While talking of Magadha region (and particularly Jharkhand) post Independence, it becomes essential to discuss the political situation in Bihar till 2000 and what prompted the entire split of the states. My comments as till now will be based on internet searches and my own inferences based on these findings.
Taking this entire part in 3 chapters to discuss:
1. Politics in Bihar from 1947 till 2000.
2. Reasons for Bihar – Jharkhand split.
3. Jharkhand post 2000.
Political turmoil in Bihar till 2000
Bihar (including present Bihar and greater Jharkhand) had been the seat of development and education in India till Independence. Most of the movements against the British rule had also started there prominent being the Champaran Satyagrah (Civil Disobedience Movement) of Mahatma Gandhi along with the numerous tribal revolts which were mentioned in previous parts. Some of the most advanced universities of medieval world were in Bihar.
Post Independence, Bihar has been at the center of some strange power struggles between the central and state governments. Bihar immediately after Independence was governed by two great Gandhians: Sri Krishna Sinha (Sri Babu) and Anugrah Narayan Sinha. These two were members of the Indian National Congress (INC) and ruled the state as Chief Minister and deputy Chief Minister. They have always been regarded for their unimpeachable and highly uplifting integrity which is also very clearly visible in the recently released book “Freedom & Beyond” which has correspondence between Nehru and Sri Babu. Bihar was in safe hands till 1961 when Sri Babu died while CM. Krishna Ballabh Sahay took the reins of the state in 1963 after which for another 4 years, Bihar was OK when Ballabh babu who just happened to be the only CM of Bihar from the now Jharkhand constituency of Hazaribagh. He is also known as the author of the bill which promoted banishment of Zamindari system. Post this, Bihar was predominantly ruled by CM’s who were populist in nature including the famous B.P.Mandal who was CM for around 48 days. His suggestions for OBC reservations led to the subsequent downfall of the V.P.Singh government a long time afterwards. After Ballabh babu, in 10 years, 12 CM’s took power interspersed with President’s rule twice! And most of these were from INC. This didn’t stop here…. From 1980 to 1990, another 6 took power (all from INC) before the famous Laloo Prasad Yadav. It is safe to assume that when you are not sure of your seat even inside your own party, what will you do for the state… Bihar went from being a very well governed state to slowly go down in its capabilities. The result: from 1980-1990 (data of state-wise GDP’s at link below) when South Indian states and even Maharasthra and numerous other states were growing by around 8-10% per annum, Bihar managed to even show a negative GDP growth in 2 years. The situation was even worse in tribal populated Southern Bihar (now Jharkhand) since almost all the CM’s were from the Northern parts who focused on their vote banks in the North to garner votes by providing any development that was coming to these places. The situation was not helped by the fact that Bihar accounts for 54 seats in the Lok Sabha which assures that power in Bihar becomes very important for the one holding it.
Bihar was slowly getting converted to the state which provided cheap labor to the rest of the country. (I still remember some painters who had come to our house in Delhi around 10 years back. When my mother asked if they were from Bihar, they scrounged and started at her and commented: “Do we look like Biharis to you? Don’t abuse us.”) It was this anti-Congress wave which was developing till 1990 that Janata Dal managed to come to power in 1995 on the pretext of being a party “for the backward” headed by a Yadav. Due to continuous caste based politics first on the back of the oppressed “lower castes” and then with the support of Muslim leaders (who were 20% of Bihar population), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) managed to hold onto Bihar till 2005 even when Laloo made a mockery of Indian political system by promoting his wife Rabri Devi to the CM post. Too many times post that, she has shown her complete ignorance of the needs of a CM… a very very sad successor to the great leaders of the past.
Reasons for Bihar – Jharkhand split
In March, 1998 after 2 very unstable years of United Front’s rule at the center, BJP (through NDA) came to power in Delhi under the leadership of Mr.Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Two years before this, in 1996 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and Samata Party together dented the Janata Dal – Congress combines power in Bihar by taking a huge slice off the combines’ Lok Sabha seats from Bihar. Samata Party itself gained 6 seats in Bihar itself. This strength gained in 1996 was even further strengthened in 1998 and in 1999 when even deeper inroads were made into Bihar.
Once Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to power (stable power unlike 1998), Bihar was high on the agenda. While the demand for a separate state of Jharkhand had always been present since Independence, it had lost its sheen during the political turmoils. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) had come to power in 10 Vidhan Sabha seats out of 324…all 10 in South Bihar on the call that they will demand for an independent Jharkhand. The NDA government at the center also knew that with the muscle power of JD which was in power in Bihar, it will be difficult to break into the state where the BJP had just 41 seats unless the state and hence Laloo’s power was divided.
Hence after a very controversial bill was tabled and passed as Bihar Reorganization Act in 2000 Jharkhand was separated. A poll conducted during that time actually showed that even people of Jharkhand did not fully support the division because they felt that even though that area was far richer in natural resources, separation from Patna will completely hide them in country political scenario. BJP on the other hand felt that even though JMM (allied to Congress) will become strong in Jharkhand, it will be easier to pry away Jharkhand than Bihar. (Things turned out to be completely different though with JD(U) – BJP combine coming back to power under Nitish Kumar in Bihar while BJP and JMM keep switching in Jharkhand.) This resulted in Jharkhand becoming the state in 2000.
Jharkhand post 2000
Filled with corrupt politicians who suddenly found themselves in power in a state after the split from Bihar, Jharkhand went from bad to worse. Mining has been promoted aggressively on the pretext of giving jobs to the tribals while MNC’s have benefited by cheap and readily available labor and the large quantities of minerals inside the ground. Greasing of palms to get such opportunities has been hugely beneficial for the companies as well as the politicians.
High levels of corruption in other states of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh (Cchattisgarh), Karnataka related to mining did not help matters at all resulting in what is now the situation.
According to the data available on the website of Ministry of Mines, last 5 years have seen double in value of production minerals to almost 200,000 crores estimated in 2010-11. This on-shore production is predominantly taking place in 10 states of which Naxal infested states are 6 accounting for 56% of total on-shore production that is reported. Newspapers and articles are full of cases of illegal mines in these areas which are not even reported and have been the cause of the real trouble between the local tribes and the governments.
Unfortunately, this has resulted in the following:
1. The land which “legally” belonged to the government was taken away from the tribes who had been staying there for centuries.
2. Tribes were categorized as below poverty line and used as cheap labor by MNC’s to use in mines under extremely dangerous conditions.
3. Not only did the mines result in elimination of forests which were the livelihood of the tribes, but they resulted in numerous respiratory and other diseases in the tribals.
4. While the government watched from the sidelines, the police was used to curb any violence in these tribals.
What happened was the resurgence of Naxal activities in all these areas since the people started looking up to these armed militants to provide them with some respite from the continuous pressures of the local politicians. While Naxalites did extort money from the local tribesmen, they also provided them with support from the police which was man-handling the ladies and torturing the people on pretext of providing protection to the company executives.
Tribals had never been averse to taking up arms against oppression. This has been common in history for the last thousands of years. Hence any feeling of being oppressed is bound to have its affects in these areas unlike the plains of Bihar and UP where oppression by politicians is usually tolerated without any thought of physical violence. Given the changing climate and the feeling that even when released from the clutches of the British, the tribes had to continue to fight for the land which they rightfully claimed as theirs. What we have is a highly intensified and aggravated situation further fueled by the claims of politicians that these are power struggles where Maoists are trying to create terror by oppressing the weak.
As far as I have read, the only people these Maoists seem to have targeted till date are the following:
1. Politicians
2. Police and other armed forces which they feel are representatives of the government
3. MNC’s
Anyone else had any problems? Do let me know…
All the 3 categories above represent the people who are the “oppressors” in this case… who are now becoming the oppressed. Power corrupts and that is what is happening with the Naxals as well who have started making money by using power.
Unfortunately, the people who are best suited to correct the state of these tribes who have taken up arms are the ones who are guilty of having put them in this place. Hence any solution that might come will have to have one thing at the core: Upliftment of the Tribes. Otherwise all efforts will be futile and only superficial.
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