I am joining my fellow Biharis in this election, which will go down as one of the greatest moment in the history of Bihar, with a lot of skepticism. This is not because we are witnessing this kind of spectacle for the first time. For a Bihari , elections have always been like a festival. But this time, it is rather monumental to say the least. This is because we are standing at a juncture where any step in the wrong direction will destroy the hopes of most of the people.
10 years ago, Nitish Kumar was voted in by the Bihari people, to be the Chief Minister. Bihar got rid of the Jungle Raj: you cannot envisage the pain and the suffocation. For 20 years, we had suffered. If only I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would have laughed it off. But alas! I was unlucky enough to be there. The fear of misfortunes had encapsulated the entire state. Children, let alone the elders, were not spared. You were always susceptible of being robbed or kidnapped. They had the space, they had the time and henceforth the control of the continuum to decide who was next on the list.
Then came the ray of hope in the form Mr. Nitish Kumar. Every Bihari had a smile on his lips. We thought that a miracle had happened and finally we started believing again. State of despair started giving way to enthusiasm and optimism. News of kidnappings and murders took a back seat. Human development index, ease of business, and growth rate: we started discussing more of these. I defended my state, whenever questioned; be in a hostel mess or be in a compartment of the Indian Railways. Slowly that pride had started shining on my face. The happiness that our state, our Bihar was again developing, was evident on everyone’s face. Then suddenly one day those dreams, those hopes came crashing. To gain some political mileage, Mr. Nitish Kumar joined hands with Lalu Prasad.
I don’t even want to write his name. I ignored the hypocrisy of Mr. Nitish on giving up the coalition with BJP. But how could he even think of joining Lalu’s side. It filled me with such disgust and I am sure I am not the only Bihari. I felt disillusioned. How could a sensible person like him do this? I felt stabbed: in the back. Bihari s voted you in, to be against Lalu; not to be with him. Mr. Nitish Kumar: you have lost all my respect. As a Bihari, I have a fear. In this election, we might see Lalu returning at the helm of Bihar. It is so scary. I am literally frightened. What will happen to my beautiful state if people like Lalu come back to power?
The guy who knows nothing but to abuse power or whatever he has control over. If that happens, we shall never forgive you Mr. Nitish. I am a big fan of Martin Luther King. The way he had galvanized everyone with his slogan: “I have a dream”. I wish someone was there in Bihar to galvanize my fellow Bihari s with the slogan: “I have a fear” so that it deters them from voting these people in.
– Chandra Shekhar (Via Mail)
Chandra Shekhar is currently pursuing Masters in Petroleum engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He graduated from IIT (BHU) in 2013 with chemical engineering as major. Chandra Shekhar was born and brought up in Patna.
Cover Picture Credits: ibnlive.com