Dear people of India,
The lives of people in Bihar also matters. Since the past few days, my Bihar is suffering due to the severe flood situation, but the rest of India has been treating it as something thing not unusual. Be it the media, politicians, the central government or state government, and most importantly, people of India, no one seems to care about Bihar. In the 2019 general elections, Bihar gave 39 seats to NDA out of 40 seats, which comes to more than 99%, but what did Bihar get? A lack of attention, apathy, and ignorance from the central and state government.
The great ‘Hindu Samrath (king)’, of whom I was a big fan, had declared Patna a part of the Smart City project. But, the recent flood in Patna makes one openly laugh at their political commitment. Sanitation management is a basic requirement for any city, but even after 15 years of rule by Nitish Kumar, he has not been able to work on these fundamental things for the capital city. We can imagine the level of development in other small urban and rural areas of Bihar. One can only imagine the gravity of the situation across Bihar.
If it happens in Mumbai or Delhi, or any other state in India, then we expect a response to tackle the emergency-like situation, from the center as well as from the media, and support from the whole country. Of course, it should, but why not in the case of Bihar? The media has been silent, politicians are busy indulging in petty politics, and MPs from Patna were in Delhi to welcome their ‘supreme leader’ and ignoring the plight of their constituency. And, the people of India were just taking this news as usual, like Bihar is not a part of India? Bro, we are in India and we need you.
I have seen how most people in India think negatively about Bihar. They think we are the reason behind all the problems and ills facing India. Really? We are seen by the rest of India as beggars, illegal migrants, laborers. They abuse us over the issue of overpopulation. They make fun of our accent and treat us in a discriminatory manner and practice regionalism, in every city in India, be it Delhi or Mumbai. Some internet friend had commented on Bihar, saying: “Bihar ko alag kar do India se” (separate Bihar from the rest of India), “Bihar is the worst place”, “Bihar India ka kalank hai” (Bihar is a blot on India’s face), “Biharis are criminal”, “Bhai, alag kar do.” (Bro, separate Bihar from the rest of India).
Separate us if you all cannot give our due place in India. Separate us if you cannot consciously think about the well-being of the state. I believe it would be better to separate us from you and make our state a new country like Nepal, if you cannot accommodate us and if you cannot help us. At least, after that, we won’t have to face abuses, discrimination, apathy, and ignorance from central government, media and the most important, people of India.
I ask myself what the reason could be behind this. Why do so many people just not care about our plight, discriminate against us, why politicians don’t perform their basic jobs, the central government just ignores us, why?
I believe that the reason is us. we have to reform ourselves. We have to become empowered, aware, and conscious regarding our state of plight, and we must share our grievances with the rest of India and the central government. It seems like our political representatives just don’t care about us. They don’t represent us. They win because they politicise issues of religion, money, caste, and so on.
Do you know why states in the south, or any other state, is given top priority by the central government in every aspect? This is because we, the people of Bihar and our political representatives, just don’t put as much pressure on the central government, which leads to apathy from them. They have started to take us for granted.
If these situations would have happened with any other state, they would put pressure, bargain, protest against the central government, and compel them to fulfill their demands. They cannot take us, the people of Bihar, for granted.
We had a great chance this time to elect a Ph.D. holder but we chose to elect a divider of society because these politicians play with our emotions and religion.
The people of Bihar need to be awakened to reclaim their past glory. We must stand together and come out of our caste, clan, religion, and unite as the people of Bihar, and demand our due palace from India. It doesn’t matter whether you work in an IT firm or are a laborer in another state, you will be subject to apathy and discrimination.
It becomes a question of do we ‘fight or perish?’
“Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President, and Senators, and Congressmen, and government officials, but the voters of this country,” said Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the USA from 1933 to 1945.