Bihar:Back To Anarchy Again !

Mani Shankar Iyer, the very eloquent and erudite politician, used to boast that India has the largest number of elected women representative in the world. He takes pride that this happened during his tenure as the Panchayati Raj Minister of India.

Mani Shankar Iyer didn’t achieve this milestone of his own. The credit should also go to Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, as well.Nitish Kumar reserved fifty percent seats for women in the Panchayati Raj System of governance in Bihar. As a result, thousands of women were elected and the move was widely hailed as the right step towards the empowerment of women.

A Panchayat elects more than two dozen representatives but the spotlight is generally for the post of “Mukhiya” and Sarpanch.These two are given powers and responsibilities to exercise democratically. Ward Members and Punch were generally elected unopposed in the last election because very few fancied for these posts and those who wished for it, got it.

After these years it can be safely stated that the Idea to empower women have gone horribly wrong. Women are just used as the proxy and their husbands are acting on behalf of them. Most of these husbands of Mukia and Sarpanch are of dubious character and have seized the opportunity to occupy the post by proxy. They have the agenda to milk the system and amass wealth anyhow.They consider funds meant for Panchayat as their own and have devised ways to corner that safely into their vault.

Bihar Government officials happily collaborate with them and help them in their endeavor of cheating and fraud. This brazen act of corruption and the modus operendi is known to every ordinary people but government and its officers at district level feign ignorance about this whole nexus. They pretend to be unaware because there is" fixed cost" for their unawareness. This is such shameful act of corruption that any person of integrity could stoop to such low level is beyond comprehension but, this is the rule not the exception in Bihar.When the people heading the district administration are such lethargic and corrupt then Lowly paid clerks can be truly described as the paragon of virtues amongst them.

The praises and accolades showered to Nitish Kumar seem to have made him complacent. Even his personal staff seems to be just enjoying the privileges.You write a mail to the chief minister of Gujarat and you will get the response but in Bihar no one bothers for anyone. The unbridled power has made the bureaucracy utterly unresponsive.

The women who were elected as the representative are still confined to their kitchens.Most of them are illiterates and can not write or read. This gave Bihar Governments Officials the excuse to deal with their husbands. This is just bizarre because both are adult individuals and can not represent one another for any governing purposes. Some would argue that it is impersonation, misrepresentation, fraud and cheating. The government officials like the Bock BDO exploits this situation and have started building Bungalows in big cities of India.

No One has seen the face of the Mukhia of Koilakh Panchayat.She became what she is because of the political maneuvering of her husband. They were living in abject poverty as thy had no source of income and to make the matter worse his husband used to loiter aimlessly.Everything has changed now! The days of penury have gone and they are rich now. A house in Madhubani town, Bikes, Landed properties in the village, Ornaments along with other worldly things are available to them. With the active cooperation of RajNagar Block BDO, they have helped themselves become rich such quickly.

This is just one example. This situation prevails everywhere but there might be some exception. Government is acting blind as the main opposition party, RJD has failed to wrest these issues.Nitish Kumar seems to have allowed these starved Officials to satiate and placate themselves first before they start acting. Is this the Susasan Of Nitish Kumar?

Downward Slide Of BJP In Bihar !

Very few people are aware that Bhartiya Janta Party, BJP, is also ruling the state of Bihar in partnership with Janata Dal United, JDU.Nitish Kumar has cleverly overshadowed the BJP presence by putting his developmental agenda at the forefront and has successfully cultivated his own brand image akin to progress and development. BJP despite being part of the government have been completely marginalised.Having accomplished his immediate objective successfully Nitish Kumar has now started giving JDU the shape as per his vision hoping to be able to form the next government in Bihar of his own strength. Getting rid off from veteran and disgruntled leaders like George Fernandes and Digvijaya Singh was a very well thought out part of that calculation.Navin Patnaik in Orissa has already done that so it is not beyond Nitish Kumar as well.

The BJP stalwart, Sushil Kumar Modi is disliked by his fellow party men who resent his meek surrender to Nitish Kumar.The BJP Central leadership, however, is satisfied with Modi which has helped him to stick to his coveted chair so far !

It seems that the BJP has lost the opportunity to consolidate itself in the state. Many of its supporters who had veered towards it after Lalu’s supposed misrule, have switched their allegiance towards the Congress once again. Had Congress contested this election in an organized manner then it would have wrested a couple of seats like Jhanjharpur very easily.

The perception towards the BJP has changed for various reasons. This is no longer “A Party with a Difference” and its local workers and office bearers have become commission agent and work as per the direction of corrupt officials. A political observer elaborating this gave the example of a young BJP grass root worker of Raj Nagar, Madhubani .The said BJP worker has become notorious for his meddling and dirty political maneuvering. This fellow acts as the conduit of the BDO and openly exploits poor, illiterate and helpless people. Ideally he should have ensured that poor and hapless people of the area got their due from the ever increasing developmental pie.But he preffered to become the pariah of society and amass wealth at the expense of party ideology and ethical practices.He is mere an example of the moral degradation of the grass root workers of the party. In this case he must be only following his superiors but the message is far wide and clear and people abhor the party which proclaims such an high ideals but patronizes this kind of people who are nothing but the scourge for the society.

VinodaNand Jha, the MLA from Pandaul and party’s states spokesman is another example of inefficiency. Each and every people have some good word about Jhanjharpur JDU MLA, Nitish Mishra because his works speaks volumes for him. But his adjoining constituency MLA Vinoda Nand Jha invites derision and ridicule because of his absolute ineptitude.Nitish Mishra has been able to build even village by lane. In contrast Vinoda Nand Jha has not been able to even repair an important road link between Rampatti and Koilakh as a result people are forced to experience harrowing experience.The district town,Madhubani is just 14 kms. from Koilakh yet it takes two hours to reach there by this Road. Expecting a new Road is very far fetched from worthless leader like him says a Rampatti resident wryly.

People of the area have ready and simple answer of the sheer inefficiency displayed so far by the leaders like Jha..They allege that while Nitish Mishra personally monitors the affairs and visit his constituency regularly and ensure that every penny is spent judiciously; Jha allegedly is among those politicians who takes his thirty percent commission and entrust someone with the job, who in turn pocket his commission and pass on the work to some local contractor. The end result is nothing.

The BJP, oblivious of its MLA’s performance have made defunct leader like Vinoda Nand Jha as its spokesman .This is the Internet age and no longer any useless leaders would be able to take public for granted with their lie and deceit. The defeat of leaders like Vinoda Nand jha is certain and as the result of patronizing these dead woods the party would suffer very heavily .As per a political Pundit the BJP is going to be a single digit party after the assembly election.Performance counts and defunct leaders deserve to be booted out. It is high time that the national leadership of the party takes stock of the situation and halts the downward slide towards oblivion.