By Waquar Hasan,
Patna, 19 Oct 2015: At his every election rally in the last four weeks in Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reminded people of the ‘Jungle Raj’ – a reference to the era of Lalu Prasad Yadav – and asked them not to vote for the alliance led by Lalu and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, otherwise ‘Jungle Raj’ will return. But no more – PM Modi may not use the barb any more at his coming election rallies in the state to target Lalu and his previous governments. Why? Who has disarmed him of the ‘jungle raj’ arsenal? Surely, not Lalu or Nitish.
If Modi has been talking about ‘Jungle Raj’ in the context of law and order, then after some recent shameful incidents, clearly related to law and order, and forced cancellation of events by Shiv Sena, an ally of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of Maharashtra, PM Modi seems to have lost the moral ground to talk about ‘Jungle Raj’ in Bihar.
In the last two weeks, Shiv Sena has disrupted and forced cancellation of events and meetings at its will, and the state government and Police almost remained mute spectator.
Today (Monday), Shiv Sena workers stormed the headquarters of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in Mumbai and reached the chamber of BCCI chief Shashank Manohar shouting slogans and raising placards against the scheduled meeting between BCCI and its Pakistani counterpart Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Consequently, Manohar’s meeting with PCB chief Shaharyar Khan was cancelled.
Last week, Shiv Sainiks forced cancellation of the concert of world-known Pakistani singer Gulam Ali in Mumbai.
Last Monday (12th Oct), they assaulted eminent writer and journalist Sudheendra Kulkarni and blackened his face as he was hosting a book launch event for a former Pakistan minister.
These incidents show that the situation of law and order is worse in the BJP-ruled Maharashtra than in Bihar, and they have rightly given an opportunity to even independent political observers and intellectuals in Bihar to question PM Modi’s ‘jungle raj’ barb. They say the states ruled by his party BJP are facing worse law and order situation than Bihar.
Satya Narayan Madan, a Patna-based social activist associated with Loktantrik Jan Pahal, thinks that PM Modi has “no right to talk about ‘Jungle Raj’ of Bihar when the BJP-ruled-states are themselves suffering from a kind of ‘Jungle Raj’.”
“If you view it (Jungle Raj) in the law-and-order context, mainly it is Shiv Sena that is creating the chaos called Jungle Raj. BJP’s states themselves are suffering from Jungle Raj. They have no right to call Bihar as Jungle Raj. They are making Jungle Raj in Delhi by controlling the police. On the front of law and order, the track record and performance of BJP are worse,” Madan said.
But he feels that the ‘Jungle Raj’ has different meaning in Bihar. It is not only a matter of law and order. It was a “tension of social justice”.
“When you talk about Jungle Raj in Bihar, it is taken in different way. When the revolution of social justice was on its peak, there was a natural conflict at that time. The voice of lower caste was being raised against upper caste-dominated politics. That was not only the matter of law and order; it was a type of social tension. During that time, BJP associated people and the upper castes who were dominant on different institutions such as judiciary, media and officers began to call it Jungle raj. Today, Jungle Raj has become anti-backward slogan,” Madan, who is also, associated with the Insani Ekta Mohim further said.
Senior journalist Soroor Ahmed also thinks that Modi has no right to speak about Jungle Raj in Bihar. “If he still speaks, it will reduce his value.”
“Morally, he has no right to speak about Jungle Raj. Despite BJP-ruled states being in bad condition, he will keep speaking about Jungle Raj in Bihar. He can speak and he will keep speaking. It will lessen his value. He is being devalued because he is speaking more and more,” said Ahmed.
He also thinks that the situation is worse in BJP-ruled states than Bihar.
“Nothing is a matter of worry here in Bihar. The situation is worse in other states like Maharashtra. The whole philosophy of Jungle Raj has been diluted,” he further added.
After the recent shameful law and order incidents in the BJP-ruled Maharashtra, it will be interesting to see if PM Modi continues using the ‘jungle raj’ barb at his coming election rallies in Bihar.
