Prd 2 b a BIHARI

The Bihari: Prisoner of his Own Image

Manoje Nath

The Bihari - simple, loyal, friendly, yet he continues to have a label of mild reproach. The author investigates why everyone including the Bihari himself feels comfortable with the stereotypical image.

A Bihari is apt to suffer from low self-esteem. Unquestioningly and for so long has he submitted to and tried to live by the image of him created by the media and folk lore, that often enough his authentic self is masked or lies dormant. Just as the Punjabi is believed to be pushy and overbearing, a Tamil wily and unctuous, the popular image of the Bihari reinforced by the films is that of an affable, home-sick person full of innate talent and resourcefulness but somehow good only as domestic help or indentured labour. Generous, gullible and a bit of a fool. In short a rank interloper in a world determined to succeed at any cost. A Bhojpuri saying maintains that the wife of the weak is fair game for mild flirtation for everyone. So, a Bihari is a standard butt of joke and ridicule all over. And no offence meant, mind you!

And yet can this popular image be related to the facts of biology? A Bihari can hold his own against most inhabitants from other states. In intelligence, drive, perseverance and other attributes he is more likely to carry the day than not. His poverty cannot for that matter be defined in terms of deficiency of resources of the state. Bihar is a rich, green, luxuriant yet a poor state where everything of value is abundant and bountiful.

It ensures farming operations in the Punjab while labour is in short supply at home; it provides the grist for formidable academic competitions in the institutions of Delhi while the state could have done well to retain the alumni to lend a semblance of life to the morbid and moribund academic institutions here. In fact Bihar is the classical poor. He underwrites the prosperity of the richer states by conniving at his own exploitation.

The state has sunk slowly while the rest have climbed. Mutely and uncomprehendingly it has watched the others march ahead while it has fallen into a time warp. The fabric of space-time is bent not only temporally but also in terms of the attitudes and mental makeup of the people. A state which set up the first steel plant in the country is, in terms of industrial development, at the bottom of the heap. A state where the public library movement could be said to be highly developed way back in thirties and forties has an abysmally and unconscionably large population of illiterates. Its administration, which was a model of efficiency in the 50’s, is groaning under various strains.

And yet it is business as usual for a Bihari. His complete sang-froid, his failure to react would be incredible if it were not true. A Bihari would be feign to accept the facts of his exploitation because no one is born a Bihari, he becomes a Bihari. A Bihari exists only because of a subtle and insidious sense of discrimination. He is designated a loser, he is encouraged to live by the image of himself so that the stark contradiction of his fate does not become apparent to him. Because then he may actually bestir himself and do something about it.

It is true that Bihar has been fairly well represented in the Central Government for quite a long time; but while other states enjoyed the substance of the national resources cake Bihar was forced to make do with the shadow of it. While Bihar remained satisfied with tokens and symbols, the lucre went the other way. A Bihari is supposed to be meek and gentle, therefore he should not clamour and demand his share like those other difficult states.

Bihar was in the forefront of the independence movement; in the shape of the J.P. movement it started yet another innovative political experiment. But it is the job of a Bihari to be a political activist and ideologue! What is unbecoming of him is to demand a greater share in the resources that have to be diverted elsewhere to stem the appeal of terrorism and secessionism. A Bihari can be taken for granted but not the others. There is lawlessness; there is tardy utilization of resources so how can investments be made? It is a different matter that funds have been sunk in direct proportion to the increase in anarchy and subversion in other places Bihar has such a glorious past of asceticism and other worldliness, therefore for a Bihari to crave for a better standard of life would be a denial of his past.

So he must contemplate his navel. Hark back to the time of the Buddha and Ashoka and Mahavira or Kuar Singh. In any case no further than the 50’s. He can keep his past. His present will be taken good care of. He must not raise issues like proportionate investment of the money mobilized by the national banks in the state or even equitable compensation for its mineral resour-ces. Such issues threaten the integrity of the country; put an intolerable strain on the already bedevilled polity. Such thoughts spawn radicalism, raise doubts and uncomfortable questions.

And above all the assiduously cultivated and cherished image of the Bihari Babu stands to be discredited. A Bihari qua Bihari has no option but to submit because these are not his cue lines. The meek, up country character almost apologetic about his existence cannot storm the center stage and demand his rightful place under the sun. In the language of the pulpit it is not in the national interest. And no one could be more eager to pay heed to such sagacious advice than the Bihari himself!

# MR. MANOJE NATH is a senior police officer and an occasional writer, based in Bihar.