15 April, 2013, Delhi
 Gudiya, 5 year old  brutally  raped , attempt to burn her private parts ,
 Culprit: Manoj Kumar Sah, arrested in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Another co-accused Pradeep arrested in Bihar.

16 December, 2012
 Damini rape and death  case
Culprits: Ram Singh, gang leader . Akshay Thakur co-accused arrested in  Aurangabad, Bihar. Pawan Gupta, fruit seller  and co-accused also from Bihar.

21February, 2013
  Terrorist attack .Twin bomb blast in Hyderabad, 16 dead
Culprits:  NIA arrests 10 people from Bihar in March,2013

17 April,2013
 Terrorist attack-Bangalore bomb blast
Culprits: NIA is combing  northern district of Bihar for arresting Tahseen Akhtar, mastermind

 11 August,2012
Amar Jawan Jyoti memorial desecration in Mumbai  during Azad Maidan rally  
Culprit: Abdul Qadir Mohamed Yunus Ansari, arrested from Sitamarhi, Bihar by Maharshtra Police

 14 January,2013
 An Assamese woman traveling along with her 10 year son to Delhi-  was gangraped, killed and her semi-naked body hung from a tree in a mango orchard near  Kahalgaon in Bihar.

12 January,2013
A  Nepali girl jumped off a moving train in Ara district  of Bihar to escape a molestation bid, from  Delhi-bound Brahamputra Mail. The girl is in serious condition

18  July,2012
 Silchar’s Pritam Bhattacharjee  brutal murder  in train in Bihar  for protesting against hooligans in Awadh Assam Express. He was going to  Delhi for enrolling in PhD courses.

 July,2012
 Indian youth delegation causied diplomatic humiliation by indulging in endless eve-teasing while on an exchange programme to China. The leader of the teaser was again from bihar who was earlier famous for growing superpotato in Nalanda district.

16 September,2009
A dozen NCC girl cadets travelling in the Maurya Express on the Hajipur-Muzaffarpur section of the East Central Railway in Bihar  were molested by a group of young men  and Police did not come to rescue.

2003
In 2003, the ULFA killed   labourers from the state of Bihar, as retaliation against   molesting a Mizo girl in a train passing through Bihar. This evoked anti-Bihari sentiments among those in Assam.

1979- 1980
Bhagalpur Aknkhphodwa Case(Blinding case)
 33  undertrials were tortured by the police by poking needles into their eyes and by pouring acid in their eyes to blind them.

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While the whole nation is in flame against the brutal abuse of a 5 year old  girl child in Delhi , I am drawn to other  recent events  of national outrage and  there is a streak of commonality. Perpetrators of most heinous crimes can be traced to  the state of  Bihar.  The Chief Minister who applauds his Bihar model of Development and organizes Bihar Diwas nationwide is no where to be seen condemning the despicable acts of his fellow citizens. Nitish Kumar claims himself to be the one who upturned the wheel of progress for Bihar,  and it  is his  moral  duty to  take responsibility for  such ghastly acts and at least send out a message to the Biharis not to insult the glorious   tradition of Bihar. If Narendra Modi is culpable for Gujarat carnage in the worldview of Nitish Kumar’s party; by the same analogy,  many would make Nitish Kumar responsible for  creating plethora of psychologically abnormal men who are bringing disrepute to Bihar and India in the comity of nation.

This is not  a  complete picture of indulgence of fellow Biharis  in  brutal crimes. The  list of incidents merely reflect the  unchanging general  mindset of  masculine, testosterone-accelerated behaviors of  Biharis. Add to it the celebration in Bihar for the films like Gangs of Wasseypur ,Shool or  Dabang series or the Bollywood songs that portrays Bihariness as brazen hooliganism  where woman’s body is merely something to be appropriated wildly.  Bihariness has come to symbolize vacuity of aesthetics, sensibility, and  subtlety of expression. Biharism as a  mindset   is atavistic, and anti-civilizational . Biharism  is growing barrier-free since the State government has generated a false sense of pride among the least achievers  through simulacral politics of  fake branding.  

  There is an abnormal  case among Biharis who  discover self-esteem in stigma. Bakhtiyar Khilji encamped at modern Bakhtiyarpur and then went to nearby Nalanda and destroyed the monastery during the 12th century , killed the monk-practitioners and burnt the biggest treasure of knowledge stored at Nalanda library. The event is a stigma in the glorious history of Bihar . Yet, Bakhtiyarpur city was founded to commemorate the said event. Even the loud –mouth Chief Minister , Nitish Kumar belongs to this city.  Another town just 10 kms from  the capital Patna   has etymological roots in  the same shameful event of history.  It is at Fatwah that Bakhtiyar Khilji was said to have issued fatwa, a religiously ordained dictate against non-believers in Islam, against the Nalanda monks.  Another nearby town is   Khusropur . Khusro was a companion of Bakhtiyar Khilji  from whose name, the name is derived. There is mention of an imposter Khusro who lived east of Patna and later captured by Jehangir’s Mughal army. Probably, this story  is also behind the naming of the small suburb, Khusropur. How is the names commemorating the worst deed of Indian history still being perpetuated in popular psyche ?
The dynamics of power have influenced the nomenclatures in Bihar as elsewhere.  There was one Chak Hussein near railway station in Khusropur. Similarly, there was Altaf Hussein Road. But, increasing radicalization post-liberalization has caused the erasure of old nomenclatures. Chak Hussein  has changed into Chakhusen, with Hindu connotations. Altaf Hussein Road no longer exists. It is merely a name less place-Chattipar,just like many addresses in India without any proper name(nalapar-on the drain, jhuggipar-in the slum).

But, if the little places have lost their history of connection with Islamic past even though the past does not represent repression or violence; why do the names like Bakhtiyarpur, Fatwah and Khusropur evoke no apathy in the minds of the natives? The social psychologists can work on the politics of nomenclature, and the selective effect of political dynamics over memory and nomenclatures and the politics of proper name itself.

  A Xuanjang  would be surprised to visit the state again. There is no trace of  Nalanda wisdom. Nalanda tradition exists in popular memory only through the concept of Bhuskol. A dull student is called bhuskol. Someone who is lazy and does not make effort is a bhuskol. There is an idiom, “Bhuskol vidyarthi ka basta bhari”(a dull student carrying so many books). But the genealogy of the term reveals the chink in the popular perception.  Shantideva ,the great Nalanda Master whose treatise on the way of Bodhisattava(Bodhicharyavatara) has great influence on the current Dalai Lama was one of the 84 great Mahasiddhas who lived in Nalanda during 8th centiry.His nickname was Bhusukapa. It is said that he even won debates with Sankaracharya. The Tibetan hagiographers held him in high esteem. Both Taranath and Buston wrote about him. In recent times, Kunzang Pelden, has narrated his biography in the famous work, The Nectar of Manjushri’s Speech-A Detailed Commentary on Shantideva’s way of Bodhisattava(2007)

The story of great Shantideva as the Bhusku is preserved in local memories as “bhuskol”, even though no one knows about Shantideva in popular memories.

The identity-formation in Bihar raises serious doubts over the issue of identity itself.  Do people  selectively prefer to appropriate the proud moments of their history to create a communitarian identity? Is the self-esteem propeller of quest for self-identity?  Is the worthiness the only criteria for construction of group identity? How is that the people of Bihar  have chosen the stigmas from local history and still feel self-pride in the identity construction? Is this an aberration? Why are there no legacy of philosophical tradition visible in the Nalanda neighbourhood? How can Nalanda tradition be mere preserved in negativities in contemporary history? These are open-ended questions.

Bihari mindset celebrates the most despicable events of their history . There is no Buddha, no Ashoka, no  Gupta, no Aryabhatta, no Padamsambhava, no Shantideva, no Rahulbhadra, no Nagarjuna, no Mahavira… They remember their victors—Bakhtiyar Khilji, imposter Khusro .   Biharis are happy to be depicted as villain in Gangs of Wasseypur  or at portrayal of a corrupt Bihari police official.  Something is fundamentally wrong in Bihari social milieu. No outsider  wants to come to Bihar. No company  wants to invest in Bihar inspite of umpteen effort made by Nitish Kumar through mammoth propaganda machinery.  People have horrific experience passing through Bihar either on road or in trains.  Buddhists pray the next Buddha to never be connected with Bihar. Bihar is a badland of globalization. Functional democracy , dysfunctional culture. Functional  state,  dysfunctional society. Functional babus, dysfunctional people.  It is   exceptional state under ontological oscillation.

 Why do Biharis enjoy behaving like ruffians at home and abroad?  And why do Biharis , inspite of caste and religious division, share a sense of comradeship even in crime? The anger of nation against Delhi Police Commissioner, Neeraj Kumar stems from this fact.  People perceive him to be hand in glove with the demonic rapist from Bihar. And nation also feels that the Home Secretary who hails from Bihar is protecting his protégée Police Commissioner.  Why cannot  vocal Biharis come  forward and  criticize and demand action against a foolhardy Police Commissioner who tried to fabricate case of murder against innocent protesters only few months back? Where are Bihar’s vocal leaders and pleaders?   

 Bihar is caught in a time warp.  The mindset to treat the “other’ as something to be robbed by force is reminiscent of  medieval thuggery. Biharis treat public property as something to be looted, may it be electric wire on poles , street lights, stools  from  public Parks or  bulbs and fans in train  compartments or women in public place.  To  make Biharis to  behave and follow  the rule of law is a challenging  task. This can be done only by eliminating Biharism- the mindset to    celebrate  Stigma as Pride. For that, the simplest way is to raise the women-power in Bihar. We need Gulabi gangs in Bihar. There are proto-groups like Durga Vahini. But, this has to be a state wide movement. Women in Bihar will become bolder both in home and in society.  Biharis cannot learn to respect women  with persuasion.  Coerce the  Coarse! Let this slogan  be the antidote to  Bihariism!

 (Niraj Kumar hails from Bihar. He is the President, Society for Asian Integration)