“We would hold Dwivedi, the then Superintendent of Police, Bhagalpur, wholly responsible for whatever happened before 24th October, 1989, on 24th itself and after 24th. His communal bias was fully demonstrated not only by the manner of arresting the Muslims and by not extending adequate help to protect them and the climax was reached when the BJP and VHP workers led by their leaders demonstrated along with the police and under the leadership of Sergeant Om Prakash protesting against the transfer of Dwivedi in violation of the curfew and the Prime Minister’s security.”
––Bhagalpur Riots Inquiry Commission Report
Though the BJP is trying to capitalize on the Allahabad High Court verdict on Ayodhya the truth is that in poll-bound Bihar it has already succeeded in furthering some of its agenda in the last five years. Thanks to the ‘secular’ face of chief minister Nitish Kumar it managed to achieve many of its goal with much more finesse and without any opposition from the Muslims.
Nothing exemplifies this better than the posting of the former superintendent of police of Bhagalpur during the infamous riots days of 1989, K S Dwivedi as the Inspector General (Operation) of Bihar a few months back. As Dwivedi was indicted by the Bhagalpur Riots Inquiry Commission Report in 1995 the then Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi governments denied him promotion and dumped him during their reign.
The tragedy is that not a single Muslim leader dared to speak out against his recent elevation by the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar. The Muslim leaders have either been silenced or bought over. So while the Urdu Press is full of non-issues they have no space whatsoever for the man “wholly responsible for whatever happened before 24th October, 1989, on 24th itself and after 24th.” The Report was tabled in Bihar Assembly and Legislative Council in 1995 and debated in the latter.
Similarly, the saffron brigade in the state succeeded in making the off-campus branch of the Aligarh Muslim University in Bihar a contentious issue between Hindus and Muslims and vitiated the atmosphere in the entire Muslim-dominated north-east districts of the state. The irony is that some Muslim leaders and Urdu newspapers, instead of exposing the design, praised the state government for giving land in Kishanganj for the AMU campus rather than in Katihar.
Regarding Dwivedi, the less said is better. His name shot into infamy when a day after the riots broke out on October 24, 1989 he was transferred at the order of the then chief minister, Satyendra Narayan Sinha.
It needs to be recalled that it was his transfer from the post of SP of Bhagalpur on October 25 which led to the police revolt under Sergeant Om Prakash before the then Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi on Ocotber 26. The Prime Minister and chief minister rushed to Bhagalpur soon after the riots broke out because the Lok Sabha election was due a month later on November 20 and 24 1989.
But the police openly paraded in favour of Dwivedi and refused to accept Ajit Dutt as the new SP. The mob of Hindus led by BJP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders (see the above excerpts of the Riots Report) openly looted, plundered, pillaged and massacred the Muslims on the streets of Bhagalpur even as the Prime Minister of the country, with chief minister, Satyendra Sinha, watched everything helplessly.
It is regrettable that Nitish, who initially showed some promises and constituted N N Singh Commission to go ahead with other issues related to the Bhagalpur Riots, appointed an officer indicted by a former Commission to the post of IG (Operation). Though this Commision too had so far not succeeded in getting the culprits punished, barring Kameshwar Yadav and a few more––the process on this count is much slower than during the past regime––its interim report recommended compensation from the Centre on the pattern of anti-Sikh riots and monthly pension of Rs 2,500 from the state. Latest media reports suggest that though the Centre sent the amount of ex gratia payment at the rate of Rs 3.5 lakh for each victim it took nine months for the state government to distribute the amount.
But this is not the first time that he got key post. When the then Vajpayee government dismissed the Rabri Devi government on Ferbruary 11, 1999 one of the first steps the then Governor, Sunder Singh Bhandari, took was to bring back Dwivedi from wilderness and made SP of Muzaffarpur. Bhandari’s proximity to the RSS is a known fact. However, when Rabri Devi government was reinstated on March 8, 1999 as the Vajpayee government failed to get support in the Rajya Sabha the first thing it did was to immediately remove Dwivedi.
The restoration of the indicted police officer with full reward only shows how much regard the present government pays to secularism.
Similarly, the role played by the Nitish Kumar government on AMU off-campus branch raises doubt about his sincerity and secular commitment, if any.
Since opening of the central universities comes in the list of Central Subject of the Indian Constitution the Centre sought land from Bihar in Katihar district as this was the place selected by the Aligarh Court for the off-campus branch. Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatmi was then the Union minister of Human Resources Development. Apart from Katihar the other places chosen for the AMU branches are Murshidabad, Mallipuram, Bhopal and Pune.
However, when late in 2008 the Centre asked the Bihar government to arrange land in Katihar the state government refused to do so. Instead in early 2009 Nitish Kumar offered land in neighbouring Kishanganj and not Katihar. The argument put forward was that the literacy rate in Kishanganj is less than Katihar. Besides, the percentage of Muslims there is slightly more than the latter.
What raises suspicion in the mind of Muslims is that why after all the chief minister insisted on land in Kishanganj just a couple of months after the RSS launched a prolong campaign in December 2008 against the Bangladeshi infiltrators. The oust-Bangladeshi campaign was not only launched in Kishanganj, but in the neighbouring districts of West Bengal too.
It was natural for the RSS and studemts’ wing of the BJP to react. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad took to streets. It argued that it has no objection in AMU campus in Katihar, but would not like to see it in Kishanganj as it would encourage infiltration from Bangladesh. They held demonstration in Patna too and gave a bandh (shutdown) call on April 1, 2010. This was the day on which the Jamiat-ul-Ulema was holding its state convention in Patna. Even that programme was disturbed.
The state government finally announced giving 243 acres of land in Kishanganj, but if the report published from the spot in newsportal twocircles.net a couple of months back is to be believed some tribals have put up their temporary huts on that land. The report also said that they have the backing of the Sangh Parivar.
The big question is why was the venue for AMU forced to be shifted when there was no controversy in Katihar, which is only a neighbouring district than why was the land given in bordering Kishanganj? Apart from the above moves the state government has packed the Senates and Syndicates of various Universities of Bihar with Sangh Parivar men. The Muslim presence of Muslim is negligible. Not a single Muslim figured in the 59 college principals appointed a few months back.
The Nitish Kumar government wants to win the support of Muslims by attending Haj Conference, wearing skull cap and attending Khanqahs to distribute charity. Muslims are least bothered about these issues. They want immediate check to the consolidation of communal elements in the system.