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Patna,(BiharTimes): After the issue of neglect of Vikramshila University in centenary celebration of Bihar the state government has come under strong criticism from various intellectual as well as political quarters for overlooking the contributions of other noted personalities and institutions. |
The anger is palpable in a section of intelligentsia––not just belonging to the Kayastha Samaj––over the way the contributions of Lord Sachchidanand Sinha, the man who started the campaign to get Bihar separated from Bengal in 1890s, was ignored. Lord Sinha, who went to England to study law in 1889, was supported by many in this movement. This included the founder of the weekly newspaper, Bihar Times, Mahesh Narain, Ali Imam, Hasan Imam, Rajendra Prasasd, Maulana Mazhar-ul-Haque etc.
Bihar Times played a very important role in spreading the message of the movement. The news-portal bihartimes.com, established about a century later in 1999, was named after that very weekly. Yet there was hardly any mention of such an important institution in Bihar Diwas celebration.
“Lord Sinha and Mahesh Narain found no mention. Neither was the history of Champaran movement given prominence,” said Sukant Nagarjun, a journalist.
Not only that: The contributions of the first chief minister of Bihar, Shri Krishna Sinha, too was grossly underplayed. He served as the chief minister for the longest period––14 years. Bihar was rated as one of the best governed states in the country then. Most of the present day industries, be it HEC in Ranchi, were established then. The industrial town of Barauni, bridge over Ganga in Mokama and big river projects were undertaken during his tenure. This despite the fact that the country and state had very limited resources. Yet the contributions of the present chief minister Nitish Kumar was grossly overplayed, asked a critic.
A political observer, who wished not to be quoted asked: “What had Nitish Kumar done. Got built a few roads, and that too most of them were centrally-funded ones. He had destroyed the entire education system. He had appointed thousands of illiterate teachers. There is rampant corruption everywhere and now even the crime graph have shot up. When Bihar was celebrating its centenary junior doctors of PMCH were on strike and medicos of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Science on warpath after two of their friends were shot on the campus by miscreants. The media is gasping for breath and civil society is feeling suffocated. Yet Bihar Diwas was full of praise for Nitish Kumar and no other chief ministers.”
In the words of RJD MLA, Samrat Chaudhary, there is no need to lament as even the deputy chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, and leader of opposition Abdul Bari Siddiqui were given no importance whatsoever.
It was just an exercise in one-upmanship.
comments...
Nitish Kumar and the Shylocking of Bihar
As the saying goes "Absolute power corrupts a person absolutely".Hitler did not attack half of the world without clinching absolute power in Germany.Kim Jong ill did not threaten south Korea without completely subjugating his own people.Israel does not bombard the innocent civilians of Gaza without exercising total control over white house in the U.S.And then all these dictators have always had a very strong propaganda machinery working to glorify their deeds as loudly as possible.Unfortunately in India today this tactical democracy assigns the worst among us the power to ruin the best among us with authoritarian high handedness keeping the incompetent judiciary on their side.Intellectuals have always been crying for their voice to be heard but to no avail, as the corporate media does not accommodate sane voices if it's not pre-paid like the rest of the news. The current regime follows its scripture "The protocols of the elders of Zions" with religious seriousness and the rules do not permit them to free the enslaved press.Hence weeping over the non mention of Lord Sinha, Shri Babu or Maulana Mazharul Haq as contributors to the development of Bihar like crying over the spilt milk. As the act of planned exclusion of these names is in conformity with Nitishocracy and his own jai jai kar is what all these congregations are meant for.
There is a famous verse of the most renowned urdu poet of Bihar " Ye shasawar e waqt hain aisey nashe me choor - - Gir jayengey ager ye utarey na jaingey "' these ruthless riders(means the authoritarian rulers) are so drunk (in their whim) ,they will fall down if not dismounted (in this case thrown out of power).
The necessity of a mass movement has reached the level of urgency to bring the tyranny of this regime to book.
Arshad Mohsin
Kuwait
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