Comrade Satyadev Ram’s Address in the Bihar Assembly

Now that all of the NItish government’s narratives like ‘good governance’ and ‘development with justice’ lie shattered, Nitish Kumar Ji has embarked on the pretence of a ‘Samaj Sudhar Yaatra’ (journey for social reform). This government, which talks big about liquor ban, is working to protect the liquor mafia while dalits and the poor are being massacred across the state by spurious liquor. What social reforms are they claiming while ignoring basic issues like rights, equality, and employment, and allying with the fascist-Manuwadi BJP? The whole of Bihar has come to know the truth about this government. Just a few days ago in Samastipur, goons lynched a Muslim JDU leader Khaleel Rizvi. Will Nitish Kumar say that good governance is prevalent in Bihar?

Attempting BJP-ization of the entire state

BJP is murdering Constitutional values in the entire state today. All symbols and institutions are being BJP-ized. It is a great shame that the word ‘Bihar’ written in Urdu on the Bihar emblem has been erased from the pillar being constructed in the Bihar Vidhan Sabha. Nitish Kumar has completely surrendered to the agenda of the BJP. They should stop pretending to be secular now. They should now clearly say where they stand: on this side or that side? The people of Bihar have understood very well their double-faced character. The people want to know why the Muslims of Aadharpur in Samastipur have not got justice till now. The issue of hijab is no longer confined to Karnataka alone. A Muslim woman was harassed at a bank in Bihar's Begusarai where she was asked to remove her hijab. She was told that she would not be allowed to enter the bank until she removed her hijab. What is this culture which BJP is trying to establish across the country with Nitish Kumar sitting silent as a mute spectator? RSS people are being given plum posts like that of University Vice Chancellors despite being scam-tainted. There is an open disregard for Constitutional values.

NITI Aayog report and truth of Bihar

Nitish's false claim of 'development with justice' has been exposed by the NITI Aayog report. In all the indicators of development, our state is at the bottom. The Nitish government has failed on every parameter of development. It is beyond the comprehension of the people of Bihar what kind of development this is. Bihar does not stand anywhere on the three main parameters of health, education and standard of living. 51.9 percent of the population is still below the poverty line.

Under Nitish rule, Bihar has fallen into abysmal depths on all parameters including unemployment, poverty, education and health, law and order, electricity, cooking gas, participation of students in schools, and women's safety. Not only the Niti Ayog but also all the reputed standard institutions of the country and abroad report this same kind of data.

After all, how long will this government continue to juggle with figures? If there is no improvement in the people’s standard of living, then what model of development is this government presenting by building bridges and culverts? Large scale institutional corruption even in the construction of bridges and culverts is the current reality.

Betrayal on land reform

I want to ask, why is Bihar in this condition? I am not going to say anything new but am repeating the same things again.

All the economists and scholars have repeatedly said that unless land reforms are implemented in the state, unless agriculture based industries are started, nothing will develop in this state. We will say again and again that this government is protecting landowners and land thieves. And this is the reason why Bihar is moving backward instead of forward. When we say, distribute land among the poor and sharecroppers, Nitish ji says, will the land drop from the sky? The Bandyopadhyay Commission which you constituted, had identified 21 lakh acres of ceiling land and recommended that it should be distributed among the poor. If we do not make the producers the owners of the means of production, then how will development take place?

On the report of the Bandopadhyay Committee, the government says that it has been done on the basis of the old survey. Which new survey did Nitish Kumar get that makes him reject his own report? The Bandopadhyay Commission had made very liberal recommendations, abolishing ceilings of different kinds and recommending a single ceiling with 15 acres as its basis. The government is running away from this truth, so we want to ask you to reduce the ceiling area to 5 acres. Can you tell what happened to the land received in Bhoodan which is still undistributed? To which beneficiaries has that land been handed out? On the contrary, today the poor are being made victims of eviction from many places across the state. They were evicted in the name of the Jal Jeevan Hariyali Yojana but there was no arrangement for alternative housing and they were left with nowhere to go. From Champaran to Darbhanga, once again the activity of the land mafia has increased and they are bent on ousting the poor and parcha-holders from the land. The land mafia and dominant forces are committing murders and even burning the poor alive. The BJP-JDU government seems to have made up its mind to take this state to the pre-1990s period of feudal domination and terror of landowners.

Backward Agriculture

The traditional backwardness of agriculture continues in Bihar. The problem of floods and drought remains unresolved. All the major canal systems including the Son canal system are in disarray. The few remaining industries also perished under Nitish's rule. The dismal condition of the sugar mills of Champaran are there for everyone to see. The arrears of farmers continue to remain unpaid. Now this government has decided that ethanol will be manufactured from 7 food items including paddy, wheat and barley. This will mean pushing the already hungry state onto the brink of starvation. We consider the manufacture of non-edible items from food items to be a destructive step and it should be stopped immediately.

The issue of special state status for Bihar

The demand for special status for Bihar is a long-standing one. But for this ‘double engine’ government, it has become a game of politics and the BJP and JDU are putting up a show of shadow-fighting each other. Both parties need to answer the question, why has Bihar not got special status till now in 16 years?

Restore the Mandi system in Bihar

After a year-long agitation, finally the Modi government had to bow down and withdraw all three black farm laws. The farmers of Punjab and Haryana said in no uncertain terms that they had seen the ill-effects of closing down the Mandi system in Bihar. Nitish government left the farmers of Bihar in the lurch by ending the Mandi system. A few crops including paddy have a fixed MSP but hardly anywhere are farmers’ crops purchased at MSPThe rate of purchase of paddy and some other crops is fixed at MSP. Farmers are constrained to sell their paddy at Rs 1000-1200 per quintal to middlemen. Has this not come to the notice of the government? That is why we have come today to the Assembly to say: The battle in Delhi has been won; now it is Bihar’s turn.

In Bihar the demand is expanding and intensifying to reinstate the APMC Act which was abolished by your government in 2006. If Bihar has to move forward, then you have to implement the Mandi system.

Government's attitude towards the poor and landless

This government has proved to be a failure in the matter of providing land to the landless. I would like to point out the following examples:

There are 30 acres of undistributed Bihar government land suitable for housing and cultivation under Khata No. 2996 and 2997 in Sitamarhi District, Bokhara Zone, Panchayat - Kharkha Vasant North and South, Police Station No. 215. The land is available, people are putting in application after application but the administration remains deaf and heedless to all applications. But Nitish Kumar will say, where do I have any land to distribute? We are telling you where the land is still available at various places in the state.

Also in Sitamarhi District, in the Public Interest Litigation No. 12743/2003 the order was passed to give possession of the allotted land to the parcha-holders of Naya Tola village of Nanpur police station by the order of the Hon’ble High Court dated 05.07.2004. The government issued departmental letter No. 233 (7) dated 13.03.2012, directing that possession of the land should be given to the parcha-holders within one month. But even after 9 years, the parcha-holders are yet to get rights to the land. Landlords are relentlessly driving away the parcha-holders. The least the government could have done was to intervene and ensure possession of the land to the parcha-holders, but they did not do even this bare minimum.

In Madhubani District the Religious Justice Council directed the Sub-Divisional Officer, through letter No. 4105, dated 08.12.21 to do the Bandobasti work for Ganga Sagar Sthan, Bhaura Math and all the Math’s properties but till date this order has not been implemented. This is the condition of the administration in the state.

In 1989, 24 families got homestead land parchas on the same land. The Mahant went to the DM's court and since then that matter is stuck there. Even after 33 years, the matter has not been settled, while the Supreme Court has ordered that a stay cannot be imposed for more than 6 months. Nitish government could not resolve even a single issue in 16 years.

Government's lie on the issue of housing for Mahadalits

This government talked big about giving land to Mahadalits. I invite Chief Minister to please come and visit various places in the state. Lakhs of people are taking shelter on the banks of canals, ‘paeens’ and rivers. The government had recently data that said 90 thousand poor have been provided housing land and now only 22 thousand people are left. How much land was distributed amongst them? A mere 53 acres. This figure is really amazing. Surely, even lies have their limits? But this government has learnt lessons well from Modiji and is capable of crossing all limits while lying.

Now the government is saying that the people settled on government land better beware, they will have to go to jail. We want to ask the government, will it take action against the land mafia in illegal possession of government land or against the landless poor? Your intention is not clear. Nitish ji, if you have the courage, then take action against the landowners, free the government land from their clutches, we will support you. But we will not tolerate any attack on even a single poor person. In the name of Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Yojana, we have seen that the havoc wreaked by your government on the poor, forcing them out of their land. If you displace the poor without any alternative arrangement, we will never accept it.
Dismal state of law and order

The state of ‘Sushasan’ (good governance) is such that today crime shows an ever-increasing graph in Bihar. Police terror, terror from feudal criminals, people live in fear. In Bihar, there is no rule of law but it is police Raj and criminal Raj, and the murder of democratic rights of the common people continues openly. The claim of women’s empowerment lies thoroughly exposed by the Muzaffarpur Shelter Home case. Now recently the case of Gayaghat Shelter Home has come to the fore, in which a girl has made very serious allegations against the officials in charge. An investigation was constituted only after the intervention of the High Court. In Vaishali, a Dalit girl was picked up by criminals in broad daylight. When her father went to the guardian of the criminals to complain, they said that the girl would return home in two or three days. It appears as if feudal rule still prevails in Bihar. After three or four days, the mutilated body of the girl was found. In Aurangabad, Mahadalits were made to lick spit on the suspicion that they did not vote for the candidate from the dominant section. There has been a flood of feudal-communal attacks on women, minorities and the poor in the entire state, but the government is oblivious to all this.

Good days for the sand mafia

If anything good has happened to anyone under Nitish Raj, it is the liquor mafia, sand mafia and contractors. In the last election, the people of Bihar almost overturned this treacherous and destructive government. Bihar is not prepared to tolerate such a government any more. You must remember that you have got only twelve thousand more votes than the Mahagathbandhan, but you are continuously trying to weaken the voice of the opposition.

Belaganj incident

The incident where Adhatpur village in Belaganj Block, Gaya District became the victim of extreme brutality by the Gaya police is the biggest proof of protection being given by the government to the sand mafia gangs.

This incident is a barbaric example of the oppressive and anti-poor policies of the Nitish government and the brutality of the police and administration. Under the guise of government tender, the police-administration-sand mafia nexus has carried out this atrocity to give free rein to the sand mafia, by-passing the concerns of the local villagers. This treacherous game is being played across Bihar.

Local villagers are accusing sand mafia members and naming Ramashray Sharma alias Pun Sharma, Kaushal Sharma, Harendra Sharma, Rinku Sharma, Jitendra Sharma, Subodh Sharma, Manish Sharma alias Bhim Sharma, Saurabh Sharma. They say that the police are in connivance with them and are not prepared to listen to the villagers.

Terror is ruling the entire state of Bihar; it is the terror of the liquor mafia in some places and the terror of the sand mafia in others. This is the truth of today's Bihar.

Darbhanga incident

The brutality unleashed on 9 February by the land mafia gang over a land dispute on members of Rita Jha’s family settled for the last 40 years on the land proves that Nitish Kumar's government is trying to push Bihar completely back to the pre-1990 era. Land mafia members burnt to death 8 months pregnant Pinky Jha and her brother Sanjay Jha right under the noses of the administration. Both died on 15 February during treatment at PMCH.

The Darbhanga burning alive incident on the evening of 9 February is a black stain on the Nitish government. This land dispute case has been on-going since 2017. Rita Jha's family has been living on the Darbhanga Maharaj land for the last 40 years. There is an agreement with the family members of Darbhanga Maharaj with the victim's family. But the said land was wrongly registered by land mafia Shiv Kumar Jha in his name and at present the matter is being heard in the Patna High Court. Shivkumar Jha and the land mafia have been hounding and oppressing Rita Jha’s family since 2017. This whole matter is in the knowledge of the administration, but instead of resolving this matter, the district administration has further complicated it.

Education, employment and health

The education system under the Nitish regime suffers the worst condition. I have spoken about the huge corruption in the appointment of Vice Chancellors. These have become business deals and the post of Vice Chancellor has been completely tarnished. Lakhs of posts of non-teaching staff are lying vacant, but the government does not want to fill them. Institutional academic anarchy, including rampant corruption in the appointment of Vice Chancellors, is true of campuses in today's Bihar. This government which came to power with a false promise of 19 lakh jobs is ruthlessly betraying students and youth in its 4th term in power.

The speciality of this government is to force people to do contract labour. We are all aware of the authoritarian attitude of the government towards ASHA workers, Rasoiyas, the teacher community, Anganwadi workers and other scheme workers. These sections do not even get the minimum honorarium enough to sustain their lives. If they demand their rights, the government unleashes a campaign of repression against them. Recently, ASHA workers issued a notice to go on strike for their legitimate demands. The High Court has directed the government to listen seriously to all the demands of ASHA workers. Is it not sheer injustice and a violation of their rights that ASHA workers who are the backbone of Bihar’s health system today are being called ‘volunteers’ by the government?

Rampant corruption in Government schemes

What is the condition of schemes like the Public Distribution System, MNREGA, and Nal-Jal (tap water) Yojana? There is huge corruption in PDS. Your government gives spoilt and rotten food grains to the poor. When ex-serviceman Satyendra Singh raised the issue of corruption in the Nal-Jal scheme in the Chief Minister's home district, he was sent to jail instead of being heard. In states in the South, all essential items as well as food grains are distributed as rations. Your government has almost killed the MNREGA scheme. No work, no minimum wage. If people do not get employment, how will their standard of living improve?

Health system in tatters

The second wave of Covid also exposed the ramshackle health system in Bihar. The entire health system is paralyzed. There is a huge shortage of doctors, nurses, hospitals. We saw people dying in agony due to lack of oxygen. But the shameless government keeps saying that not a single death has taken place due to lack of oxygen. The lower rungs of the health system have completely collapsed. Lakhs of health service posts including doctors, nurses and pharmacists are lying vacant. Bihar’s health system has been thrown to the mercy of the gods by this government.

Hapless migrant labourers

During the Covid period, the government was thoroughly exposed on the issue of migration. If indeed there is so much development taking place in the state, will the BJP-JDU government explain why the migration of lakhs of labourers from the state continues even today? Migrant workers from Bihar are suffering attacks in other states, from Jammu and Kashmir to Uttarakhand; they are even being killed, but why does the government not wake up and take heed?

Recently, five labourers from Katihar died when an under-construction building collapsed, and yet this government says that workers are migrating out of Bihar because they like to do so! There is a long-standing demand to make laws for migrant laborers, but whether it is the central or the state government, there is silence on this while migrant labourers are dying across the country.

Eviction of the urban poor

This government, which boasts of 15 years of development, should also tell us what it has done for the urban poor. All the colonies made for the urban poor in Bihar are from before 2005. After that not a single colony was formed, whereas other state governments like Delhi have authorized hitherto unauthorized colonies. You are determined to evict the urban poor even from the outskirts of the city. I say to you, please go to various places like Gardnibagh, Lohanipur, Mahmudichak etc. in Patna and see how the poor and downtrodden people are living.

I wish to say that giving the name of ‘Amrit Kaal’ (period of immortality) to this period of extreme unemployment, hatred, atrocities, repression and communal violence is a cruel joke on the poor, workers, minorities and women.