India
Maharashtra
North Indian students, including students from Bihar, preparing for the railway entrance exam were attacked by Raj Thackeray's MNS supporters in Mumbai on 20 October 2008. One student from Bihar was killed during the attacks. Four persons were killed and another seriously injured in the violence that broke out in a village near Kalyan following the arrest of MNS chief Raj Thackeray. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar demanded action against the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists and full security to students. Nitish Kumar requested Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh intervention. Kumar directed the additional director general of police to contact senior police officials in Maharashtra and compile a report on Sunday's incident and asked the home commissioner to hold talks with the Maharashtra home secretary to seek protection for people from Bihar.In 2003, the Shiv Sena alleged that of the 500 Maharashtrian candidates, only ten of them successful in the Railways exams. 90 per cent of the successful candidates were alleged to be from Bihar. Activists from the Shiv Sena ransacked a railway recruitment office in protest against non-Marathi's being among the 650,000 candidates set to compete for 2,200 railway jobs in the state. Eventually, after attacks on Biharis heading towards Mumbai for exams, the central government delayed the exams.
North East states
Biharis have sought work in many states that form part of North East India. There were significant communities in Assam, Nagaland, and Manipur. Biharis who come to work as labourers are frequently and especially targeted in Assam by ULFA militants. There is a fear amongst the local population that Bihari migrants will dominate and annihilate the regional culture and the language. As with all migrations in history, this has created tensions with the local population, which has resulted in large scale violence. In 2000 and 2003, anti-Bihari violence led to the deaths of up to 200 people,and created 10,000 internal refugees Similar violent incidents have also taken place recently inManipur and Assam According to K P S Gill waves of xenophobic violence have swept across Assam repeatedly since 1979, targeting Bangladeshis, Bengalis, Biharis and Marwaris.
Karnataka
In July 2009, activists of the Kannada Protection Force (KPF) in Karnataka stormed into exam centres and disrupted railway recruitment examinations in protest against the appearance of north Indian candidates, especially from Bihar, in large numbers.
Rajasthan
The government in Rajasthan assured full protection to students from Bihar, after ragging incidents of Bihari students in a private engineering college in Udaipur surfaced. Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan flayed the attacks on Bihari students in Rajasthan saying that the students were subjected to insult, torture and assaulted with sticks when they protested. Former chief minister Rabri Devi called upon the chief minister to take necessary action and assure the safety of the students. According to reports, several Bihari students were thrashed during the ragging.
Pakistan
Sindh
Biharis in Pakistan have suffered from violence from Sindhis, particularly in the city of Karachi in the riots of 1994-1996. As a result of the violence against them Biharis in Pakistan have organized the Bihari Qaumi Movement to protect their rights.
Punjab
According to The National the ethnic Punjabis occupied most of the shelters that were allocated to the Biharis.
According to Zeeshan Haider, the Biharis in Pakistan are "now lost people who belong nowhere". A report in Rediff.com states that the situations in Pakistan have prompted a Bihari to migrate to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh
Prior to the birth of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, East Pakistani Biharis sided with the military regime of President Gen. Yahya Khan. Due to their loyalty towardsRawalpindi as well as their collaboration with the Pakistan Army in the atrocities committed against the Bengalis during the Bangladesh Liberation War, many suffered from violence and discrimination from Bengalis in the new republic. Today, the term Bihari is used in Bangladesh to refer to a larger group of stateless people left in Bangladesh, thestranded Pakistanis, many of whom are Biharis.
Bihari people doesn't mean much other than people originating in and around Patna. They have no tribal identity like Punjabis or Sindhis or Bengalis - they have no one language, one religion or one set of customs , in fact they are very similar to the structure of India - diverse in every way possible. Thats why when the author says Bihari people first thing needs to be done is to define what is a Bihari people.
ReplyDeleteMarathi idiots like Bal Thackrey / Raj Thackrey created a tribal reaction based on the concept of Maratha Manus , what would be such concept in Bihar. Laloo Yadav like figures have been more divisive and self-pocketing thugs than actual development and creating an administering unit. Muslims living in bihar or Pakistan or bangladesh identify more with religion than culture , same goes for so many non muslim biharis living outside bihars.
What needs to be answered is what is that unity theme that can bring in every so called bihari under one umbrella.
Exposing Bollywood that focuses on punjabi culture or exposing state governments that focus on tribal identity more than indian identity should be done at a massive scale. Indian government should be exposed for its hypocrisies by encouraging state zealots who preach anti india stance - because within one country there is no place for one part's superiority over others.
One violence act on any one bihari anywhere should be confronted by all in any means possible. There should be a local and regional movement started in Bihar that transcends divisions , abolish last names that identify ppl with yadav, kurmi dom , bhumihaar etc .. and education takes precedence over all.