NRC in Bihar: Ranveer Sainiks should be thrown out of the State




Ranveer Sena Founder and Union Minister Giriraj Singh (R)

The motormouth Union Minister Giriraj Singh is at it again. The Bhumihar leader from Bihar suffers from chronic verbal diarrhoea. Now, Giriraj has proposed an NRC (National Register of Citizens) for the state, in the “national interest”. “Patriotism  is the last refuge of scoundrels” said Samuel Johnson. Giriraj Singh has also given a patriotic spin to his anti-Muslim sentiments. If Giriraj and his gang have their way, they will drive out all poor Muslims from Bihar’s Seemanchal (Purnea, Kishanganj, Katihar and Araria districts).

NRC has already played a havoc in Assam. Millions of genuine Indian citizens have been left out of the NRC due to the haphazard exercise. About one lakh Gorkhas have failed to find their names in the NRC. Bihari labourers,who have been living in Assam for generations, have suddenly found themselves stateless. Their forefathers migrated to Assam decades ago to work in tea gardens. Their children were born and brought up in Assam. And now they are excluded from NRC for want of some papers!

NRC is a sure recipe for disaster. If the Assam exercise is repeated in other states, all hell will break loose. In the Jharkhand NRC, Biharis will find no place! And in Maharashtra? Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray thundered: Ek Bihari, Sau  Bimari! (A single Bihari equals 100 ailments). Suppose if the Shiv Sena-BJP Govt in Maharashtra takes up the task of compiling an NRC, how many Biharis will be accommodated in the register? All Biharis will be declared at par with cancer, AIDS and tuberculosis and asked to go back. Odisha and West Bengal have already fought over origins of roshogulla! An NRC in Bengal will exclude Odiyas and vice versa!

But Giriraj Singh is a leader full of hatred. The Minister wants the name of Bakhtiarpur changed because Bakhtiar Khilji was a “Mughal” invader. Even a fifth-grader knows that all Muslims are not Mughals. Mughals arrived in Hindustan in 1526 with Babur. Bakhtiar Khilji preceded Mughals by hundreds of years. But such minor details don’t bother Giriraj Singh. If Narendra Modi has graduated in “Entire Political  Science”, his Minister must have graduated in “Entire History”!

Controversy is Giriraj Singh’s middle name. Some years ago, more than a crore rupees were stolen from this Ram Bhakt ‘s house. When the cash was recovered, the Minister explained that the money belonged to his dear brother who owned orange orchards in Nagpur! The Income Tax Department, a “caged parrot” like the CBI, gave the case a decent burial!

But above all, Giriraj is an agent of the blood-thirsty Ranveer Sena, an outlawed private militia of Bhumihar landlords. The Sena, Bihar’s number one terrorist outfit, has carried out a number of massacres. Dalit kids have been butchered because the Sena feels that they grow up to become Naxalites. Dalit women have been raped and killed because they give birth to Naxals, as per Sena ‘s twisted logic. I was Arwal  SP in 2003. Arwal, once a part of Jehanabad, has witnessed the most gruesome carnages. They include the Lakshamanpur-Bathe massacre, the biggest carnage in the state history. In December 1997, Ranveer Sena terrorists crossed the Sone river in boats. The river flows between Arwal and Bhojpur districts. They entered Lakshamanpur-Bathe and put 59 villagers to death. Men, women and children. The whole country was aghast. The then President of India, Dr KR Narayanan, himself a Dalit, termed the bloodbath as “national shame”.

When I became Arwal SP, I submitted a proposal to declare the Ranveer Sena a terrorist outfit under the POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act). The Vajpayee Govt was in power. The ruling BJP was not ready to sacrifice its Bhumihar vote bank. Therefore, my proposal was thrown into a waste paper basket!

In the wake of the Lakshamanpur Bathe massacre, the Bihar Govt set up the Amir Das Commission to probe into Ranveer Sena’s political links. I appeared before the Amir Das Commission and gave a list of Bihari netas who were hands in glove with the Sena. But when Nitish Kumar became the CM, he promptly disbanded the Commission under the pressure of the Bhumihar lobby. In those days, Sushasan was known as Bhu-shasan (the rule of the Bhumihars)!

On the 1st June,2012, the Ranveer Sena Supremo Barmeshwar Mukhia was gunned down in the Katra mohalla of Ara, Bhojpur.  Giriraj Singh started beating his chest as if Mahatma Gandhi had been assassinated. Giriraj told TV channels that Barmeshwar was a Gandhian. Taking a cue from Giriraj, another Bhumihar leader Dr CP Thakur declared Mukhiya a “social reformer”!

When I was working with the Bihar Human Rights Commission, I informed the Special Branch in Nov 2014 that Giriraj Singh had close links with Ranveer Sena. Again,I came under attack and hounded out of the BHRC!

Coming back to an NRC for Bihar, I am prepared to endorse it if all Ranveer Sainiks are thrown out of the state. Giriraj Singh will head the list. Bihar will get rid of a venom-spewing, hate-mongering third rate neta!

(Mr. Amitabh Kumar Das is a 1994 batch IPS Officer. His views are personal.)

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