Strong Medicine For Bal-Raj Syndrome

The medicine to cure the disease called Bal-Raj Syndrome may sound too harsh, immoral and not good for the health of the country. But how will the two Thackerays react if some one from North India adopts tit-for-tat policy. If the duo are hell-bent upon throwing out the human resources from outside their own state do they realize what will happen to Maharashtra if some cynic of Bihar or UP one day launches an agitation calling for the blockade of minerals and foodgrains on way to this western state. After all it has to rely heavily on other states both for minerals and foodgrains.

Thackerays, and some of his apologists in the media, film-world and politics, need to be told loud and clear that their state, Maharashtra is a leading industrial power today largely because of the policy enunciated by the politicians of the same North India, against whom they spew venom. They must understand that the freight equalization policy was adopted in 1948 by the Centre to facilitate the equal growth of industry all over the country. At that time we have Jawaharlal Nehru, a man from UP, as the Prime Minister. And then a few years later a Bihari, Rajendra Prasad, became the first President of the country.

The worst sufferer of this policy was undoubtedly the undivided Bihar (now Jharkhand hewed out from it) and to some extent Orissa and Madhya Pradesh (now Chhatisgarh carved out from it). Industrialists interested in setting up plants anywhere in the country––Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi etc––would get coal, iron ore, aluminium etc at the same price as they used to get in Bihar (now Jharkhand), Chhatisgarh or Orissa. A factory can be set up anywhere in the country and the transportation of minerals would be subsidised by the central government.

This resulted in the growth of heavy and middle level industry in the post-independence years outside the mineral-rich regions of the country. The coastal states of Maharashtra and Gujarat were the greatest beneficiaries and so where Delhi and its surrounding districts. Bihar’s huge competitive advantage of holding the minerals got destroyed as now factories were set up everywhere else but in this state. This was not the case in the pre-independence era when Tatas and Dalmias etc had to come and set up industries in Bihar. The freight equalisation policy continued to destroy states like Bihar for about half a century.

So if Maharashtra is developed today it is not because of the ‘vision’ of chief ministers like V P Naik, Sharad Pawar or Vilasrao Deshmukh but because of the generosity of the same North Indian politicians. The average Biharis never felt jealous and fully cooperated in the development of other states and cities. So far politicians of today are concerned we all know that whether they are of Maharashtra or Bihar or anywhere else they are of the same hue. To distract the attention from the real issue, some apologists of
Thackerays, have started singling out Lalu Yadav and politicians of Bihar. May one ask how honest are the Thackerays and their gangs of extortionists? What about Sharad Pawar and many others having close links with various smugglers and mafia of Mumbai? Are they angels?

Biharis were not only generous in giving their own minerals to other states without charging any royalty whatsoever they also provided political platform to politicians of other states. George Fernandes played all his politics in Mumbai but when it was upto fighting and winning election he looked towards Bihar––first time in 1977. Madhu Limaye, Minoo Masani, Acharya Kripalini etc almost all had the link with the then Bombay Province, yet all came to Bihar just to contest election from one constituency or the other as their own state failed to recognize them. But Bihar has not only been open to politicians of Maharashtra, but of other states too. Sharad Yadav, Inder Kumar Gujral, Chandrashekar and several others all looked towards Bihar in the time of trouble. The unique aspect is that these carpetbaggers had absolutely nothing to do with Bihar––they would just contest election here and go. Chandrashekar and Gujral even went on to become the Prime Minister of the country. But none of them who chose Bihar as their launching pad ever did anything worthwhile for this benighted state. As a Bihari nobody ever complained why it used to get lowest central grant––Maharashtra often used to walk away with the highest.

The problem is not with the Thackerays, but the so-called apologists of Uncle Bal and Nephew Raj. They need to be explained that in this marine age almost all the big cities of US, UK, Japan, China, Australia etc are port cities as international trade can not be dreamt without them. People of the interior parts of these respective countries get attracted to Shanghai, London, Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, Los Angles, Seattle, Chicago, Sydney, Melbourne etc. If the American, British or Chinese start adopting the policy of dharti-putra (son of the soil) with the people of other states of their own countries their economy will collapse sooner or later.

Those who articulate the view of Thackerays in newspaper columns need to understand the location advantage of any place. The per capita income of South England is almost double to that of North England. This notwithstanding the fact that most of the mines and industries are situated in north. Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham etc became famous for coal, iron and steel and textile industries as early as 19th century. Yet it is London, where average people are much more rich. Incidentally all these cities are ports, yet London is richer because it is political capital of England as well. So if the people of north England, notwithstanding industries, mines as well as ports are poorer than that of south England no media expert holds the politicians of that region responsible for it. Even in the US it is the heartland––especially the regions in the vicinity of Mississippi and Missouri rivers which is the food-basket of that country. Yet all the developments have taken place in the coastal belt.

Those whosoever try to pull punches from Thackerays’ diatribe either do not understand the geo-sociological realities of the development or are, one way or the other, simply championing the cause of the same fascist forces against whom they should actually stand up.

*(The author is a Patna-based free lance journalist.)

The Bal-Raj syndrome is only the visible face of hate compaign and conspiracy by many other people to strangulate Bihar. There are many more people who are working against Bihar and Biharis sice independence. The purpose is to make Bihar poor, low estimed so that its people can construct buildings of Mumbai, Delhi and all other parts of India and its labors can toil in the fields of Haryana and Punjab. However their ugly heart is now becoming open when the same people who build the cities are unwanted because they are poor. The same labourers when they raise slightest of their voice there are police attrocities in Punjab and Haryana on them. No surprise why there is deliberae attempt fo keep Bihar poor. Who will make the buildings in Mumbai and Delhi? Who will work in the factories of Gujrat and Maharastra? Who will toil the fields of Haryana and Punjab. It is not surprising that Bihar has not seen any effort by centre to make progress in agriculture or industry. Neither there has been any effort to check the floods in Bihar. The Bal-Raj kind of people both in politics and media know that the development of their cities and states can only happen when they get cheap labours from poor state like Bihar. There was an article in Hindu which writes about economic strangulation of Bihar "Simple economic logic tells us that a region falling way behind needs greater investment in its development. But Bihar is being systematically denied even its rightful due from the Centre, let alone the additional assistance its economic and social condition deserves". If Bihar makes a demand for central university it will be turned down, If Bihar makes
demand for assistance for flood it will be turned down, if Bihar makes a demand for power it will be turned down. Moreover these Bal-Raj kind of people have learnt a reason to present- Use the media to project Bihar in bad light, bad people and bad culture. No wonder the "jhanki" of bihar in 26th January parade is turned down, the Bhojuri films are not counted for reasonal film awards. When Nithari killings happen, no media projects UP in bad light, when Telgi scam of billions happen no media highlights Maharastra and Maharastrians, but when there is small mob violence in Bihar the whole media (print and electronic) flashes "BIHAR" as if Bihar is any person behind all these things. All these things are happening because these Bal-Raj syndrome know that Biharis will not know their dirty minds as they have only learnt to be patriot and make "KARGIL CHOWK", "Put their life and soul for GAndhijees Satyagrah" but they will not be united to raise their voice. No where in the world any country has enslaved its own federal state, if they did the result was disintegration of the country, but in India Bihar has been enslaved for 60 years and we Biharis are yet to revolt for our freedom. The Bal-Raj Syndome will keep continuing unles we know their ugly motive and revolt against it.
A.Singh

One advice:
An eye for eye will only make the whole world blind.
I am not advocating that Bal-Raj syndrome is acceptable, but Soroor-ji's propositions are no way remedial to it. Soroor-ji's doses will only aggravate the symptoms.
On what grounds will Bihar counter-attack Maharashtra? Is Bihar capable of sustaining its 82,878,796 mouths? Bihar may have surplus food grains, but does it have any industry? Any minerals? It is incorrect to group Bihar along with UP and Jharkhand. Both these states have plenty of ores and industries to revive a possibility of being self-sufficient. Bihar has no minerals and no ores. Sugar Industry (cultivation) is dying. Sugar mills of the state are closing one by one. Leather industry is long dead. Perennial floods are destroying cultivations each monsoon. Bihar does have significant food and dairy producing industries, but how many Biharis can survive on them? How can Bihar then be self-sufficient? There are no employments in the state. The only career prospects in the state are Politics and Arms.
It is only because of the lack of development in Bihar that Biharis are migrating to other states in search of greener pastures. It is only because of backwardness of Bihar that Biharis are unwanted lots in Assam and Maharashtra. Had Bihar been a developed state, Bihari would have been welcomed in Assam and Maharashtra as "Skilled Workers" and not thrashed on the roads as personae non gratae. Therefore, the root cause for Bal-Raj syndrome is the Bihar itself. Had Bihar and its politicians in Patna worked for a better Bihar in last 60 years, Bihar would have stamped out its mark in the India's economic growth. It is ludicrous to blame Assamese and Marathis for the plight of Biharis.
Pradeep

Many –2 thanks to SaroorBhai for writing such a nice and eye-opener article and hoping , in future, such types of more articles that will awake our leaders to talk about only and only development nothing more nothing less .Whatever Raj-Bal Thakre are doing in Maharashtra is against the basic-fabrics of one nation . 2-3 days ago Raj Thackre wrote to so many industrialists to provide 80% job only to Marathi speaking people . Targeting to Amitav Bachhan is frequently coming in news . It is not a only matter of two or three states . Raj-Bal Thakre are becoming potential threats to the unity of our country . Our National leaders, irrespective of party and having interest in unity of Nation , will have to think very seriously what Uncle-nephew Thakre are doing and telling. If every state adopt such a policy , what will happen to Maharastra & the unity of our country ?So many industries in Maharashtra are closed due to chaos created by duo Thakre. They are not thinking the repercussions of what they are doing for their political gains. But it is good opportunity for Bihar to provide congenial atmosphere for establishing Industry because Industrialist want freedom to recruit their employees on the basis of merits not on languages or regions . Bihar is facing acute shortage of Power that is oxygen for any industry. I don’t know on what basis Bihar is getting only 1100-1200 MW ,as its share, from central pool . Out of this meager amount about 350 MW it has to give to Nepal and for other essential services .Our heavy wt leaders like Laluji, Nitishji , Ramvilashji, Raghuvanshbabu, and Ravishankar prashadji should make pressure on centre to provide more power from NTPC in comparison to other states because after division Bihar needs more central aids as it was promised to Bihar at the time of division . I appeal , through this comment , to all technocrats, media men, politicians and intellectuals , having interest in Bihar and living in any parts of the world , to give suggestions to our Govt, through their articles, essays and comments to make Bihar a prosperous state.

Arvind Kumar, New-Delhi

pritu95@yahoo.co.in

Sir, As a Bihari who left Bihar as an economic migrant to UK in 1970, I feel I can comment objectively on the plight of Bihar and Biharis with the benifit of an outsider, looking inside the bubble that is Bihar.

Problem not only with Bihari but Indians as a whole is that they do not look in the mirror and say,"For my predicament, Ill luck, it is my fault and I am responsible for them". Second problem is, what they think is not what they say is not what they do. In60s, casteism made inroad into every sphere. Small men were sneaking in corridoors of power. The rot had set in by late 60s. And that rot, when fully fledged, produced leadership of small men without vision, moral, qualification and experience of public service who were hand in gloves with the criminals. No wonder, Biharis in all parts of India are ill treated. Read Suketu Mehta's book "Maximum City" and the tale of Babban Ji, a 17 years old from Sitamarhi. It gives a clear insight into how a non-Bihari thinks of us.I have made two visits, 2006 and 2007. since Nitish took over. Is there really a change ? No sir. Your own news journal carries same headline on crimes it carried in Laalop-Rabri Raj. I saw a police constable in Kankarbagh taking a cup of "Chai" from one stall and demanding Rs.1 from a vegetable seller to pay for it !! Please don't bank too much on Nitish, he is no Castro, Lee,Mahathir or Deng.Unless Bihari look themselves in mirror, change, I am afraid, expect nothing.

Dr. A. Kumar

Norfolk, England

ajk305@yahoo.co.uk

The article by Mr. Ahmed is very well written and he deserves a lot of praise for writing such an article.

I had spent my sabbatical year in India in 1991 when I spent some time at A. N. Sinha Institute at Patna. I met many faculty members there. Most of them believed in developing Bihar through the betterment of agriculture. On the contrary, I felt that Bihar should improve the infra structure first and then go for industrialization. At that time, Bihar could be divided into Industrialized South Bihar, and North Bihar where primary occupation was agriculture.

I also studied the Planning Commission's Report which was clearly showing that Bihar's money ( savings ) was being pumped into unproductive or subsidized textile industries in Bombay, and Tamilnadu. besides the freight equalization policy which bankrupted Bihar.

Dr. Pradhan Hari Shankar Prasad ( the former director of the A. N. Sinha Institute ) had written a paper about the lop sided development of India where the industrialization of coastal states was taking place at the cost of mineral rich states like Bihar. I had personally talked to him about this issue but he felt that the industrialists shape the policies of the government and the voice expressed in such papers does not go very far.

The irony is that Biharees have been ministers in the Central Cabinet all along but they never had to do any thing for Bihar to get elected. On the other hand, when Chavan became the defense minister after the China War, he moved the MIG factory from Orissa to Nasik in Maharashtra.

In a nut shell, what Bal-Raj Thackarays are talking about is a part of Maharashtrian culture whereas what the former Biharee Central Cabinet Ministers did - was the part of Biharee culture.

The result is - What Bihar is to-day is nothing surprising.

There is a Panchtantra story. Once there were three friends - a camel, a jackal, and a lion. There was a famine and there was nothing to eat. So, the jackal, and the lion made a deal. Each offered themselves to be eaten by the rest - one by one but the others including the camel - declined because friends should not eat other. But, when the turn came for the camel - the other two jumped and killed the camel.

Both Thackararays are not talking about the generosities of foolish North Indians which Mr Ahmed is talking about but now - the very North Indians ( Biharees especially ) have become burden on Maharashtra which owes its development to Bihar, Orissa, Chhatisgarh etc. They are also not talking about the same Biharees of to-day where ( in Bihar ) the banks still have poor credit to deposit ratios.

Anand M. Sharan

asharan@engr.mun.ca

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It is beautifully written article and must be eye openers to others.

We Biharis have to unite and strengthen our state, then only we can win respect.However, I am against tit for tat. This will weaken us but efforts of changing the image of Bihar will long way to stop hating us.Thankfully, Nitish Kumarji trying to do his best and other Bihari politicians irrespective of party, caste or creed must try to grab the opportunity to bring projects, funds, money and intellectual capital to Bihar. I am in Kerala. I am amaged to see here the transport facility, health servicres, schooling etc and lament on poor fate of Bihar.

We have always tried to strenghten India and now we will try to strengthen Bihar, which will eventually strenghten India.

Anil Sinha

aksinha511@hotmail.com

Being a doctor when I saw the heading of the article I thought I have never read about it, when I read a little more I came to know that Mr Ahmed has pointed out very strongly against the most recent and dangerous syndrome(bal-raj syndrome) India is going to face in future,deadlier than HIV OR AIDS.

I would like to congratulate Mr Ahmed for his in-depth histopathological analysis of this social syndrome, which has been caused by xenophobic politicians of Mahrashtara today, the very simple remedy is that people of Bihar should raise the sky high and keep the things in equilibrium, and the very simple way is to denounce any individual, or any political party having any kind of political alliance with these two evils of the Bharat's sovereignty.

I am confident that hard working nature of Bihari's will bring them at the top one day.

On the other hand, I would definitely blame leadership of Bihar, who never worked for the welfare and development of Bihar State or Bihari people. We are currently in 60s years of Independence, but the condition has not changed compare to other developed state. It is true that money came by way of Royalty and central assistance, but were not properly utilized e.g. previous RJD government who ruled 15 years, but not a single development work, as far as I know were taken place, but this time, as it appears Nitish jee looks in a developmental mood and he should do something to uplift Bihar and make Bihar as developed and Model State.

Yes this is really a good article written with positive approach. I think if you belong to backward state people hate you.Irrationally they don't think how much you have contributed for their development. That's the horrible part India. We often bombasted we belong to one of the most ancient civilisation but I don't have hesitation to say now we are the most uncivilized. Just for the sake of gaining popularity scold others beat others and people like that are gaining support from the society.This is ridiculous.How one can dare to insult other people just for the sake of any reason and how he/she can spare with law and order. That's why I am calling we are living in uncivilized soceity. Irrespective of respect other's dignity we only see the immediate benefit whether it is genuine or not.Of course in long term both thackery get the thokar but during that time people suffer for nothing. I really pray for all our people to have sense of local development so that Bihar become one of the most developed state in India.

Whatever has happened in Mumbai against Biharis was totally unnecessary & surely anti-national. Unfortunately some of these politicians do not care & understand National Integration .They look at polity as a mere career option and when they are on the the down-slide, they come up with some sensitive issue to resurrect their political career. Probably sensitizing & scandalizing issues is easiest path of recognition. Most of the politicians have forgotton to "SERVE" people. They have forgotton what "BHARTI" means.
When BAL-RAJ syndrome gets space in so called highly developed state like Maharastra, then as a nation we should really debate what parameters we choose to "tag" a state a developed, underdeveloped, bankrupt, mentally ill etc... As a state, we have shown tremendous patience in dealing with such issues so far and we should continue to do so. However we would be definitely tested when our fellow brothers/sisters from other parts of the country come to our state for a living. Politicians like Lalu Prasad Jee who has shown what he is capable of as a railway minister should show statesmanship in reaction to such issues and should not be reactionary. If he wants to celebrate "Chat" puja, he is entitled to do anywhere of his choice but his context of announcement leaves more to be desired.

Lastly, we should not keep on harping about past. I personally feel that if we extended our resources to be used to develop other state, we should not chant about it. We did help & we will continue to do so but that's there. Let us not carry it forward in expectation of return gesture.
-Ranjeet

ranjeet.jha@gmail.com

So why not now we all raise issue to announce Bihar as Backward state. Then central goverment will give their approval in the same way the way they helped Maharashtra long back. At this point this is very very important for we all Biharis including all parties memebers to raise issues, because unless Bihar's entrepreneurs get tax Rebate no big company will come to Bihar. Even we need not have to show that Bihar is a Backward state because this kind Bal-Raj's are enough.
I would like to give my special Thanks Mr. Saroor Ahmed who wrote this matter in a very very Impressive way. Also the same thanks to Bihar Times who gave us this Platform.
We all Biharis never raised any separatist issue Like Bal-Raj but we always strenthen India. So I think we should not retaliate in the same way but by using their own statement ask Central Gov. to give Bihar Special Backward status & announce tax free zone atleast forfFive years & then see who is above. I am very much sure then Bihar will be at the Top.

Dhananjay Sharma
dksharma1977@hotmail.com

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