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On June 16, at 9-30
p.m. 100 marauders of the Ranvir Sena, armed to the teeth with sophisticated
weapons, went on a rampage in Miapur village, Aurangabad district of Bihar. This
Bhumihar landlord army, in its 2½ hour massacre, killed 34, with an additional
16 in a critical condition. Of the 34 killed, 20 were women and children. These
cowards, though backed by money power, though trained by ex-army officers,
though equipped with highly sophisticated weapons, and though fully backed by
the state machinery and political parties — can only attack soft targets like
unarmed women and children!! After surrounding the village they fired
indiscriminately, and went from house to house massacring mostly Yadavs and some
dalits. They openly shouted Ranvir Sena slogans.
A police camp just 3
kms away, though warned of a possible attack did not bother. Two police came in
the evening and left saying there was no problem. Though the shots could be
heard at the camp, they did not so much as raise a finger. The complicity was
clear. At the state level too, this is clear, as though there is a nominal ban
on the Ranvir Sena, they are allowed to operate freely. Though the BJP-Samata
combine are the chief supporters of the outfit, the RJD state government turns a
blind eye to its activities.
While the media and
parties make out the clashes as caste feuds led by two senas — the Ranvir Sena
and the armed formation of the Naxalites — the reality is that the Ranvir Sena
is a hoodlum force to crush by force the growing strength of the anti-feudal
struggle led by the PW party and the MCC. It is to maintain the existing feudal
supremacy of the most powerful landed interests backed by the state. That is
why, while Naxalites in Bihar are being mowed down by government forces, the
Ranvir Sena is not touched. Infact even after this massacre the police have
begun raiding naxalite villages, expecting retaliation, and have picked up only
a few nominal Ranvir Sena men. Incidentally, Miapur village is just 3 kms from
Senari, where the MCC had killed 34 Bhumihars last year. In fact in the last six
months the police have killed in Bihar a large number of PW guerrillas,
including senior leaders.
Meanwhile all the
parliamentary parties seek to make capital out of the bloodbath, including the
fake Naxalites, the Liberation party. The BJP-led alliance called for the
dismissal of the Rabri Devi government, when they themselves are the chief
sponsors of the Ranvir Sena. In fact in the last general elections, the Ranvir
Sena sponsored candidates contested with the backing of the NDA. The RJD
government claim that this is an NDA conspiracy to oust them from power, when in
fact, they themselves have allowed the Ranvir Sena to grow in its eight years of
existence — ALL under RJD rule. The Liberation-CPI combine while calling for a
Bihar bandh, say the cause for the carnage is NDA-RJD collusion, and, it too
gives it a political colour to serve its vote bank, rather than see it as a
reaction to the growing anti-feudal struggle. And as for the CPI(M), they went
so far as to even oppose the nominal bandh called by the ‘left’ parties. In fact
its top leader, Vijay Kumar Yadav, is said to have secret links with the Ranvir
Sena.
So we find that all
the parliamentary parties, from the Right to the ‘Left’ are all united in their
approach to lending overt or covert support to the Ranvir Sena; and opposing the
growing Naxalite movement in the aea. The establishment media continue a talk
about the state not being able to control the landlord and Naxalite sena —
putting them on an equal footing. In reality the state machinery has turned a
blind-eye on the Ranvir Sena but has come down heavily on the Naxalites. Its
entire police operations are geared at the Naxalites. This is to be seen yet
again after the present carnage.
After the carnage the
coordination committee set up by the RJD-Congress(I) combine has planned further
repression on the Naxalites. It decided : to recruit 15,000 additional
constables in just one year, to create a rapid action force; and create a wide
network of informers, ‘home guards’ and armed vigilante groups of youth in the
villages. According to the plan, District Magistrates and SIs would personally
select youth and train them to handle firearms "with the aim of forming a
chain of protection groups in a cluster of villages." The ‘Home Guards’, who
would get a daily allowance of Rs. 50, would be under direct orders of the
police. Besides, the Centre has also offered assistance.
But, all such efforts
can only anger the oppressed people further. While many admit that the cause of
the conflict is inequitable land relations, not one step has been considered on
these lines. It is the PW party and the MCC who have issued statements vowing
retaliation, and justice to the oppressed. The PW does not believe in mass
retaliation against Bhumihars, but in targeting the hoodlums of the Ranvir Sena,
and the landed elements that back them. There is urgent need for the PW and MCC
to jointly smash the Ranvir Sena hordes.
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