Jha unsuccessfully contested the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha election as an Independent and LJP candidates from Bettiah and Paschim Champaran constituencies respectively. In between he jumped into the Nitish Kumar bandwagon but soon abandoned it.

In the second election he contest the LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan and RJD president Lalu Yadav campaigned for him. But he realized that contesting election is a different ball game and not as easy as making film.

He said he he never indulged in active politics nor aligned himself with any political party though he contested election to Lok Sabha twice. He said he fought election because he wanted to be an MP. He said he was pained by the two defeats and by making films he did try to overcome the agony of repeated defeats.

He said that he does not shoot films in Bihar, because the state lacks logistic support. His films like Gangaajal, Apharan and Rajneeti, are thematically close to Bihar. Incidentally his forthcoming film Aarakshan has been shot in Bhopal.

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Change is Necessary after Understanding

Prakash Jha's all creative movies convey powerful messages. People get that. The question, however, is why the scourges of the past like the negative aspects of feudalism, injustice, violence, inequality before law etc. still exist. There have been many movements to bring about change in the way we think; we do recognize that a wrong has been committed and we demand justice. But the moment we come to know that the person guilty of a wrong happens to be a member of our family, caste, class or is socially-economically influential, we tend to look the other way. We don't willingly submit to the law. If we are talking about Bihar, in particular, non-compliance with the law and order, moving up the social scale at all cost, frustrating or neutralizing the efforts of an administration are some of the inherent ills.

It's worthwhile to draw comparison with other countries like the USA. All other societies in the world also have these maladies. Corruption is endemic to the US body-politic as well. Politicians always try to make personal profit selling their public offices. But, the people are not forgiving. So is the justice department. One may commit all kinds of crime and go about free as long as he/she is not caught in the net of investigative justice. Once the person is in, the law will take its own course, no matter how high and mighty one could be. No wonder in the state of Illinois, four out of the last eight governors were imprisoned on charges of corruption. The fifth one is on his way into the jail for selling the Senate seat vacated by president Obama.

How many politicians in India since independence have been punished for committing acts of corruption? People are not willing to abandon them either. They want the corrupt officials to stay around in the hope that they might get a piece of the cake some time. Thus, one Karunanidhi is replaced by another Jayalalitha. In a matured democracy people should have moved past the dead woods.

Yes, there are some rare exceptions in India: The former chief minister of Jharkhand is serving a jail sentence. Blinded by power, he defied rules, favored friends in exchange for money. He forgot he was an executioner and custodian of rules. There must be dozens of highly placed powerful individuals in India like him. They all must be brought to book.

Coming back to Prakash Jha's point, therefore, understanding the problem is just not enough. People are aware of that. The challenge is how to reintroduce the rule of law and hold every one equal before it. A big change is, therefore, called for. And I have doubts that with the political culture we have -- where you are asked to commit out right wrong in exchange for political support -- we can achieve that change. Not at least in near future.

But we can strive and transform Bihar into a worthy member of the global society. If we don't our kids will.

BINOY SHANKER PRASAD
Dundas, Ontario