An interview. A complicated, well educated and politically inclined professor asks me, “Ok...so you belong to Bihar. Tell me what special this Nitish Kumar is doing that makes him a darling of media and Bihar a story worth mention in newspaper and magazine”. Hmmm......blah blah....I spoke looking in his eyes. The same professor now looked historically ignorant to me. But what is his fault; same is the majority of India. Bihar is always a story of failure, I agree, but it should never be a story of pity. Those who do so should pity on themselves for their lack of knowledge.
Bihar, originally called Vihar-as Buddhist monk used to do vihar in this sacred land, had Nalanda University and Vikramshila University when the whole India was living in Dark Age. It was a land of knowledge which had its wings spread into many countries and other nationals used came here for education till a monstrous Muslim invader burnt them to ashes. It is said library of Nalanda University was so big that it kept on burning for six months.
Aryabhatt (Mathematician India is proud of and who gave ‘0’-‘Zero’ to the world), Panini (Sanskrit Scholar), Chanakya( Greatest Politician) and Vatsayana (writer of Kamasutra) are believed to be born in Bihar, so they were a Bihari.
Chantragupta Maurya and the great Ashok were the greatest rulers of India. It is said Maurya kingdom spread way ahead of Afghanistan and that was the best period of India. Magadh kingdom king Jarasandh attacked Krishna 17 times and forced him to shift his capital to Dwarka in the middle of sea. King Mahabali is known of his valour and strength.
Bihar which is currently know as a lawless state, is interestingly the place where two of the most peaceful religions were born. Buddha was enlightened in Bodhgaya and Vaishali was the first republic of world where Bhagwaan Mahavir started Jainnism.
Gandhiji started his first movement in India from Champaran against British called Champaran Satyagrah.
Enough of Bihar bhakti for now. So where did it go wrong for Bihar to take it to the quagmire it today exists in. I attribute it to two time frames: one during Indira Gandhi regime at centre and other to Lalu Yadav rule in the state. Bihar was moving with same pace as other states post independence, till Indira Gandhi came to rule India in 70s. She ruled India one dimensionally and most of chief ministers of India bowed in front of her. Bihar refused and became a centre of socialist movement under the leadership of JP, Karpoori Thakur and Babu Jagjivan Ram etc. Then, she forced emergency and Bihar became the focal point of anti-indira agitation. Sampoorn Kranti movement started by Jayaprakash Narayan(JP) took him to the forefront of movement and made Bihar a perennial rebel. It acquired an anti-establishment image and was subsequently kept out of centre’s plans and development strategies. As Bihar started moving backwards, people become unemployed and it landed into a deep hole where venomous snake of cast system bite it hard. It moved deeper into corruption, illiteracy and poverty.
When Indira was gone and India moved into liberalization phase giving big push to the development of industries in other states, came Lalu Prasad Yadav to rule Bihar. He brutally destroyed the systematic structure of governance, which was already shaking. It came down easily, leaving Bihar starving. People, still lost into the battle of caste supremacy, didn’t realise the pace with which other states were moving. It took 15 years for realization and now a dynamic, earnest, hardworking and visionary Nitish Kumar is at the helm of Bihar; and for a change Bihar is moving in the right direction.
Still “what special this Nitish Kumar is doing that makes him a darling of media and Bihar a story worth mention in newspaper and magazine”, I leave this question unanswered for now and will reply in next blog, hoping will get my result from the professor by that time.
