The Dalits of Bihar have suffered at the hands of both Congress and RJD.
New Delhi: During the continuous politics in and outside Parliament in the name of the architect of the Constitution, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, no one was reminded of the serious incidents of the massacre of Dalits during the Congress rule.
During the recent Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, the Congress saw some part of its Dalit vote bank coming back, so it seems that in order to influence the Dalits and Muslims during the Bihar Assembly elections next year, the Congress and its allies have been told by their advisors the strategy of putting the BJP in the dock in the name of Dr Ambedkar.
One reason for this could be that after the Belchi Dalit massacre in Bihar in 1977, Mrs Indira Gandhi somehow went to the village sitting on an elephant to express sympathy to the Dalits and later in the 1980 elections, the Congress party regained power with widespread support including from Dalits. But the situation of Rahul Gandhi’s Congress and the country including Bihar has changed a lot. Will Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party be able to recapture the Muslim and Dalit vote bank in Bihar by constantly taking the name of Dr Ambedkar?
Rahul’s advisors probably did not pay attention to the fact that thousands of families in urban or rural areas of Bihar have not yet forgotten the wounds of the many incidents of massacre of Dalits during the rule of Congress or Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal. Even after Belchi and the dark chapter before that, many horrific Dalit massacres took place in Bihar. After Belchi, 14 Dalits were burnt alive on 6 February 1980 in Parasbigha village over land possession.
In the years that followed, there are still witnesses to the horrific massacres that took place in Kansara, Darmiya, Nonhi-Nagwa, Malbaria, Bara and Jehanabad. In these murder cases, the names of criminals who had the patronage of politicians kept coming to the fore. The government was slow in taking action but after seven years of court hearing, 34 accused were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Even today, those who get to hear the details of the massacre that took place in the Harijan Tola on 16 June 1988 in Jehanabad start crying. Due to these murders, the influence of Communists and Naxals increased in some areas of Bihar. They kept blaming the Congress government. Sometimes Congress leaders blamed the Communist Party MP.
Also how can Palamau, the area of Congress’s big leaders Bhishma Narayan Singh and Subodh Kant Sahay, be ignored? Bhishma Babu is no more and while he was alive for a few years, the doors of 10 Janpath were closed for him. But he and Subodh Kant Sahay continued to express their anger on the violence, atrocities and murders that took place in Palamau during Lalu Yadav’s rule. Rahul Gandhi is dreaming of winning the next Bihar Assembly elections on the basis of casteism by forming an alliance with Lalu and Tejashwi Yadav. He should read that 42-page report published on 20 December 1991 on Lalu’s rule.
This report has mentioned in full detail how the poor and helpless Dalits and backward classes were killed by indiscriminate firing in Bihar. Three days after this report, on the night of 23 December 1991, ten landless Dalits were dragged out of their homes and killed in two villages, Meen and Barsa, in Belaganj and Tekari police station areas of Gaya district. Lalu Yadav, who taught Rahul Gandhi how to cook non-vegetarian food, had gone to Belaganj as Chief Minister on 13 November 1991, when Lalu Yadav, while talking to journalists, had alleged that “under the protection of Congress MP from Jehanabad, King Mahendra, and upper caste criminal elements are wreaking havoc by killing Dalits in Jehanabad and Gaya districts.”
At that time there were no non-governmental TV channels or social media. Its record can be found in print media. There is also a record of attacks by Lalu supporters in Patna on journalists like us for publishing Lalu’s exploits. Jairam Ramesh, who was recruited during V.P. Singh’s rule, had not joined the Congress party then. So how can he inform Rahul Gandhi about those facts now? The then Congress leaders definitely denied Lalu’s allegations. At that time Congress had alleged that Lalu Yadav was honouring criminals from his caste involved in Dalit murder cases in the Diara region and making them leaders in the party.
I am aware of another fact related to the Congress leader who was involved in atrocities on Dalits in Bihar. A powerful Congress leader during Indira-Rajiv Gandhi’s rule played an important role in funding the party in Bihar. When he could not win the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress government recommended him to be nominated as a Rajya Sabha member in 1993. The then President Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma first rejected the file of this proposal and sent it back for reconsideration. But the government again recommended the same name. Dr Sharma was saddened when the controversial leader’s name was recommended again.
In an informal conversation, Dr Sharma himself told me that “Under the constitutional provisions, if any recommendation or proposal of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet comes again, the President has to accept it. Therefore, I had to give approval to this name.” Dr Sharma himself had been the Congress president and knew the people of the party and their interests very well.
However, even if serious allegations against that influential leader have not been proved, won’t the Congress’ decision to nominate him to the country’s highest house be considered as honouring a person accused of atrocities against Dalits?
The interesting thing is that after the term of the nominee ended, the same leader kept getting elected to the Rajya Sabha with the support of Congress and other parties. Therefore, while doing politics in the name of Ambedkar, the Constitution, the Backwards and the Dalits, Rahul Gandhi and his colleagues should also take a look at their own party’s political history.