get his release. The surgeon was nonplussed and wanted to know why the
“patron” could not obtain release of his own personal physician. The “patron”
replied that if he intervened the ransom would only be hiked. So it was best
the surgeon arranged for the money and obtain his release.”
“A big burly ‘dada’ stopped what is generally
known as a ‘shared auto-rickshaw’. He found a thin man sitting in the back and
ordered him to move into the front seat alongside the driver as he a ‘dada’
would like to ride alone in the back. The ‘thin’ man protested saying as he had
boarded the auto in an earlier stop he found no reason to vacate the seat and
move to the front. The ‘dada’ picked him up by the scruff of his neck and
bodily pushed him into the front seat. The ‘thin’ man silently moved forward
but did not alight in his intended stop. He rode on till the ‘dada’ alighted at
his stop and followed him on foot till they reached a secluded spot. He took
out a pistol from his pocket, shot him through the back and walked away.”
Do you find these stories unbelievable? Then,
read on. Here are some real life incidents that were recounted to this writer:
“We were staying in Hotel
Maurya located on Patna’s main road that runs parallel to the railway station
and on which major political parties have their offices. At about 10 P.M. a
colleague wanted to go to the STD booth across the road to call home. (The boss
wouldn’t approve long distance calls from hotels as they were loaded with
exorbitant service charges.) The hotel security staff warned him against
crossing the road as it was not safe to do so at night.”
“After a sales conference at head-office, a
colleague returned to Patna one summer morning when dawn was breaking. As his
residence was only a short distance away, he thought he would take a walk in
the pre-dawn coolness. Suddenly a guy emerged from one of the by-lanes and
relieved him of his briefcase, purse and hand-phone at pistol point.”
“In another replica of the
same incident a couple of our colleagues were relieved of their personal
belongings as they were returning from a meeting in the sales office. Only it
was dusk that time on another day.”
“A colleague boarded an AC II Tier compartment
of the Patna – Hyderabad Express which left Patna at about 8 P. M. The
conductor promptly locked all doors as soon as the train left the station. When
it stopped at the next station forty-five minutes later a passenger on the
platform banged on the door shouting for it to be opened. While no one showed
any inclination to open it our colleague went to the door seeking to open it.
Another passenger rushed after him shrieking not to open it. When our colleague
wanted to know why, the other passenger simply asked him whether he was from
South India. Informed that he was the other passenger advised him never to open
doors in a train at night.”
All these incidents occurred around the turn of
the century and not in any rural outback of backward Bihar
but in the state capital. No wonder the central government’s national highways
projects ran aground in Bihar. It may
be difficult to believe this but it was said that Universities in Bihar declared examination results at
least two years after they were held.
This was what fifteen years of rampant misrule characterized
by nepotism and criminalization did to a state that had a hoary past — a state
that could boast of the Guptas and
the Mauryas, Gaya and Nalanda, Rajendra Prasad and Jaya Prkash Narayan. The social justice warrior, the “patron”
mentioned in the first incident found the psychological formula
for success in his Muslim Yadav (MY) combination and it would work (endlessly,
he hoped) if only the denizens of the state were kept in darkness. Education
and development would be a nuisance. While he basked amidst his buffalos
and dung televised by helpful television channels for the entire world to see,
it was rumoured that he educated his children in an exclusive school in faraway
Mount Abu. Such expensive education —
denied to ordinary mortals of the state — cost a whopping 1 lakh per child per month and was probably
charged to fodder!
When in 1997 he had to step down as Chief
Minister after the fodder scam broke, social justice warrior chose his barely literate wife as his proxy although
his party had a near two thirds majority in the Assembly. This champion
of social justice did not find any other MLA suitable to lead the
state. Strange things came to light in the investigation of the 950-crore
fodder scam. When the registration numbers of some of the vehicles which transported the fodder were
screened they turned out to be those of two-wheeled scooters and not
six-wheeled trucks.
In spite of all this, the social justice warrior was feted by the media first as chief
minister of India’s second largest state (in terms of population) and then as
railway minister. His rustic humour was avidly lapped up. The media needed
such secular champions of social justice to cock
a snook at what it derisively calls the Hindutwa forces.
Media portrayal of his success as railway minister was
another chimera — either born out of its fertile
imagination or gullibility or the effectiveness of his PR. The
business schools in India and abroad which feted him for his success as rail
minister were either naïve or done in by some cynical but masterful PR
wok.
The contrast between media’s darling social justice warrior and its bête
noire from Gujarat cannot be
starker. It may not be amused but Google returned 30,000 jokes including
videos for the social justice warrior
plus of course 286,000 general results. On the other hand there
were 4,860,000 results for his Gujarat
counterpart.
Ever since the party seconded him to Gujarat as
Chief Minister, he set a brisk pace for development and only development. The
bachelor CM who leads a Spartan life practically lives on the job. A Goebbelsian media
lying in its teeth or perjuring NGOs did not deter him. In every aspect of
governance —agriculture, employment generation, educating the girl child,
improving literacy / reversing school drop-out rates, prevention of female
foeticide, inculcation of work culture, rural electrification or water
harvesting — his state surged ahead leaving behind all others.
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