More massacres of landlords likely,
Bihar officials warn Centre
Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
Top Bihar bureaucrats have warned the Union home ministry that more massacres of Rajput, Bhumihar and Kurmi landlords in Jehanabad and the Kahalgaon belt of Bhagalpur district in Bihar are likely.
Suspected extremists of the Maoist Communist Centre killed 35 upper-caste villagers in Senari village of Jehanabad district in the night of March 18.
But police officers investigating the massacre pointed out that though the attackers left behind posters saying the MCC was responsible, they had reason to believe that organised criminal gangs operating in central Bihar were the real culprits.
Prior to 1985, leftist extremists who attacked wealthy landlords in the state targeted only the men. But after the Daler Chak massacre in Aurangabad district in 1986, women and children increasingly started becoming victims, a clear sign that criminal elements masquerading as ultras had begun spreading a reign of terror among the landowners to extort money.
Pointing out that the throats of some of the victims in Senari were slit, the bureaucrats said this cold-blooded modus operandi is very unlike the extremists who usually shoot their victims.
They also said the description of the Senari killers given by the villagers indicated that the same murderers had struck in Narayanpur, Shankarbigha and Usri Bazaar in Jehanabad district where the victims ranged from poor, landless dalits to upper-caste landlords.
The bureaucrats said the likelihood of more attacks on landlords in the Jehanabad-Kahalgaon belt came to light following the interrogation of some suspects who have been taken into custody in connection with the Senari killings.
In the last 12 years, Jehanabad has acquired the dubious distinction of being the state's killing field.
Asked why the police in central Bihar, especially Jehanabad, are unable to cope with the attacks, they said this is because of the insufficient number of policemen in the region and their obsolete arms. In fact, the extremists often warn policemen to keep out of their way. This is why victims often accuse the police of reaching the site of the massacres late.
The bureaucrats also said sophisticated arms like AK-47 rifles seized from militants in Kashmir are finding their way to these criminal gangs in Bihar, especially in the central districts.
They said unscrupulous persons, usually from Bihar, in "responsible positions" in the security forces fighting the militants smuggle out these weapons through well-entrenched networks.
One senior officer has been dismissed for his involvement in this racket, they claimed, adding that all this is documented in the Union home ministry.
Referring to the infiltration of criminals in the Ranvir Sena and some Leftist groups, the officials said this information has also been passed on to the Union home ministry.
According to these officials, the criminal elements have forced other upper-caste armies like the Lohrik Sena, Sunlight Sena and Brahmarishi Sena to fade away, leaving just the Ranvir Sena.
The apparent aim of these elements is to gain economic benefits by spreading terror among both landlords and poor villagers.
Pointing out that recruits to these criminal gangs are mostly educated youth from eastern Uttar Pradesh, the bureaucrats said their "ransom notes" to the landlords are often polite and persuasive. They usually "charge" five kilos of grain per quintal harvested in the landlords' fields. Besides, regular "income" from kidnappings and extortion ensure that they are flush with funds.
The bureaucrats underlined that the analyses of the massacres by economists and social scientists, blaming mainly the inequitable distribution of land, are outdated because the nature of extremist politics in central and south Bihar has changed dramatically, thanks to the infiltration by criminal elements.
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