Film on anti-migrant violence banned

A Western Indian state has banned a movie on hardships faced by migrants in Mumbai for fears it could stoke fresh attacks on immigrants in a city often racked by violent regional rivalry.

The film, Deshdrohi (Traitor), revolves around the often violent confrontation between immigrants and Mumbai locals, who resent being overrun by job-seekers from poor northern and eastern states for whom the city holds hope of a better life.

“Some of the scenes in the film are such that they can provoke a law-and-order situation, so the police recommended 60-day ban,” said a police spokesman in Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra state and India’s financial capital. “The state has agreed with our view.”

The low-budget film is a departure from the typical Bollywood fare of racy thrillers and lavish musicals.

The Mumbai police watched a special screening after promotional ads sparked concerns that it might incite a fresh wave of violence in the city, which last month saw some of the worst anti-immigrant attacks.

Job-seekers from the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, among the poorest in the country, were attacked by supporters of the right-wing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena party, whose leader was then arrested.

Protests against the arrest flared through the state and sparked tit-for-tat attacks and protests in eastern Bihar state, where about 100 people were injured and a boy was killed.

Local Marathis make up less than half of Mumbai’s population of more than 17 million people, and rising anti-immigrant rhetoric is seen as a sign of the strain of lopsided economic development.

The producer and lead actor of Deshdrohi, Kamaal Khan, who has been criticised for seeking to cash in on the controversy, earlier complied with a directive from India’s censorship board to remove the word “Marathi” from some parts of the film’s dialogue.

Can you and India live without Bihar?

Why doesn't Raj Thackeray campaign to stop and deny supply of precious raw materials and minerals like coal, iron, steel, bauxite and uranium, among others from Bihar or its previous part Jharkhand to Maharashtra?.

IF PEOPLE like Raj Thackeray and Jaydeep think that they are prosperous and the so-called ’outsiders’ are benefiting from Maharashta’s prosperity, let me tell them that that prosperity has also come from investment and work done by outsiders. Not just Gujarati, Punjabi and South Indian industrialists have invested in Mumbai and around, but many kings of Bihar have also had many undertakings and moreover industrialists from Bihar like Tatas and Birlas have created lakhs of job opportunities in Maharashtra. People from other states go to Mumbai thus and not to the hinterland of Maharashtra. If rural Maharashtrians migrate to Mumbai to seek jobs in industrial set-ups of outsiders, people from other states also have the right to work in Mumbai.

Mumbai has been continuously receiving the Centre’s attention. So it has turned into a financial city of India.
If today Raj Thackeray and supporters of his hatred and hate-policies want that not a single person from other states should settle in Maharashtra and get a job there, they must also stop getting privileges from the Centre. Why does not Raj Thackeray campaign to stop and deny supply of precious raw materials and minerals like coal, iron, steel, bauxite, uranium, among others from Bihar or its previous part Jharkhand to Maharashtra? The so-called prosperity of Maharashtra and Mumbai will plunge or stumble if supply of coal and steel is cut off from Bihar and India will shatter if 70 per cent of electricity-generation is affected by non-availability of coal from Bihar, Jharkhand and other states which are being despised. No doubt the whole of Maharashtra and the entire country will see a dark era ahead if they do not want Biahris in this country as was sought by Bal Thackeray once. The message is not just to everyone of this country but to cowards like Raj Thackeray and Bal Thackeray.

PLIGHT OF BIHAR AND BIHARIS - by AGAST ANAND

All the pictures splashed across all the newspapers and television channels of Biharis getting bashed up ruthlessly has become a common feature and no longer evoke a shock or a feeling of disbelief. Yes, it raises a lot of questions. And all the questions coagulate
towards a single question and that is "WHY BIHAR"? (Including Jharkhand)

In the 1950s, Sir Paul Appleby visited India. He was an expert in public administration and came to India on an invitation by Pandit Nehru. He went on record to say, "Bihar is the best administered state in India and in the time to come it will become an example for
other states". Alas! Bihar lost out midway. It is high time to give it a thought and evaluate, why and where did we lose our way?

We gave the first president to India and that doomed us. Since then, we started considering ourselves as "INDIANS" and not "BIHARIS" or "JHARKHANDIS". But the "REST OF INDIA" did not think the same way. For them, we were and continue to be only Biharis, very different from the rest of Indians.

Out if the feeling of the same "INDIANNESS", we gave for free our rich mineral wealth to the rest of India so that their industries can run. It was like giving our family gold or milk-giving cow to them because we thought that they were our brothers. They took all
the minerals and despised us… hated us more and more as the time passed.

Had we sold these minerals directly to European countries or China, we would have been richer than Kuwait or any other country in the world and the rest of India would have come to Bihar seeking work. The constant and unrestricted drain of minerals is like allowing the parasites to suck our blood... to let the traitors rape our women and helplessly watch them having the last laugh. This was "Freight Equalization" Policy which cheated us of our wealth and left us high and dry.

Whenever it came to regional development, some states held the country on ransom. They threatened and blackmailed India of secession and in turn made the centre bow down before them and fulfill their demands. They therefore, got the maximum benefits.
Perhaps, they have always been lucky to have powerful regional leaders which unfortunately, Bihar has always lacked. Punjab dangled the same threat in the 50s and the dam which was to be built on river "Kosi" went to them as "Bhakra Nangal" project. Biharis again sacrificed for the sake of India… for their Punjabi brothers. But this sacrifice was not honored. The terrorists killed innocent, defenseless and hapless Biharis in 80s who had gone to Punjab to make out a living for themselves.

The land of North Bihar is so fertile that we would have become the "Rice Bowl" of the world. The "Green Revolution" which should have happened in Bihar happened in Haryana and Punjab.

Has any state valued our sacrifices?

We kept dying of HUNGER, POVERTY, FAMINE and FLOODS but still voted on caste lines. For us, the most important issue was being a Rajput, Bhumihar, Yadav, Muslim, etc. But remember, the world always thought of us as "DISPICABLE BIHARIS" who need to be wiped out of the map of India.

Out of caste considerations, we kept on giving leaders like Laloos, Rabris, Pappus, and Shahabbuddins and ensured that we disappear from the radar of development.

The rest of India was too happy to see all this because out of our destitution, we provided them very cheap labor which could run their mills, build their homes, work in their fields, look after their cattles, carry them on cycle rickshaws or rickshaws pulled by human
beings, and still tolerate their ill-treatment which they have always meted out to Biharis. It started with "BIHARI" becoming an ABUSE and this kind of treatment meted out to Biharis gradually started giving rest of India a "PERVERSE PLEASURE"

Suddenly now, this despicable Bihari who was best fit to be at his feet has started giving "COMPETITION" to the rest of India. Years of struggle has hardened a Bihari and made him very competitive. This has unnerved everybody. The violence which we now see against the Biharis is a "NERVOUS REPRESENTATION" of the rest of India because
somewhere in their heart of hearts they know that they cannot
compete.

We always gave preference to "CASTE" while electing our leaders who have always lacked "VISION". They have empowered themselves rather than empowering the people of ill-fated Bihar. We have always lacked a good regional leader of stature who could defend the needs of Bihar. Had the then politicians put their foot down on the issues
like Kosi River or freight equalization policy, Biharis would have never migrated to other parts of the country to seek jobs. We now need leaders who can not only restore our wealth but also our "PRIDE".

It is important for every Bihari to realize that unless and until we build our own home (Bihar), we will never have our pride anywhere outside.

Dear Biharis, it has been enough now. We have suffered a lot… we have been exploited a lot… we have tolerated all forms of atrocities in the past sixty years. Our pride is at stake. Now, the time has come to stand up and intensify our struggle to regain the respect and dignity which we deserve in India. Let us start making our efforts very much in the positive direction to build a new Bihar.

Let us create a people's movement to bring about a change... Let us act now for the resurgence of Bihar.

AGAST ANAND
agastanand@yahoo.co.in

An open letter to Karan Thapar-By Thakur Vikash Sinha

Mr. Thapar

I was going through the transcript of the interview of Shobaa De taken by you.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/devils-advocate-shobhaa-de-on-mumbai-vs-
bombay/76806-3.html?from=search



In the interview, you ask Ms De "Mumbai ............is now more and more like Patna ?"

Who has given you the right to denigrate a city like this? Have you been to Patna recently? Have you looked at its crime statistics? Have you had any reports of regional hate?

Do try to recall. Did Patna have a communal riot in decades? This decade? In the nineties? In the eighties? Seventies? Let me tell you, Patna has never had a communal riot. Regional feelings? Patna has a fairly large Bengali population which competes fiercely for the few jobs that are available. In fact, during the early British period, they had a virtual monopoly on the government jobs. But have you ever heard of a hate campaign against them? Marwaris control a large part of the trade in the city. Punjabis are in large number. The second holiest place of the Sikhs is at Patna: the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singhji. South Indians are a thriving community here, numbering about 30,000. Anglo Indians are another thriving community at Patna and nearby Danapur. Two seats in the Bihar assembly is reserved for the Anglo Indian community. The author William Dalrymple has himself written to me that his family has strong Bhagalpur connections. But for a few minor incidents of Sikh owned shops looted in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's murder (mind you, no murders of Sikhs at Patna at that time), can you give a single incident of hate crime or campaign based on ethnicity? The closest you will come to a riotous situation in Patna is during the 1942 Quit India movement and the JP movement of 1970's: both for a national cause.

Then how on earth does it occur to you to put Patna as the worst example of provincialism? Is it media hype about Bihar and Biharis? Is it because the elite of India like you have been trained to always denigrate something to make you feel good? Is it plain ignorance? Or
is it that since Bihar is poor, hence elites feel that they can get away by criticizing Bihar without a fear of reprisal or offending any section of your audience which has very few Biharis in any case?

(It is another matter that the response of Shobaa De ( I could almost feel her nose contracting in horror) is an even worse example of 'elitist' thinking, but then this letter is about you and the media, not other categories of elites)

For god's sake, this type of typecasting has led to a very explosive situation in the country. You people never tire of criticizing a Raj Thackeray. Let me share a shocking statistic with you. Out of the new migrants in Mumbai, the percent of Biharis is between 2.3 and 3.5%.
Yes I am talking of new migrants, not the percent of Biharis in the total population, which has to be lower since the number has increased from just 0.2% in the sixties to a 'High" 3.5%. This is based on studies conducted by two Mumbai based organizations: TISS and IPSS. (I would be happy to forward the publicly available extract of the study and the link if you find this statistic too difficult to digest). Now surely, you would also agree, this percent cannot be called excessive by any stretch of imagination if there is any truth in Mumbai being the commercial capital of India rather than just the administrative capital of Maharashtra?

Then pray what makes Raj Thackeray demonize Bihar and Biharis? If you think a little about it, you will perhaps agree with my theory that this is so because of the "image" of Bihar, created by powerful mediamen like you. Let me add, your colleague, another Raj from Maharashtra, Rajdeep Sardesai, wrote an article on the ills of Maharashtra last year where he had no compunction in using 'biharisation' as synonymous to criminalization. Not just in the body of his article but in the headline itself. In fact, the whole article was based on Rajdeep's view that Bihar is a living hell on earth. Is it any surprise then that men like Raj Thackeray, desperate to carve a political space for himself, think first of Bihar when they are looking for a villain?

I am well aware of the bias of the Indian English press towards Bihar. I don't expect it to remember the sacrifice of Bihar and Biharis for the nation: the Champaran movement or the 1942 quit India movement or the agitation against dictatorship in mid seventies. I don't expect the media to highlight the extreme injustice done to Bihar due to freight equalization or inequitable distribution of development funds in each of the five years plans since independence. But this continued bias is now striking at the very root of India. This anti Bihari feeling is now creating a feeling of alienation in every town and village of Bihar. Politicians of Bihar, though accused of playing politics by the media, are trying their best to douse this flame which they had no role to create. If you folks believe in the idea of India, you have to play a role here.

Repeated biased coverage of Bihar in the Indian English press should have convinced me by now that it is futile to expect any semblance of evenness in the coverage. But what to do, I am a Bihari. I cant give up on my Indian-ness. And giving up on hope is just not in my gene whether the centre gives me an ill treatment or the nature tests my tenacity every year through floods, you would not hear a Bihari committing suicide. Hence I still approach you with hope, that things can change and will change.

Thanks

--
Thakur Vikas Sinha

Dont Blame Bihar-India’s progressive state has worst crime rate

It may be one of the most literate states, but Kerala has the highest crime rate in the country and one of its districts, which is the flashpoint of CPI-M-RSS clashes, tops the list in riot cases.

According to the latest statistics on crime in India, Kerala has the highest crime rate of 20.19 per one lakh population regarding offences committed against public as against the national average of 5.82.

The state also registered a total of 6,365 riot cases in 2006, which is third in the ladder behind Bihar (8,259) and Maharashtra (7,453).

Regarding arson, Kerala with 435 cases is behind Maharashtra (1,188) Andhra Pradesh (1,012) Madhya Pradesh (815) and Bihar (785).

But Kannur in the state's north had 737 riot cases in 2006 and this is the highest number registered by any police district in the country.

The district, a bastion of the Marxists for long, had been witnessing frequent clashes between the activists of CPI-M and BJP-RSS with both sides claiming to have lost at least 150 cadres each.

A number of political clashes were charged under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code relating to rioting and this is the reason behind this kind of figures, a Kerala government official said.

The majority of the present state leadership of the CPI-M, including state party Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, hails from Kannur. State Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan also hails from Kannur.

Prominent Marxist leaders like A K Gopalan, who was the first Opposition Leader in Lok Sabha, kick started their political career in this district.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, cases of rioting and arson are the major components under the category of crimes against public order and it constitutes 3.5 per cent of the total crimes registered under Indian Penal Code.

Incidence of crimes under this head has increased by 0.7 per cent from 64,686 in 2005 to 65,121 in the next year. Bihar, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka account for about 47 per cent of cases of rioting and arson in the country.

In the national Capital, 87 cases of rioting and 33 cases of arson were registered in 2006.

Bihari Students rap media for state's image

"Media claims that it is projecting truth but, in fact, truth is the first casualty in media's hands", "Media only depict wrongs of Bihar" are some of the remarks made by students drawn from different schools who participated in an inter-school debate competition on "Role of media in building the image of Bihar" organised by YMCA & West Point Foundation on Wednesday.

A girl student from St. Joseph's School opened her discussion, saying: "From the pages of civic books we know that there are three pillars of democracy — legislature, executive and judiciary. Yes, there's a fourth pillar as well — the media. Sadly, both the electronic and print media depict the ruthless face of Patna," she said.

She asked fellow students to take a vow not to allow the media to take an advantage of negativity.

Criticism against media also came thick and fast from Don Bosco students who charged that it was because of the media that Bihari boys are being ridiculed outside the state.

However, a few students maintained that it was because of media that roads are being constructed, miseries suffered by people during floods are highlighted and force the government to act expeditiously.

One student even said: "The state's development is related to development of the media."

Yet another students blamed the media for exaggerating many an issue in a bid to spice up news. He regretted nobody projects talent of the state and number of IAS, IPS and IIT aspirants that compete from Bihar every year.

However, he faced strong opposition from one of his school mates. The latter cited examples of Manoj Tiwari (Bhojpuri singer) and Deepali (of Indian Idol fame) who became famous thanks to media attention.

The students' enthusiasm was reflected in the loud cheers and support they gave to their school mates who had participated in the event.

Prakash of Jean Paul School, Ara was declared first while Siddhartha of Don Bosco and Ravi of St. Michael's High School were adjudged second and third respectively.

Apart from students eminent citizens of the state capital also opined their view on role of media. Noted Gandhian Dr Razi Ahmad requested the media to present the truth "in this era of clash between the judiciary and legislature".

Almost all speakers were one in the view that media should play a responsive and responsible role instead of being in the quest of spicy news. Those who spoke on the occasion included former DGP T P Sinha, IMA national president Dr Ajay Kumar, Patna SSP Kundan Krishnan and Dr L B Singh.