Why Nitish Kumar Can’t Control Feudal-Criminals in Bihar
THE CPIML expressed deep outrage against the continued murderous attacks on the poor and dalits in Bihar and their eviction from government lands. An organized attack was perpetrated on dalits and poor at Sundarpur Bhitti village in Madhubani City Thana on 3 June by BJP-supported goons with the intent of throwing them out of their land. 30-year old Lallan Paswan was shot and killed in the attack while several others were injured. The Nitish government is hand in gloves with these feudal-criminals who are eager to bring Zamindari Raj once again in Bihar.
One of the reasons for the high morale and confidence of these criminals is the fact that no action has been taken by Nitish Kumar against JDU MLA strongman Amrendra Pandey who is the main accused in the Rupanchak massacre in Gopalganj district.
The Madhubani incident has been perpetrated directly under the protection of BJP. Dalits and poor have been settled for a long time on gair-majarua land in Sundarpur Bhitti. BJP-supported Mukhiya Arun Jha has formed a gang in this area and had been exerting pressure for some time on the poor-dalits to vacate the land. The administration was also aware of the matter and the SDO had led talks between all sides during which it was decided that measurement of the land would be done after the Lockdown, and if the land was not government land but private-owned it would be vacated.
But before that decision could be implemented, this murderous attack killing Lallan Paswan and seriously injuring Deepak Paswan, Gareeb Paswan, Jagdish Paswan and Satya Devi took place.
A team led by CPIML District Secretary Dhruv Narayan Karn visited the spot and ensured arrangements for proper treatment for the injured. CPIML demanded immediate arrest of the accused persons; proper compensation for the family of the killed Lallan Paswan and for the injured persons; and an end to eviction of the poor from government lands.
Another incident had happened earlier at Baruari village in Muzaffarpur where one Manoj Singh captured a goat belonging to Ashok Ram (from the Ravidas caste) and slapped a fine of Rs 800 on him on the allegation that the goat had eaten a few leaves of a tree belonging to Manoj Singh. Not only that, he also blocked the road to the dalit Tola by digging it up with a JCB machine, completely destroying Shanti Devi’s home in the process. This dalit Tola has been attacked several times, and the danger of massacre looms large over the village.
In Western Champaran, the administration is clearly siding with feudal-criminals in the relentless campaign to evict the poor and dalits form their lands. In connivance with the administration, feudal criminals have captured land on which the poor had settled in Chiuntaha (Mainatand Block) and have started construction work for a pond across 3 acres. Feudal-criminals are carrying out this kind of capture openly at gun-point and the administration is cooperating fully with them. On 29 May shots were fired to capture a fazil ceiling-land at Belwa Tola on which a dalit family had settled and were cultivating crops. Goons uprooted the paddy sown by the poor and sowed their own seeds on the land instead.
Similar relentless evictions are also being carried out at Singhpur. Strongmen from the Bhumihar caste are riding high at Chhavariya Tola in Chanpatiya. A Bhumihar youth got knocked by dalit youth Pappu Ram’s motorcycle. The bhumihars came and demolished Pappu Ram’s home and also destroyed half acre of sugar cane crops. This dalit hamlet has been attacked and dalits beaten up several times, causing dalits to flee out of fear.
Protests were held on 5 June across Bihar at the call of the CPIML against escalating murderous attacks on poor-dalits and their eviction from lands on which they have been settled for years. On same day CPIML PB member Dhirendra Jha went to Sundarpur Bhitti village in Madhubani City Thana in the morning to meet the family of deceased victim Lallan Paswan and other families injured in the mortal attack perpetrated by the BJP-supported feudal-criminal gang headed by a mukhiya Arun Jha. The CPIML has demanded guaranteed safety for all poor families settled on government lands. The attack and killing of Lallan Paswan is the latest in a series of the feudal-criminal drive to evict the poor from public lands across Bihar.
CPIML Bihar Secretary Kunal said that not only Madhubani but the entire Bihar, from Gopalganj and Muzaffarpur to Western Champaran, is witnessing heinous attacks on poor-dalits by such feudals. It appears as though there is no such thing exist as a government, and the whole State is in the clutches of criminals. The Nitish government’s claim of so-called ‘sushasan’ (good governance) has been thoroughly exposed as they are again trying to take Bihar back to the days when feudal criminals ruled, but that will be resisted by the people.
CPIML members protested on this day and demanded that the government should rein in feudal-criminals. Protests were held in all parts of Bihar. They alleged that the administration was in the know of the Sundarpur Bhitti case and yet such a heinous crime was allowed to take place.
