Terror on Patna roads: defending the right to oppress?

By Ratnakar Tripathy

It’s strange how societies and perceptions change when they do. How societies resist change, is of course equally puzzling and annoying.

The naked display of terror on Patna roads and elsewhere in the aftermath of Barmeshwar Mukhiya’s murder has left the Patna citizens in a state of shock. And yet it remains true that such displays were not uncommon just eight years ago. It just goes to show how in the past several years, Bihar has enjoyed an exceptionally orderly phase and that it has made us all very smug and almost pretentiously genteel. So much so a massive tsunami of terror has just swept over Patna but no one is talking, explaining or trying to make sense, apart from the routine condemning of the incident. For the nth time in my life I think it is the ordinary cop on the road who knows what really happened and who the perpetrators were. How I wish to be the fly on the wall in the one of the dingy barracks where our Bihar police is housed.

But the TV footage on several channels made it clear that the original bereavers from Ara, the entire procession in fact, and its solemn mood was hijacked by a 250 strong crowd of utter lumpens on motorbikes carrying sticks and attacking everyone in their way. These men were an organized gang, energized by hashish and alcohol and made ready for the job. I am not sure but I am told they joined the main procession somewhere after Bihta.

And Patna passively took it from the invaders. Even the cops were briefed not to resist this monstrous tide, which in effect was actually an organized gang action the cops could have chased away in minutes.  We all know there is something so utterly deceptive about visuals – the most engineered of actions looks like spontaneous outburst on the screen!

So what are all the gentleman of Bihar up to in the aftermath of this terror attack? Any plans to recover from the stunned silence?

Gone are the days, we thought when the gentlest of Biharis had to keep the hoodlum within him ever ready, when faced with a deserving opponent. Foul language, direct physical action, or elaborate conspiracy to corner the enemy and beat him to pulp were the options debated. Never will I forget the moment when a close friend of mine sought my help in beating up a hostel mate during my B.A. in Banaras Hindu University in the mid-1970s.

‘Why?’ I asked him the logical question.

‘I don’t like him’ he said.

Ours is a culture also exaggeratedly polite when terms are friendly. So much so it is a bit like ball room dancing, too elaborate and too ornate for my liking. You can never tell when you have made a mistake. Not attending a wedding can create a lifelong enemy for you, and you won’t even know. But this is what violent cultures are like all over the world. A meeting in Afghanistan may begin with so much of polite addresses and humble gestures that you may be lulled into taking your finger off the trigger, which is when they will get you, if you please!

Born in a Brahmin family, I am told I cannot escape my destiny though I hope my genes will wriggle out of the ordained fate. I am open to both accusations – of knowingly favouring Brahmins and upper castes in general, but also unknowingly carrying Brahmin traits and tastes. Every time I visit my village, my privileged status is rubbed into my face repeatedly and ruthlessly and there isn’t a thing I can do about it. I don’t exactly drown in a flood of guilt however till a childhood friend from the potter caste has to say the ritualistic but essential ‘pa lagi’ to me before we get into our intimate terms of familiarity.

And yet I feel heart-wrenchingly pleased by the changes in the village. An upper caste man or woman cannot beat a lower caste man, woman, boy or girl anymore because he or she doesn’t like him or her. I grew up watching people from my caste use foul language and violence with complete ease and at random. If the target of violence dared to ask ‘why’, the beatings only got more severe.

This is a privilege they have now lost, fearing retaliation from the weakest and the meekest, and they resent it. Some of the younger lot from my caste are quite used to this equality, although I am not sure if they fully enjoy the ease, the normalcy and the humanity that comes with it.

This is why in one of the ironies of an open society and democracy, the men on motorbikes rode through Patna asking the city to legitimize their right to oppress and nothing less.

Are you game?