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Bihar's dalits face a new enemy

Tara Shankar Sahay in Patna

The increasingly bloody battle between wealthy landlords and landless labourers in Bihar is no longer so much between the upper castes and the dalits as between the intermediate castes and the dalits, say social scientists in the state.

According to Nil Ratan, reader in political science at Patna's A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies, the Yadavs, Kurmis and Koeris have emerged over the last 15 years as the "new kulaks" and displayed greater ruthlessness than the so-called upper castes in preserving their new-found access to political and economic power.

Ratan, whose doctoral thesis was on agrarian reform, said the massacre of 12 dalits by the banned Ranvir Sena in Jehanabad district on Wednesday night merely symbolised the last-ditch attempt of the upper-caste landed gentry to hold on to its turf.

He pointed out that since the Brahmins, Rajputs, Kayasthas and other so-called upper castes have moved over to other professions, especially the bureaucracy, the Bhumihars are the only upper castes left fighting the landless dalits. So, with help from the intermediate castes, they are employing increasingly brutal methods to cow down the dalits.

But, Ratan said, the landlord-labourer clashes in the next four decades will largely be between the intermediate castes and the dalits, with the Bhumihars too making an exit from the conflict.

Asked why the dalits in Bihar are unable to effectively repulse the Ranvir Sena, he said they are a fragmented lot with the dalits in north Bihar not seeing eye to eye with their kind in central Bihar. That is why, he said, Bahujan Samaj Party politicians Kanshi Ram and Mayawati have not been able to make as much of an impact in Bihar as they have in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

The Left parties have stepped into the void to mobilise the dalits and organise them into a disciplined lot that can fight for its rights. "I have no doubt that guided by the Left parties, the dalits in Bihar will unite to form an effective unit and fight for their cause," Ratan said.

Citing the instance where Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav and his wife, Chief Minister Rabri Devi, were heckled by the inhabitants of Narayanpur when they visited the village, Ratan said it indicates a growing fury against the intermediate castes and their inability to protect the dalits. From now on, the dalits in central Bihar will not give in easily to the allurements of the ruling class in the state, he added.

ANSISS director Yuvaraj Deva Prasad said it is an irony that though Bihar was the first state to introduce land reforms, the disparity between the landed gentry comprising the upper and intermediate castes and the landless dalits is increasing.

Unless the socio-economic benefits percolate to the landless labourers, massacres such as in Narayanpur will continue, he said.

Asked if the recent hits by the Ranvir Sena indicate the apathy of the state police, Prasad said the police force could be 'toned up' to an extent, but what is needed is the political will to govern, especially when it involves sensitive issues like dalit welfare.

Senior ANSISS faculty member K K Verma pointed out that while politicians pay lip-service to the welfare of the depressed sections, rehabilitation measures for family members of the Belchi, Shankarbhiga and other such massacres have been tardy at best.

Verma said he had met some widows of the victims of the Ranvir Sena's attacks on dalits in central Bihar. These unfortunate women have not yet received anything apart from tall promises from the government.

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