A group of Left extremists carried out simultaneous attacks at three supposedly high-security locations in Bihar’s Jehanabad town on 13 November 2005.
The attacks on the police lines, on a local college ground where CRPF personnel were guarding electronic voting machines (EVMs), and the city jail where 340 prisoners were ‘freed’ rattled the state administration.
Shockingly, no one had a clue as to what had happened. The extremists were reportedly carrying 186 rifles and 3,000 bullets that were smuggled in from neighbouring Jharkhand.
The incident exemplified what Bihar was then: A place where the state had unfortunately withered away. Eleven days later, when Nitish Kumar became the chief minister of the seemingly lawless state, he had an almost insurmountable challenge to overcome.
Nitish’s Innovative Administration
What followed was nothing short of a miracle, now well-documented by a range of scholars of different persuasions.
Noted commentator Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar had written in one of his essays (published in The New Bihar: Rekindling Governance and Development, edited by NK Singh and Nicholas Stern) that:
He [Nitish] got together the once-demoralised police, judges and administrators to devise speedy trials. Imaginative use of the Arms Act helped convict gangsters within weeks, and more than 70,000 were jailed between 2005 and 2012.
As result, the number of violent incidents fell from 1,309 between 2001-05 to 514 between 2006-10. The number of civilians killed fell from 760 to 214 in the same period.
How did the turnaround happen?
Slight tweaking of existing rules, establishing special courts, and enlisting services of retired army personnel – these are some of the administrative measures Nitish took to restore the rule of law.
But Nitish knew that administrative measures alone were not enough to bring Bihar on track. What was required was a slew of supplementary steps, and Nitish’s famed social engineering was aimed at achieving that.
Nitish Broke the Convergence of Political and Muscle Power
The years preceding Nitish’s rule in Bihar were marked by caste militias. Dominant castes and communities had divided the state into separate fiefdoms – a coalition of dominant castes would rule one, and yet another set had complete control over other territories.
Since dominant castes had access to political power as well, they used to break rules with impunity. There was total convergence of political and muscle power. The convergence had to be broken to give enforcement agencies any chance of punishing the offenders.
Nitish’s Social Engineering Helped Restore Rule of Law
Nitish balanced the power of erstwhile dominant groups by creating a new set of equally powerful groups that became numerically influential and politically significant.
Carving out extreme backward classes (EBCs) from the OBCs, Mahadalits from the Dalits, and Pasmanda Muslims from Muslims, was not just aimed at garnering votes. Nitish Kumar’s social engineering also aimed at breaking the dominance of powerful castes and communities.
There is perhaps a lesson in Nitish’s experiment for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is expected to fix the deteriorating law and order situation in the country’s most populous state.
Data shows that the first month of Adityanath’s maiden innings has not been able to inspire much confidence. In fact, the situation has taken a turn for the worse.
Crime Has Skyrocketed in UP
According to an agency report:
Between 15 March and 15 April this year, rapes increased four times over the past year, murders doubled, and dacoities grew manifold. In 2016, in this corresponding period, there were 41 rapes against 179 this year and dacoities rose from three to 20. Murders have gone up from 101 to a worrying 240 and robberies from 67 to 273.
Very much like Bihar, UP has seen a convergence of political and muscle power in recent years.
Any change of regime means one set of ruling political class gets replaced by another, with accompanying social groups wielding considerable muscle power. Depending on which party is in power in UP, we hear about Yadav or Jatav rule in the state.
At least, that has been the perception so far. If Adityanath’s administration witnesses the hegemony of one particular coalition of castes, even Nitish’s innovative measures may prove unhelpful.
Adityanath is expected to hold two rallies in Bihar – one at Darbhanga on 15 June followed by another in Patna the following day. But the UP chief minister should not miss the opportunity to get some valuable tips from his Bihar counterpart.
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