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I
came out of Bihar in mid 90s for studying and
looking for a better future. Lalu magic was
still blowing in the parched lands of Bihar and
details about fodder scam were surfacing. We
prided ourselves on our accent & rustic manners
and Lalu captured it beautifully. Lalu jokes &
mannerisms were staple items in the cultural
programmes in the colleges nationwide. It was
still not ‘US and THEM’.
Soon this imagery started changing and changing
for the worse and it started permeating in the
other spheres. Everything about Bihar was to be
seen through the Lalu prism. Lucky for Laluji
and media and unlucky for us. Recently when
newspaper headlines and news channel were all
focused on Bhagalpur, copywriters couldn’t have
come out in more apt headings “Brutality in
Bihar” as if they are related concepts.
Our other brethren started migrating en masse to
Punjab, Kashmir, Assam and you name it and we
were there. This might have changed the status
quo in labor market etc and pat came the reply
that “you are not wanted”. If Kashmiri militant
wants to prove a point then what better way than
rounding up laborers sleeping outside the
villages and shoot them. It always turns out
later that most of the casualties are Biharis.
Assamese don’t have better people to vent their
ire but our own. Politicians make tame noises
and everything is forgotten by us sooner rather
than later. Time is a great healer!
North-South, East-West divide is ripping the
country apart. Rather than making tangible
progress on reducing the regional inequalities,
nothing much is done. There are tribal regions
in north Orissa and in west of West Bengal but
only Bihar is partitioned. North East and hilly
states always have its special packages; Punjab
gets its special package for its militancy.
People with sub-nationalist edifice get them
with their show of unity and we pride ourselves
on being Indian first and Bihari later. Only
history will tell whether it would turn into ‘US
and THEM’.
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