If they're burning effigies, we know where

Timesonline UK Reports:

Why Patna deserves a special place on the map; why aren't there any credit crunch conspiracies?
Hugo Rifkind

It had to be Patna. When I heard about riots in India over the title of the film Slumdog Millionaire, and the plans to burn effigies of director Danny Boyle in 56 slums, I thought to myself: “That'll be Patna, then.” And it was. Good old Patna.

I've never been to Patna, but it is a place very close to my heart. I first heard of the city a couple of years ago, when they burnt an effigy of a Big Brother producer, in protest against the Jade Goody/Shilpa Shetty row. “Enterprising stuff,” I remember thinking, and then I hit Google News, because I really had to know what an effigy of a Big Brother producer looked like. Sort of like a Guantánamo Bay inmate, actually. I guess it was figurative.

They're mad for effigies in Patna. I subsequently discovered that those recently burnt in effigy had also included an Australian cricketer, George W. Bush, a local railway minister, Pervez Musharraf and, with an admirable leap into the surreal, a giant cigarette. Oh, and a flood. (No idea.) According to one local newspaper correspondent, there was huge demand for effigies, to the extent that the effigy business was “in boom”. I swear I am not making any of this up.

Part of me wants to be very rude about Patna, in the hope that they might, just maybe, burn an effigy of me. In fact, I am rather charmed. See, I've been keeping an eye on Patna. This isn't just some sub-continental Liverpool, always with a grievance. There's real creativity in their protest, and not just with effigies.
Background

* Don't call us dogs, say Slumdog rioters

* Slum dweller sues Slumdog stars

* Slumdog success silences national row

* Slumdog Millionaire: the Indian press reaction

Last June, thousands of students rode bicycles through the town in protest against inflation. Is that a pun, do you think? And in December, a year ago, junior doctors protested against plans to give them an extra year at medical school by washing cars, sweeping streets and, in the case of women, issuing marriage proposals to passers-by. One local commentator said that this channelled the spirit of Gandhi. Perhaps the spirit of Gandhi was gin.

It's the “dog” bit they mind in Slumdog Millionaire, although personally I think they're barking up the wrong tree. It has to be an offensive term, because the whole point of the film is about triumph over prejudice and adversity. Still, it's nice to see that they're keeping the faith, and that the effigy-makers are still doing OK in these troubled economic times. As ever, I can't help but feel we have something to learn from the people of Patna, with their passion and clarity of grievance. And yet, as ever, I just can't figure out exactly what.