Let’s Talk About: The story of Bihar

Once the seat of Ashoka’s vast empire, a land of literature and Buddha, Bihar now lies on the floodplains of the Ganga, and its glories have run dry – grappling with the realities of poverty, crime, and corruption.

The stories from the state are outliers but repetitive and have a bearing on the rest of the country, both economically and politically. It also has its own heroes and Dalit stalwarts, from Jagjivan Ram to Ram Vilas Paswan. But how has this story unfolded?

To understand the making of present-day Bihar, Anand Vardhan speaks to two authors who have written about its contemporary realities, The Hindu’s deputy editor Shobhna K Nair in her book Ram Vilas Paswan: The Weathervane of Indian Politics and activist Mrityunjay Sharma in Broken Promises: Caste, Crime and Politics in Bihar.

On the politics in the state, Sharma says Lalu Prasad Yadav could have been the hero of a generation, “who could bring up those marginalised” and it looked like he was that person till the 1990s. “He would ride a cycle to the secretariat, he did not even move to the chief minister’s residence, he would just sit under a tree in any place and hold junta darbars.” But Lalu eventually realised that governance is “tough and what happens faster is vote-bank politics”.

But Nair says that Lalu’s identity politics “at that time was very crucial. First of all, you have to give them the voice. If you don’t give them the voice, forget about anything else. That length had to be run. If Nitish had come to power in the 1990s, what do you think he would have picked between the two streams of politics of enabler and provider?”

Both agree that Bihar “has never been politically complacent”and even initiated the Zamindari abolition and the question of reservations. Sharma says that hence, it has been a “very fertile ground for politicians…you will not see any other state in the country which has leaders who have come from outside, who the state has co-opted” such as Sharad Yadav and George Fernandes.

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[VarunKumar-fnfm]

Anand is brilliant! Need to do more of this.

[AkashSingh-xjhv]

Bro my village in Bihar got electricity for the first time in 2017 and you are talking about in 2008.

[azfarmurtaza]

Whatever happened over 300 years back, for that the Indian Muslims of today should be made accountable. Simply proves of a totally warped thought process.

[prakashchandra]

अस्मितावाद दो तरह के हैं। वर्चस्ववादी अस्मितावाद दमनकारी है, जो सवर्ण शक्तियों का है।दूसरा उत्पीड़ित या शोषित अस्मितावाद, जो अवर्ण जातियों का है।

[sid]

Good production but need better presentation or just let him do it in Hindi.

[CrosscurrentsIndia]

Hahahaha since when are the likes of Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar "Lohia-ite icons"?
They are criminal opportunists, and shame on you for defaming Indian Democratic Socialism best exemplified today in Prof. Yogendra Yadav
Jai Hind 🇮🇳🙏

[manishanand]

Lalu & Nitish completely decimated Bihar's whole institution, leave it any development whatever things that was working for Bihar before then they totally destroyed, the damages done so badly that no one even thinks go back and starting any economic activities or businesses. Lalu not only destroyed everything in Bihar but destroyed at least the future of four generations by now, bihari compelled to leave their motherland for basic needs and survival. These two together turned bihari a cheap migrant labourer, after 1991 economic reforms all other states choose path of development but Laluaa pushed Bihar on path of destruction, so please talk their sin which they committed to people of Bihar

[KakuliGhosh-xk]

Why are you silent about kolkata horror? You godi media!

[artnarchist]

ye bihaa kya hai, why won't he say bihar ugh clicking away, plssss

[rakeshp]

Newslaundry - beware of such anchors.
His accent is not tolerable.
Is he from India or any English speaking

[Empress]

The podcast anchor is just not confident