While the state gently weeps
Meanwhile, Bihar continued to fare appallingly in every development index. Report after report slammed the state's complete lack of planning, complete lack of ensuring the basic minimum to its residents.
But Lalu remained unperturbed, because his power was intact, if not growing.
As Sankarshan Thakur wrote, 'Ask Lalu Yadav [about the lack of development] and he may give you two kinds of responses.
'If he is on record, he will say, the Centre is "responsible for criminal neglect" of Bihar et al. If he is off record, and in a mood to talk, he will tell you development isn't an issue for him. "Development, development, what development? My constituency has lived in underdeveloped conditions for hundreds of years. Development is not an issue for them. Development is an urban middle-class demand, that is why the media keeps harping on it. "Hamra log development leke kya karega ji? Bekaar baat karte hain [What will my people do with development? You talk nonsense)]
Naxalites -- armed ultra-Left militants -- stepped in where the state feared to tread, and bloody battles between them and the upper caste Ranvir Sena became routine in the hinterlands of Bihar.
Also Read: Jehanabad: One night of terror