Patna: The ruling Janata Dal United (JD-U) government in Bihar, headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has planned to crack down on some 125 officials found guilty by the N.N. Singh Judicial Inquiry Commission of abetting the infamous 1989 Bhagalpur riots. The month-long riots had claimed over 1,000 lives while also displacing thousands.
Most of these officials, who include the highest police and civil administration ranks, are either on central deputation or have joined the Jharkhand state cadres after the bifurcation of Bihar in 2000. Some of them have even retired from service but the government now plans to initiate action against them in a bid to provide justice to the riot victims.
The state government’s move to act against these officials comes five months after the probe panel submitted its report to the former in February this year after nine years of inquiry. In its report, the commission reportedly nailed these officials for their negligence towards the crime. It is on the basis of this report that the Nitish Kumar government is now preparing to crack down on the guilty officials. The judicial inquiry commission was set up by the Nitish Kumar government on February 26, 2006 soon after it came to power in Bihar, dethroning the 15-year-old Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) regime.
In a first step in this direction, the state administration has decided to table the report of this judicial commission over the Bhagalpur riots on the floor of the House in the coming monsoon session of the Bihar state legislature beginning on Monday (August 3).
The state government has also planned to initiate action against the people who usurped the landed properties of the riot victims or bought them at much lower prices than the available market rates, taking advantage of the riot panic. The government is also mulling bringing in legislation to cancel the registration of such properties of the riot victims by the land grabbers with the twin objectives of punishing the guilty officials and returning their properties.
“The judicial commission has identified a total of 85 such victims who were forced to dispose of their properties at throwaway prices,” said an official who did not wish to be quoted.
The Bhagalpur riots, which broke out in 1989 during the Congress government claimed over 1,000 lives, mostly belonging to the Muslim community while also displacing thousands. As per a report of the judicial commission, the communal riots spread in around 250 villages under 15 blocks of the then Bhagalpur district and were one of the worst which continued for a considerably long period.
However it is the timing of the state government in making the report public that has raised many eyebrows, with the opposition describing it as an attempt to woo Muslims ahead of the upcoming assembly polls barely two months away.
The Bhagalpur riots which broke out 25 years ago had changed the political course of the state as it questioned the secular credentials of the then Congress leadership and marked the end of the Congress government which ruled Bihar for the most part post-independence. Since then the vote base of the Congress has only dwindled and today it still looks completely defunct with only four members in the 243-member Bihar assembly. Before this incident, Muslims had solidly lent their weight behind the Congress.
The strong anti-Congress sentiments paved the way for the sudden “burial” of the Congress regime in the very next assembly elections held in 1990 as the secular forces led by the Janata Dal grabbed power in the state. The Janata Dal (which later split into many parts — one faction known as RJD was led by Lalu Prasad while the other was led by Nitish Kumar) headed by Lalu Prasad remained in the saddle for 15 years before it was overtaken by National Democratic Alliance government led by Nitish Kumar.
The irony of the situation is that both the erstwhile rivals have now turned friends again after a bitter political rivalry lasting over two decades.