After the formation of the Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar, the BJP has been saying that Jungle Raj has returned to Bihar in the last 13 months or so. There has been a rise in crime in rural as well as urban areas of Bihar. Murders, robberies, extortion, rapes and atrocities on Dalits are frequent affairs in Bihar now, with the latest being the assault, stripping and urination on a Dalit woman in Khusrupur by a man from whom she had borrowed money. This incident hit the national headlines prompting the National Commission for Women and the National Human Rights Commission to serve notices to the Bihar government and state DGP.
The situation is scary, especially in rural areas, where goons rule the roost and in certain pockets they don’t even hesitate to kidnap women walking alone or travelling with their male family members. Such incidents remind one of the 1990-2005 era when the Lalu-Rabri government was in power. Nitish Kumar’s ambitious project of imposing prohibition in Bihar has also failed. The state is seeing frequent hooch tragedies and seizure of liquor is happening regularly in Bihar. This is one aspect, where the administration is dealing with the criminals.
Nitish Kumar was given the tag of ‘Sushasan Babu’ (good governance Babu) in the first and second tenure of his government, but as soon as he joined hands with the RJD in 2015 and formed the government, the buzz of ‘Jungle Raj returns’ began in Bihar. After the formation of the Mahagathbandhan government for the second time in Bihar, Nitish Kumar fought hard to maintain his image of ‘Sushasan Babu’. Where the RJD is concerned, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav do not want to carry the legacy of the ‘Jungle Raj’ any longer.
From 1990 to 2005, there was organised crime in Bihar. ‘Bahubalis’ and many others were influential in their respective territories and their criminal activities defamed the Lalu-Rabri government. Tejashwi Yadav does not want to carry the image that Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi had and he has stayed away from the family members of Mohammad Shahabuddin. He did not allow Pappu Yadav and Anand Mohan to enter the Mahagathbandhan even though Pappu Yadav repeatedly requested Lalu Prasad Yadav to let him be a part of the Mahagathbandhan.
The recent refusal by Lalu Prasad Yadav to meet Anand Mohan at Rabri Devi’s residence is also an indication that the party wants to break from its past image. The fact remains that the rising incidents of crime and the past associations of ‘Bahubali’ leaders with the RJD suits the BJP. They want to highlight the ‘Jungle Raj’-like situation in Bihar under the Mahagathbandhan government and compare it with Yogi Adityanath’s ‘Bulldozer’ governance in Uttar Pradesh, where dealing with crime and criminals is concerned.
