Bihar Ruined by 15 Years of BJP-JDU Rule

CPIML Bihar Legislative Party Meeting ahead of Winter Session

The CPIML Legislative Party met on 24 November at the party's legislative party office to discuss issues and preparations for the Bihar Assembly winter session. The meeting was attended by CPIML legislative party in-charge Rajaram Singh, leader of legislative party Mahboob Alam and MLAs including Satyadev Ram, Arun Singh, Mahanand Singh, Rambali Singh Yadav, Virendra Prasad Gupta, Amarjeet Kushwaha, Ajit Kushwaha, Sandeep Saurabh, Sudama Prasad, Manoj Manzil and others. It was decided at the meeting to corner the government on burning issues in the winter session and to forge a unity among opposition parties on these issues.

Giving details of the decisions taken at the meeting, legislative party leader Mahboob Alam said that the top issue would be the government's pretense and hypocrisy on prohibition. Over the last few months poisonous liquor has snatched away more than 64 people. We stressed repeatedly that the politician-administration-liquor mafia nexus is behind this and demanded a probe, but the government is evading the issue and continuing to oppress the poor. The police are harassing and torturing the poor; all limits of shamelessness were crossed when the police (without the presence of women police personnel) entered the room of a bride getting ready for her wedding and troubled and humiliated people by raiding them. On the other hand, the liquor mafia is being protected. We shall reiterate our demand for a probe into the politician-administration-liquor mafia nexus. Compensation for the families of victims of poisonous liquor will be another issue we shall raise.

Migration continues to be a normal phenomenon in Bihar. Migrant workers from Bihar are being attacked across the country including Jammu and Kashmir. Migration workers died in the landslide in Uttarakhand. A law for migrant workers and compensation for the kin of deceased workers will be another main issue we shall raise.

The abysmal condition of the education system in Bihar and the serious allegations of corruption against Vice Chancellors of many universities (even the Raj Bhavan is implicated) will be another issue raised by us. Every section of society including the teaching community is out on the street to demand employment, but the government is least bothered. The government will be confronted forcefully on the issue of education.

The Prime Minister has announced the repeal of all 3 farm laws, but legal status for MSP, implementation of Mandi system in Bihar, paddy procurement, fertilizers, and sugarcane farmers' demands are issues that are still pending. We will demand an answer from the government to these questions.

The rising graph of police torture and crime are a bitter truth in Bihar today. The self-styled 'good governance' government has turned into a Police Raj. The autocratic behaviour of the police has increased since the coming of the draconian Police Act. The CPIML is committed inside as well as outside the Assembly to the fight to protect democratic processes.

The CPIML legislative party will also raise the issue of passing a resolution in the Assembly to revoke the Padma Shree awarded to BJP-supporter actor Kangana Ranaut. We shall never tolerate the insult of our freedom struggle martyrs by BJP-RSS. The irony is that the government that is celebrating 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' is honouring people who are bent on negating the very independence of our country.

CPIML MLAs will hold a dharna in front of the CM's chamber in the Assembly against the Speaker's double standards and discrimination on the issue of party offices and MLAs' residences.

Bihar Ruined by 15 Years of BJP-JDU Rule

CPIML Bihar State Secretary Kunal said on 25 November that the BJP-JDU government which is celebrating 15 years of being in power is in truth a government that has ruined Bihar. These 15 years will go down in history for the treachery of the government towards dalits, poor, workers, farmers, students, youth, scheme workers, teachers and other sections, for converting Bihar into a police state and for re-emboldening feudal criminals.

When Nitish Kumar first came to power 'sushasan' (good governance) and 'nyay ke sath vikas' (development with justice) were their main slogans but now all these narratives have been busted. They talked big about giving land to Mahadalits but in truth the poor are being driven out even from lands on which they have been settled for years. BJP-JDU have overturned the land reform process and today the land mafia are flourishing everywhere in the state.

The condition of 'sushasan' is such that the crime graph is rising across the state. Police terror and feudal terror are rife. Not rule of law but police and criminal Raj rule Bihar, and the people's democratic rights are being openly and ruthlessly crushed. Their claims to women empowerment were exposed early on by the Muzaffarpur shelter home scam.

Similarly, the so-called development myth has also been thoroughly exposed. The Niti Ayog report says that 52%people in Bihar are below poverty line. Bihar is the lowest in the country on the 7-point development index. With what face can this government claim development? Of what avail is construction of bridges and gutters if the quality of people's life goes down so miserably? Moreover, institutional corruption is rampant in all these corruption works.

The education system has been the worst hit under the Nitish regime. Lakhs of teaching and non-educational posts are lying vacant but the government does not want to recruit. Huge corruption in the appointment of Vice Chancellors and institutional anarchy in education are the bitter truth of campuses in Bihar today. This government which came to power on the false promise of 19 lakh jobs is only betraying students even in its 4th term.

During the Covid period we witnessed the government getting exposed on the issue of migration. If Bihar has indeed been developed so much, will the BJP-JDU  government tell us why lakhs of migrants continue to migrate to other states? Migrant workers from Bihar are being attacked and even killed in other states from Jammu and Kashmir to Uttarakhand, but still the government refuses to wake from its blissful slumber. Clearly, migration is on the rise due to the traditional backwardness of agriculture in Bihar and the closing down by the Nitish government of whatever few industries the state had.

The 2nd wave of Covid exposed the ramshackle health system in Bihar. The entire health machinery is paralyzed. There is a huge shortage of doctors, nurses and hospitals. We witnessed people suffocating to death for want of oxygen, but the shameless government kept insisting that not a single death occurred due to shortage of oxygen.

Exploiting people and making them do forced labour on contract is a specialty of this government. We have all seen their autocratic behaviour towards ASHA workers, Rasoiyas, teachers and Anganwadi workers and other sections. These sections do not get a minimim honourable wage for their livelihood. If they raise their voice for their just rights, the government unleashes repression on them.

If anyone has benefited from the Nitish regime it is the liquor mafia and contractors. In the last election the people of Bihar all but overturned this treacherous and destructive government. Bihar is not willing to tolerate such a government any more.

Attacks on Poor in the Name of Eviction Will Not be Tolerated

Comrade Kunal said that CPIML will not tolerate if the poor are attacked in any way whatsoever in the name of the state government's drive to jail and slap a Rs 20,000 fine on people for encroachment on government land and water sources.

Till today the government has not been able to free such lands that have been captured by dominant sections and land mafia; on the contrary, capture of land by such forces has increased. But the government is bent upon evicting the poor who have been settled on such lands for years. The real intent of the government is not to free government lands and water sources from the land mafia and dominant sections but to evict the poor.

The question of housing for the poor and Mahadalits remains a huge issue today. Nitish Kumar had promised 10 decimal land to landless families for housing, but that has proved to be an utterly hollow promise. Nowhere have the landless been given land. On the contrary the BJP-JDU have evicted the poor and dalits settled for years on government lands and on the banks of 'aahars', 'paains' etc..lakhs of poor have so far been uprooted and evicted and rendered homeless in the name of the much hyped Jal Jeevan Hariyali project. The government is least bothered about this section.

CPIML demands that the poor should not be evicted under the excuse of this drive. Such lands should be freed from the capture of dominant sections and the land mafia.