MUZAFFARPUR OUTBURST
Politics of criminalisation must be buried forever
IN BIHAR, they said, not many an eyebrow was raised on reports of kidnapping, or killing, or even massacre. It was widely admitted that sensibilities of a modern society have met their doom in this state. Mafia, amalgamated with the powers that be, had taken over the state and the life of no strata of people was considered safe, yet there were no signs of an explosion. Therefore, when in the last week of November, Muzaffarpur indicated that Bihar was in fact sitting on a powder keg, where a spark against deterioration of civic life and degeneration of political life could result in a volcanic eruption, it came as a great morale booster for democratic opinion in the state.
The incident that triggered off mass explosion in Muzaffarpur on October 26, 2001 was similar to innumerable other ‘routine’ incidents. A five-year-old son of a bank employee was kidnapped in broad daylight while going to school on 20 October. The police and the administration were all busy supervising the felicitation of RJD minister Ramai Ram, who also happens to be the local MLA, and the BJP minister in Vajpayee’s cabinet, Shahnawaz Hussein. So nobody had time to attend a routine affair like abduction. All this is usual, but in Muzaffarpur first signs of organised resentment to this atrocious callousness became clear when bank employees of the town immediately went on strike. On October 24, the dead body of the boy hacked into three pieces was recovered. Instead of feeling ashamed over their worthlessness, the police, as if proving their connivance, started arguing with the father over the identity of the corpse of his son.
This detonated the dynamite of discontent in Muzaffarpur. Entire Muzaffarpur town came out on the streets on 26 October. They were people from all classes, all strata. A panicked administration clamped down curfew; and then even resorted to firing, killing at least 10 protesters and injuring around a hundred. Even with this brutality people could not be forced to disperse. They fought pitched battles, burnt down as many as four police outposts and a number of police vehicles. This was virtually a mini uprising and no local politician belonging to either BJP-Samata or RJD dared to come out before the masses.
As the news reached Patna, CPI(ML) and some opposition parties stalled the proceedings in the Assembly. They demanded resignation of Rabri Government and immediate suspension of DM and SP of Muzaffarpur. Party MLAs led by Comrade Ram Naresh Ram came out and staged a protest march along with the Party activists and sympathizers assembled outside the Assembly. However, Laloo Yadav dismissed the entire upheaval as a political conspiracy against his government. Although later the government had to order judicial probe, it had little impact on Muzaffarpur where people simply refused to be cowed down by the curfew and continued their agitation on 27 and 28 November as well.
Being in the thick of the movement since its inception, CPI(ML) took the lead and announced “black day” to be observed on 27-28 September while the curfew was on. Bihar Bandh was called on 29 September. A party team comprising Com. Satyadev Ram, MLA and Mithilesh Yadav, RYA president met the injured in hospital. Party General Secretary Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya led the march on the bandh day in Muzaffarpur along with scores of Party leaders, activists and concerned citizens. Despite the trauma caused by three days of curfew, people’s response was significant. Marchers observed two-minute silence at Saraiyaganj tower and Town Police Station in memory of those killed in police firing. Comrade Dipankar also addressed the protest meeting held at Muzaffarpur on the bandh day. “If Bihar has to survive it has to overthrow the criminal-police-corrupt politician nexus that has pushed it perilously close to the brink of destruction… The explosion of popular anger at Muzaffarpur has thus also brought to the fore the question of a democratic political alternative”, he declared.
Not only the districts in the north, but also in south Bihar and even in several districts of East Bihar the bandh called by CPI(ML) evoked noticeable response. In Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Siwan and Motihari, train services were disrupted, many state highways and some important national highways were blocked for several hours. In the whole of Bihar, more than 2000 Party supporters were arrested by police. All commercial establishments remained closed and transport system was almost paralysed. Police resorted to lathicharge at Bettiah, Narkatiyaganj, Jahanabad, Darbhanga, Patna and Katihar. At Dulhin Bazar (Patna), police even fired at the agitators.
In the next phase of the movement, Party launched a statewide week-long “Jan Abhiyan” from 2-8 October. During the campaign, hundreds of mass meetings were held at different places of north Bihar districts. On 9 October, as the culmination of the week-long “Jan Abhiyan”, Party organised a massive “resistance rally” at Muzaffarpur with mobilization from all over north Bihar. The rally covered the main streets of the city, ending into a mass meeting at Company Bagh Maidan. Addressing the rally Party General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya said that if there is no limit to injustice, repression and barbarity under this regime, then there would not be any limit to protest and resistance either. He said that the Muzaffarpur has shaken the already hurt conscience of Bihar people. In Bihar, citizens and rural folks alike are not safe; entire state has been mortgaged to barbarity. The question of safety has become the biggest question of democracy.
On 10 October, around 300 Party leaders and activists led by Com. Dipankar started a “Sankalp Padyatra” from Khudiram Bose memorial, after paying tributes to the great martyr. Waving red flags, the marchers expressed the resolve to make Bihar free of mafia raj. The padyatra was flagged off by Com. Ram Naresh Ram. People of Muzaffarpur city escorted the padyatra till it left the city area. The objective of the padyatra was being uninterruptedly explained over the microphone by comrades marching in the van of the padyatra. For three days, wherever padyatra passed, or stopped for food and shelter, people expressed their solidarity all over, and participated in hundreds and thousands in more than a dozen meetings held during the 100-km journey. At many a place where a meeting was not scheduled, people stopped the caravan and eagerly requested for a meeting. Traffic was delayed for hours at several points on the highway, still there was no complaint, rather people got down from the buses to watch the Padyatra.
When the caravan entered Patna district at Gaighat, hundreds of Party activists led by Comrades Ram Naresh Ram, Nandkishor Prasad and Ramjatan Sharma welcomed it and thereafter it was a sea of Patna citizens acclaiming this militant march from the flanks on an 8-km. stretch from Gaighat to “Shaheed Smarak”. Throughout the Padyatra, slogans like “CPI(ML) calls for a new Bihar, safe Bihar”, “Rabri-Laloo, patrons of kidnappers and killers, must resign” rent the air.
Next day, on 13 October, tens of thousands peasants, workers, student-youth, women and teachers-employees-professionals participated in the “mass resistance rally”. Addressing the meeting, Com. Dipankar asserted that the Muzaffarpur upsurge proved that the sensibility of Bihar people has not died, what has died is the sensibility of corrupt politicians who are indulged in the blind race for power, pushing millions of people towards insecurity. Bihar is not safe in the hands of these handful of politicians dependent on mafia and criminals. The call of “safe and new Bihar” is not just a Party call, it is the call of Bihar people, and it is a pledge. Participation of millions in this struggle will give rise to a storm that will sweep away politics of criminalisation and bury it forever.
– Ranjit Abhigyan