Journalistic optimism on Bihar?
I am not too fond of the state of Bihar in India, and I wrote about it once before here. In the last few weeks, I have been reading with great interest about the assembly election coverage on the state. I was hoping that some party/candidate will rise above the petty politics of casteism /religion/fiefdom and do something about the mess that Bihar is. It is probably a pipe dream but I think it can be done.
Going through the field reports filed by enthusiastic journalist, I happened to come across a shoddy piece. Shekhar Gupta in the Indian Express writes that Bihar is no different from the rest of the country and that most people have come to accept the state of Bihar as fait-accompli, expecting bad roads, kidnappings and lack of law and order. He writes:
"It is just that Bihar has got such bad press and for so long that you expect to be kidnapped within hours of landing here, and when that doesn’t happen you begin to feel smug"
First, he is a journalist on a short trip to cover the elections. Who will want to kidnap him? Second, Bihar has got such bad press because it deserves it.
"I can take you to parts of Ahmedabad — one of our most prosperous cities — that can beat Patna any time, particularly if you were to devise an index of urban rottenness based on the stink of human excreta."
True. But why just Ahemdabad, any Indian city will suffice in this context. This is not a Bihari trait, it is Indian.
"Also, on reputation alone, you do not expect to see any roads at all. But as you step out of the airport, the look-feel is that of any other cantonment town."
Yes, the airport has good roads. The good roads lead from the airport to the present day CM's house. The rest of Bihar does not have any roads.
"But where else can you have a string of Muharram processions, with the devout cutting and slashing themselves, assaulting each other with hockey sticks, chains and hooks in mourning for Husain, splashing blood all over the chock-a-block street that they share with Hindu wedding processions in perfect peace and harmony?"
Actually through out India! I know and have seen it in several places in India, including Rajasthan, Delhi, Karnataka and Hyderabad. But the point is, is it ok to replace religious tolerance with casteist clashes? Or lack of education, water, electricity, roads, governance?
"But the fact is, there is a certain decency, patience, cultured-ness, a tolerance of the other in Bihar, that you won’t see anywhere — at least in the north."
Hmm. I don't agree that Bihar is any better than any other states in terms of decency. Ok, I do agree that North is worse as far as tolerance towards women is concerned.
Finally, what gets me really annoyed is where Shekhar compares Ranjit Don, an in-jail candidate for these elections with Netaji Subhas Bose:
"What was Ranjit Don selling? He was selling an ambition, the only hope a young Bihari has today. Education, a degree that will get him of Bihar, to some place where jobs are"
"If you wanted to be facetious, you could see an echo of Netaji Subhas Bose’s old promise of freedom if you gave him blood. Ranjit Don could then be saying, tum mujhe vote do, main tumhein degree doonga."
"what the don represents is the yearning of a new Bihar, where a good degree is synonymous with azadi."
Huh? Bah-Humbug! What a piece of rot. Comparing, even facetiously, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose to a person who leaked CAT papers and gave away false medical degrees, is a blunder of monumental proportions. I wonder if Shekhar would feel the same way if a doc on one of these fake degrees treats him. The don doesn't represent the yearning of a new Bihar, he represents everything that is wrong with Bihar. If people elect him and he wins, then it shows that Bihar is even worse that I thought and that nothing will change in the near future. So are people going to elect him to get fake degrees and leaked CAT papers?
It seems that I am the only one who thinks that this piece by Shekhar was nonsense. Amit Verma, reports on it without offering comment while another blogger supports his view with his own analysis.
I stayed for four years in Bihar, and there are facets of that life that can only be understood by living there, not by passing through it or reading about them. Live for atleast one year in that state and you will understand why it is worse off than other parts of India. I yearn for it to progress and to get out of the state that it is in, but I don't know how. I wish I did.
