As guilty as Rupam Pathak

The murder of BJP MLA Rajkishore Keshari by a school principal Rupam Pathak has brought back Bihar in news, albeit for a wrong reason.

The popular MLA was stabbed in full view by the lady when Kishore was receiving visitors at his home in Purnea. According to her, the MLA along with his associate had raped her earlier.

During the election campaign in the state earlier, she had filed an FIR against the MLA but later withdrawn her complaint saying that she had registered her complaint under the influence of political pressure from opponents of Kishore .

This crime in itself cannot be termed or seen as just another murder. For two reasons.

Firstly for a forty three old educated lady to kill someone that too in public without giving a damn to her life which she knew would be at perils once the supporters of the MLA catch her in itself speaks about the mental stress and pressure that she might be experiencing for a long period of time which finally burst out in open through the killing of Keshari. What prompted such a drastic step?

Once there was a man called Lalu

Not long time ago Lalu chalisa was a very common thing in the streets of Patna. You could easily purchase it from the many a small shops that are lined up in front of the Patna railway station. These Lalu chalisa that were written by many of the faithful followers of Lalu Yadav would sometimes outsell the more original Hanuman chalisa.

And like his other predecessors from Bihar Lalu too had a fondness for the Indian railways.

Lalu Yadav and Indian Railway shared a very cordial relationship till he was the Railway minister. And both gained from each other. More aptly - it was the Indian railway that gained more. Not going into the economics, it was because of Lalu that the railway became a household name in Pakistan and world over. And it can be debated upon that whether the Railway as an institution gained any long term benefits during the tenure of Lalu.

Lalu Yadav was at that time Bihar and Bihar was nothing but Lalu. And even now that memory has not faded from the minds of many.

Bihar braces up for elections

Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi’s decision to walk away from the RJD and LJP in the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar was a historic action of the party.

Though it is a different thing that it was the RJD and the LJP leaders,Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan who provoked the Congress to announce its candidature in all the 40 seats from the state.

The two parties formed their alliance and left only three seats for the Congress-the largest partner in the UPA. The LJP-RJD left Aurangabad(Nikhil Kumar),Sasaram(Ms Meria Kumar) and Madhubani(Shakeel Ahmad),all sitting Congress MPs for the Big brother in the UPA. The decision was unilateral and the Congress was not consulted.

In 2004 elections,Lalu had allotted six seats to the Congress,three were successful.Even in the assembly elections,Congress candidates were selected by Lalu Yadav in Bihar.The party which ruled Bihar since 1937(Sr Krishna Sinha days) was reduced to just ten legilaslators in the House.

Back in 2000 elections, all the 20 Congress MLAs were made ministers in Rabri Government when the Congress decided to extend support to the RJD’s minority ministry.

Though,Yadav and Paswan have extended their alliance by inducting the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav into their 134 seats fold(UP,Bihar and Jharkhand),they have refrained from attacking Ms Sonia Gandhi or the Congress in their election speeches. They are in fact reiterating they are still in the UPA.

The same gesture has been reciprocated by the AICC general secretary, Rahul Gandhi,who addressed several election meetings in the first round in Bihar. Rahul did not attack either Lalu or Paswan,but severely criticized the chief minister, Nitish Kumar, alleging the NDA government in Bihar misused the central funds allotted to Bihar .

Paswan and Lalu are claiming they have got nothing to do with the Third Front. They have also denied any links with Sharad Pawar and did not include the NCP in their electoral adjustments of constituencies in Bihar.

By concentrating in 134 seats during the campaign, the Dalit-MY (Muslim-Yadav) leaders are trying to strengthen their bargaining power in the post-election scene at the Centre. They want to keep Mayawati and the Third Front in check ,they have little option in the post –result scene. They can not align with the NDA led by the BJP nor can go with the Third Front,which has no existence in the three states.

The Left Parties have little impact in Bihar,Jharkhand or Uttar Pradesh. They can ignore the NCP,Third Front or Maywati in Bihar and Jharkhand, but they can not ignore the Congress.

The 40 seats from Bihar are witnessing multi-cornered contest every where with the presence of the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party candidates in the fray.

The Congress which has fielded all the three sitting MPs,nominated children and relatives of the senior Congress leaders and also allowed Lalu Yadav’s brother-in-law Sadhy Yadav,to contest from Bettiah against LJP’s Prakash Jha,a film producer.

The party kept the caste considerations while selecting the nominees and admitted Lovely Anand,wife of Ananad Mohan Singh, currently in jail following his conviction in Gopalganj District Magistrate murder case. Lovely too was convicted by the Fast Track Court but acquitted by Patna High Court. She has been nominated from a Rajput dominated constituency of Sheohar which was once represented by her husband.

The current trends of electioneering indicate, the Janata Dal(U)_ BJP combine may get more than what they got in 2004 elections. Together,they are expected to capture between 25 and 30 seats and the RJD-LJP may get 10-12 seats. The Congress may be confined to one to three seats only. In 2004,RJD had 24 seats, LJP four and the NDA 12 MPs from Bihar.

Bihar Congress- now the only way is forward

Until now the Congress party in Bihar had failed to make any ‘visible’ impact on the streets of Bihar. As you roamed the city you will find smiling, bearded, tired, jovial, all kinds of faces of different leaders of all parties except Congress.

But now that has changed as Rahul Gandhi has finally found a place in the political space of Patna. Hoardings depicting him as the future leader of the country have come up at various points in the city.

Though Rahul Gandhi has still not taken up any ‘Bihar specific’ discovery of India tour yet his ‘supposed’ charismatic affect is being used by the party organization to motivate the party cadre and to galvanize supporters.

I find it very strange that India’s biggest political party, Congress, has a very negligible stake, share and presence in a politically active state like Bihar, which historically has been the birth place and play ground of national leaders. I can assure you that this is one place were politics comes before cricket.

Knock on the doors of any house and you are sure to find a political connection that goes either directly to the CM house or in most cases to the political corridors of Delhi. Poke anyone, be it a retired professor, a bank employee, an executive engineer or a street fruit vendor, and they will come out with political stories and development that are hard to imagine. Maybe once can doubt their truthfulness, but then they will say “it may be false now but who knows by the time you finish your dinner it will turn true”. Agreed.

A Delhi based Congress party functionary who was recently in Patna said that the ‘AC culture’ has made the senior leaders of Patna sensitive to sun and insensitive to political requirements. Now they find it hard to come out on street, stage protest, voice demands of the mass which ultimately has led to the downfall of the party presence in the eastern state.

Political vultures have not failed to take notice of this poor state of Congress in the state. Till recently leaders from other regional parties like RJD and LJP decided on which seat should be Congress granted concession so that its nominee may contest.

Also, the Congress been not able to find any local leader who can act as the face of the party. Every state has a leader who represents the party in his region. In Madhya Pradesh there are Digvijay singh, Kamal Nath, in Delhi it is Sheila Dixit, in Chhattisgarh it is Ajit Jogi and so on. Most of them were popular even before they became CM or MPs. But unfortunately the party has no such luxury in Bihar.

Party old timers understandably find this painful and blame the national leaders who in order to run their horses in Delhi mortgaged the party interest in the state. This demotivated the party workers, forcing them to switch loyalties. As a result Bihar Congress has been reduced to a political widow.

Some months back when the MNS goons were beating Bihari and UP migrant workers and making news all over the Country none of the Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi thought it was required to come out and say some words denouncing the act. I have never been able to comprehend the reason behind this insensitivity.

So much for a comprehensive Indian political dream.

The party cannot sink further anymore in Bihar. With nothing to lose but everything to gain, state leaders should begin its revival through small slow steps. First sit, then stand and then fight.

What the Congress needs in Bihar is to focus on long term gains, ignoring the short term losses. Giving itself 5 years and in the meantime strengthening the party cadre and increasing its reach among the mass and will turn true the seemingly impossible possibility of forming the government by its own.

Rahul Gandhi may be short of time but as he embarks on mission to make Congress a pan India party he should not forget that Bihar too figures on his political map.

Bihar diary January

Political equations are changing fast in Bihar as the Lok sabha election approaches.

The once bitter enemy , LJP party president Ram Vilas Paswan and the RJD President Lalu Prasad yadav have now come closer. Paswan has said Laluji has run his full course in Bihar and now it his time to lead the UPA to power in Bihar. Paswan described Lalu as his good friend and Yadav called the LJP leader a senior leader of India.

Yavav reciprocated by saying he would support Paswan as the next dalit prime minister and welcomed Paswan's decision to lead the UPA in Bihar. He also said he has no problem in Paswan's demand for 20 out of 40 lok sabha seats in Bihar.

Though both the leaders are a part of the UPA yet the relationship between them has never been too friendly. But with Nitish Kumar emerging stronger and popular with every passing day, the two leaders who call themselves as the messiah of the backward class find themselves sharing common platform and both of them have now accepted the fact that in order to stop a repeat of the previous state assembly election , they will have to compromise their personal agendas.

The biggest gainer in this political game will be Paswan who has nothing to lose when compared to Lalu.

If Lalu is routed in the coming elections, his entire political career would be at stake.Ranjan Prasad Yadav,now vice-president of the LJP and a close associate of Lalu for the last several years commented “Lalu knows, his future is sealed, hence he has come to the shelter of Ramvilas Paswan.”

He alleged that in the 2005 election campaign Lalu yadav used to tell people “ Burn the hurt”(Election symbol of paswan) and “Arrange funeral of Paswan”

Graph of Nitish Kumar has considerably improved in the last four years. He is working on development plank only and this won him the Politician of the Year award sponsored by a premier English daily and a News Channel. Nitish is camping in the villages to oversee the development works. He has also launched a campaign against corruption in the government offices and announced reward upto Rs five lakhs for the informers about corrupt officers.

Political observers of Bihar admit,Nitish Kumar will have a definite advantage in the Lok Sabha elections over his rivals-Lalu and Paswan.Lalu has become weaker with the Congress general secretary,Rahul Gandhi ,supporting the demands of the Bihar Congress leaders demanding more seats to the party nominees.

In the past, even the Congress candidates were decided by Lalu. Recently Lalu himself admitted “What Can I do if the Congress decides to contest all the seats.”

The Lok Sabha elections have upset the calculations among the BJP leaders.The film star turned politician, Shatrughan Sinha has announced his candidature from Patailputra constitutency.

The party spokesman,Ravishankar Prasad and vice -president of the state unit,R K Sinha,too have also announced their plan to contest from the same seat.

Visible Inner discontents are harbingers of an election mela. Surely the mela is all set to arrive in Bihar

Bihar analysis -December

With the focus shifting to the forthcoming general elections, the atmosphere in Bihar saw enhanced political activity.

CM Nitish kumar taking the cue, decided to embark on a 1 month Vikas yatra under which he will stay in villages so that he personally oversees development related work and interacts with the voters.

In the past, various other CMs from different states like Raman Singh, Digvijay Singh, Suderlal patwa , CM of Uttarakhand BC Khanduri and the present CM of Andhra Pradesh YSR Reddy have embarked on similar yatra with mix results.

The spotlight in the state has now shifted to development as was evident with both the major parties, the ruling JD(U) and the opposition RJD announcing various new projects in the state.

The 6^th pay commission was implemented in the state giving the huge number of government servants a reason to smile. The CM also announced starting of work on 6 major roads of Bihar, a project that is being financed by the Asian development bank.

Similarly construction of a major bridge across the river Sone which was long overdue was also announced.

Nitsih kumar also tried to reach out to the minority section of the population as he laid the foundation stones of three buildings to be constructed in the memories of Muslim leaders late Maulana Mazharul Haque, late Abdul Qayyum Ansari, and late Ghulam Sarwar.

CMs commitment towards the uplift-ment of the minorities has irked Lalu yadav as traditionally they have always supported him and the present endeavor on the part of Nitish has created insecurity in the mind of the RJD leader.

Not to be left behind, Lalu too announced many a new trains from Patna so as to woo the voters. Speculations are, that after delimitation Lalu Yadav will contest from Patna and his recent added interest towards the capital is being seen in this light.

The Kosi tragedy too continued to play its part as both the JD(U) and the RJD indulged in blame games over the distribution of relief money. On one hand, Nitsh kumar blamed the Center for not distributing the required promised relief amount and on the other Lalu Yadav accused the state government of not utilizing the money that was sent by the Center.

Will Kosi be a political issue is anyone’s guess. But it should not be forgotten that it was tragedy that affected millions and still millions are facing difficulty. Political games and gains in times of tragedy are inevitable. But one should not forget that in midst of everything even a loss of single human life is unpardonable.

A major political showdown between the coalition partner JD (U) and BJP was seen after JD(U) spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari asked the BJP to follow the Nitish kumar model of development.

This infuriated the state BJP leaders and soon it became a show of strength with both the parties praising their respective model of development. On one side was Nitish model of development and on the other side was the Modi and Raman Singh model of development.

The winds have started to blow, but they have yet to gain strength and the political storm that is bound to arise, like always will give us many things to write.

Kosi enters 'politics'

The Kosi river has changed its course in North Bihar. It appears, the flood caused by the river will change the political course too. A senior Janata Dal(U) leader and four times chief minister of Bihar, Jagannath Mishra may change the post-flood political course of the state too.

Agitated over the mismanagement and inadequate relief works in the flood-hit areas, an anguished Mishra resigned from the office of the chairman of the Kisan Cell of the party alongwith hundreds of his supporters and announced his decision to relinquish politics and devote the entire life for the Kosi sufferers.Mishra repeatedly alleged relief and rescue management was awfully bad.

His son, Nitish Mishra who is disaster management minister is too unhappy with JD (U) as he has been ignored in the flood relief management. Nitish invited the wrath of the chief minister, Nitish Kumar after eh allegedly leaked out a confidential letter of the then DM of Saharsa, Narmadeshwar Lal, warning the state secretariat of an imminent danger to Kosi embankment. The chief ministers suspects junior Mishra’s hand in the leak.

Mishra is trying to get reentry to the Congress through the good offices of Pranab Mukherjee. He is also being wooed by he BSP chief, Mayawati, who wants him to lead BSP in Bihar. With Dalit voters going to Mayawai, she hopes, Jagannath Mishra’s induction into the BSP may help party consolidate Brahmin votes to the Bahujan Samaj Party.

With the general election on anvil, the political picture in Bihar in the month of September, like in the previous month, was centered on the recent flood that has affected more than 25 lakh people.

With both Lalu Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan refusing to let go this opportunity of using the natural calamity to extract political mileage, the CM Nitish Kumar too was forced to jump into the bandwagon. The CM decided to celebrate the holy festival of Id in one of the many relief camps that have come up in the flood affected areas.

Earlier it was Lalu Yadav who was camping in and around the minority dominated camps so as to send out a friendly message to the community that had deserted him in the previous elections.

Similarly Ram Vilas Paswan too was not far behind as he gave every opportunity to the snap seekers to photograph him while he was distributing medicines in the various camps that were organized by SAIL. In case of Lalu it was Railways who was used as a messenger, and in the case of Paswan it was the PSU, SAIL that was deployed as a medium to seek political attention.

In between all this, the brick batting and the allegations and the counter allegations between the spokespersons of various parties continued to hog the limelight.

With Lalu Yadav announcing that flood will be the major issue in the next elections, another union minister, Paswan, too has decided to make poor flood management by the BJP-Janata Dal(U) government the main poll issue. Advertisements are appearing daily in the local television channels and the newspapers from various government departments highlighting the achievements of Nitish Government in flood management. The chief minister spent the entire Eid day among the flood hit Muslims in Araria. Paswan, too joined them in the relief camps .Lalu Prasad Yadav is visiting the relief camps almost every week.

Mulayam Singh Yadav, preferred to donate Rs one crores to a separate relief fund set up by Lalu instead of sending the cheque to the PM or CM relief fund. This development too leads to the belief that the flood in Kosi will definitely change in the political course in Bihar during the elections.

Bihar's sorrow

Northern part of Bihar is swarming with reporters and media personnel. With the who’s and who’s of print media and the electronic media converging on the swollen banks of Kosi, the might of the sorrow of Bihar and the plight of those affected by it is now being witnessed by everyone.

Before 18^th of August no one including me cared about what was happening in Supaol or Saharsha. It is nothing more than perhaps the law of our society that only in times of extreme sorrow that the poor hogs the limelight. And then also the affected victims have to share their 10-15 days of ‘fame’ with the politicians who are one among the first to reach such places.

In the past too, old women were swept away, children died of snake bites and man drowned, but who cares for a few numbers. In the end it is all about the eye catching numbers; huge number. In the present case the 29 lakh people that were affected was too big a number to give a miss.

As soon as Manmohan singh after a ‘quick response’ that took 10 days to come, declared the flood a national calamity, all hell broke loose. The flood affected regions of Bihar which till then were ‘immune’ from the presence of even a reporter from a local news-channel suddenly found itself facing familiar faces of our vibrant media. You name them and they were there.

No one can take away the fact that the media did and is still doing a commendable job of covering the calamity ,but the point is that is presence of ‘huge numbers’ the only criteria for making a news a national news?

Reporters after reporters are taking great pains and efforts to visit the areas that are still out of reach for the state officials. Heart rendering footage has become the order of the day. Some have taken great pain to cross over to the other side of Nepal and dig out stories on how the breach occurred due to the negligence on the part of the irrigation department. They also declared that the breach was a result of long period of negligence and the breach didn’t take place overnight. Agreed that the breach developed over a period of time. But why wasn’t the breach brought in the public when it was still in its initial stage?

Its not that the dam was kept out of bounds for the journalist, it’s just that at that point of time it was not worthy of being shown on the national television. Who would have watched a ‘eroding dam’.

Post the ‘national calamity’ declaration things have changed. Now even a glitch in a minor embankment is making news. I guess the top management of the media that moves and shakes in Delhi have their own idea of a news-worthiness.

Calamity or no calamity, politician are flowers that bloom throughout the season. The Below the belt remarks that have been coming from the political leaders of Bihar has highlighted the sad plight of the level to which the leaders can fall even in the worst of time. Not even the catastrophic effects of a swollen Kosi, could stop these leaders from indulging in political war at a time when they should have been attending to the rescue of the millions that have been affected by the raging Kosi.

The political game that ensued saw Nitish Kumar calling himself an unsung hero and terming Lalu, a dramatist, who was moving around the flood affected areas with a train of TV reporters. Lalu replied back and declaring that Nitish has lost his mind.

After Kosi river broke all barriers and flooded 15 districts of the state, affecting more than 29 lakh people, it took 10 long days for the union government to decide that this time it was not ‘just another regular flood’ that affects Bihar every year but a national calamity.

Then came the initial statements of no politics in time of sorrow. But later the whole nation stood witness to the troika of Lalu Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan and Nitish Kumar engaging in political statements and counterstatements over fixing the responsibility for the floods.

Initially it was Lalu who started the fistfight when he announced in a press conference that the state government had failed to pay heeds to the instructions from the Centre and had not repaired the Kosi barrage. Pointing out to the callous attitude of the state officials he came out with documents that pointed out that the walls of the barrage was breached a day after the State chief engineer (Irrigation) had reported that all barrages were in good condition.

In reply, Nitish came out with a set of his own documents in which it was said that the state government had been regularly corresponding with the centre and asking them to take the issue of repairing the barrage with Nepal.

Paswan too joined in and rapped Nitish for failing to take timely actions to plug the breach. In between all this, the plight of the victims was forgotten and they were left to themselves. Even now many are still stranded and marooned and fighting a loosing battle.

Old timers point out that in a way the 15 years that preceded this government is also to be blamed for this failure of government machinery. During the earlier rule, the whole of the state machinery was left to stagnant and officers found themselves being molded in a way that required them not to venture out in the fields but to stay in the comforts of their offices. The same disease continues to plague some of the current lot.

Till last year the engineers of the water resources department were punished by the DMs in the flood hit areas. Whenever any breach occurred in the embankments the concerned executive, superintending or chief engineer was instantly arrested on the orders of the DMs and sent to jail. But now it seems that, Nitish who is an engineering graduate, has realized the bureaucrats too are at fault.

The CM suspended district magistrates of Supaul and Saharsa districts for Negligence in flood relief work. He was so infuriated with the officers that he ordered on the spot transfer of the two DMs when he visited the flood affected areas.

He also sent three of his cabinet colleagues in the worst affected areas with direction to stay there for a fortnight and not come to Patna. Three senior IAS officers from State Secretariat were also sent as special DMs in the three worst hit districts to monitor and supervise the relief and rescue operations.

Nothing can absolve Nitish because as a CM he was responsible for the state machinery but the bureaucrats too have let down the chief minister.After the flooding the Bihar chief minister was told by his officers that Nepal was responsible for the floods in Bihar as the embankment was breached from their side. Later the foreign minister of Nepal Upendra Yadav denied the charge and claimed that dam in Nepal was still intact.

Such was the mismanagement that rescue boats and rescuers had to wait for six hours for supply of diesel as the BDO of the concerned district was busy with the PMs Program. Then came a statement from a senior official of the state disaster management asking the flood victims not to come to Patna, and return back to their submerged homes through the same special train that had brought them to the capital.

The fury of Kosi continues unabated but for these representatives of people it has boiled down to who gets the maximum accolades in this time of sorrow. And not surprising it’s Lalu, accompanied by the ever swelling entourage of reporters who is winning hands down.

Diminishing returns of Congress

The political assessment about Congress’s future in the Hindi belt of Madhya Pradesh and Bihar appears bleak and weak .

In Madhya Pradesh, the state Congress in being headed by Suresh Pachouri, a leader who has never won an election, not even that of municipality. On top of that, Suhash Yadav, Jamuna Devi, Digvijay singh, Kamal Nath, Arjun singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia, all have their own nut to grind leaving Pachori with the difficult task of pleasing everyone and dislodging the firmly rooted BJP from the state. In short Pachouri has to manoeuver through a maze that has no end.

The tremors of intra-party factionalism has never allowed Pachouri to prepare for himself a firm ground, standing on which he can at least think of challenging Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

At the moment, most of the strings that are controlled by the Digvijays, the Kamalnaths and the Scindias are being pulled from Delhi, but once the monsoon of election sets in, all these clouds will make a beeline for Madhya Pradesh and then Pachouri will have his task cut out.

Relationship between Pachouri and KamalNath are not in the best of state and only time will tell how much damage will the Chindwara power house do to Pachori. Ajay Singh, son of Arjun Singh and Nakul Nath,son of Kamal Nath will add their own bit to the whole story as both of them will try to establish themselves in the political map of the state and the assembly elections will be the arena that will decide their rise or fall.

While commenting on the situation of Congress in Bihar one will strain his yes and yet find no leaders to talk or write of. The word ‘bleak’ will be an understatement to describe the situation, as the state congress is virtually defunct in this eastern state.

The fact that AICC secretary in charge KC Deo, who was the State Congress in-charge for one year, never thought of visiting Bihar even once speaks volumes about the importance the Congress leadership attaches to Bihar.

There are only three Congress MPs from Bihar in the parliament. Nikhil Kumar (former Delhi police commissioner and son of former chief minister,Satyendra Narayan Sinha), Meira Kumar (daughter of Babu Jagjivan Ram) and Shakeel Ahmed(son of former Bihar speaker,Shakoor Ahmad). The party also has merely nine MLAs in the state assembly, and no one will surprised if it’s representation in the state goes down even further in the future.

Recently, Bihar Pradesh Congress saw a new chief being appointed. Anil Sharma who has emerged through the corridors of student politics of Patna University recently replaced Sadanand Singh.

Sharma, like Pachouri has never won an election not was even an MLC, fits more comfortably in the role of a palmist. He is an expert palmist and astrologer and if one is to go by news coming from within the party, Sharma got the job after he was recommended by Vincent George, the ‘now-almost-forgotten’ secretary of Ms.Sonia Gandhi. George reportedly pushed Sharma’s candidature because he was pleased by the accuracy of the forecasts predicated by him while reading George’s palm.

Unlike in other states, in Bihar it is Lalu Yadav who decides the ticket distribution for the Congress party. The state Congress has paid a very heavy price to keep the alliance between the RJD and the UPA at the Centre functioning. Lalu while working in a systematic way has made sure that Congress is brought down to a point, from where it will take years if not decades to stand up again. And the one party that has gained from this has been Ram Vilas Pawan’s LJP. For years to come the electorate battle in the state will be fought between the troika of JD (U), the RJD and the LJP. Leaving both the main national parties, the BJP and the Congress to play the role of a mere substitute

In Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the Congress is going to contest the elections on its own strength. In the past, it had made “strategic arrangements” with the Bahujan Samaj party and the Left giving them a couple of constituencies, but in Bihar, it is dependent on the RJD only. If it goes alone in Bihar, the party can become organizationally stronger. The party leaders had recently told the treasurer, Motilal Vora that the workers at the grass root level were “jobless” even during the election campaign as they were not required for campaign as most of the seats were given to the RJD in alliance. They feared the party may lose its ground in the villages, if this trend continued for long .The party may no win more seats, but it may be revived with the “involvement” of the workers in the villages.

In Chhattisgarh the prospects appear better for the Congress, as the tribal belt of Surguja and Bastar are not happy with their respective BJP MLAs. In the previous election, it was this belt which voted against the Congress and led BJP to power. The Salva Judum movement too will come into play as most of the tribals are disenchanted by it. This tribal belt will perhaps decide that who amongst the seekers will finally get the treasure.

The tickets for the forthcoming assembly elections is Chhattisgarh will be distributed through mainly two counters; one being manned by the former CM and MP Ajit jogi and the other that has the octogenarian Motilal Vohra at its helm. In the political equation that will possibly emerge in this state, many other leaders like Satyanarayan Sharma, Charan das Mahant, VC Shukla will also play small yet pivotal part to make the equation more ‘exciting’.

The intra-party factionalism and the honest image of Raman Singh will be the only thing that may stop Congress from capturing the required number of seats. While on one hand the Rs 3 kg rice scheme for the poor in Chhattisgarh may help Raman Singh to retain the tribals votes but on the other the below satisfactory performance of his colleagues among the tribals will make it difficult for Raman to consolidate on the advantage that he will get from the rice scheme.

Dilip Singh Judeo, who was a chief ministerial candidate in 2003 has been sidelined and is now busy with his re-conversion programmes.

The factionalism that has emerged in this state has led to the birth of two poles for the Congress workers to choose from. ‘With Jogi’ and ‘Against Jogi’, is the possible resting house that will probably come-up in the state. In fact the detractors of Jogi within Congress may well outnumber his enemies that are in the BJP. The birth of ‘Against Jogi’ group can be traced to 2000 when the state came into existence and Jogi was appointed the first CM. Claims of many other leaders like the Shukla brothers and that of numerous other aspirants were dismissed by Sonia Gandhi while appointing the much ‘junior’, Ajit Jogi. Seven years later the swords are still drawn and though each side claims the odd success in the battle, but the one final war is still to be fought.

Ends

Bihar Analysis- July

Bihar, where caste equations are always of paramount interest, saw a new director general of police in the form of Devki Nandan Gautam,a 1974 batch IPS from a dalit community. Gautam was made DG of police in place of a Brahmin, Shiv Chandra Jha.

Claims of two other senior IPS officers were ignored while superseding Gautam. Gautam, is considered an upright honest officer. The then chief minister, Karpoori Thakur during a debate in the state assembly had described Gautam as God for the poor.

Gautam was being shunted for the last 17 years. First during the Lalu-Rabri regime and then when the government changed he was ignored for the initial two years by the Nitish Kumar government due to the pressure of senior Janta Dal(U) MP, Prabhunath Singh, against whom Gautam, was monitoring a murder case.

Nitish Kumar has obviously tried to send a message among the masses about his intention to give an honest police administration in the state by making Gautam, the new DG of police. The police headquarters so far has been a hot bed of groupism.

For the second year in succession, Patna remained waterlogged during the monsoon session. Boats were pressed into service the posh locality of Rajendra Nagar, after the entire area was deluged. The residence of the deputy chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, senior politicians, bureaucrats and doctors was marooned and Modi had to shift to safer place alongwith his family for about a month. Medical facilities also came to a standstill as the clinics and hospitals were under knee deep water.

The district administration ordered closure of all schools as the school buildings and class rooms were waterlogged and movement of buses and autos became impossible due to flood on the roads.

The chief minister blamed the Rain God for the water logging and the urban development minister, Bhola Singh, held the previous RJD government responsible for the watery mess, alleging that the government did not create drainage system.

The entire monsoon session of the State legislature was dedicated to waterlogging problem and the entire opposition boycotted the two houses for the entire session. The leader of the opposition, Ms Rabri Debi, remained absent for the entire session inviting criticism from the treasury benches.

The Patna High Court intervened again as the state government failed in restoring normalcy in all the universities, where the teaches and the non-teaching staff are on strike for the last two months. Neither the scheduled examinations are being held nor are fresh admissions taking place. The new academic session has not started as yet. Since, the staff did not get salary for the past two months many employees died of starvation. The High Court has also admitted a public interest litigation filed by a student and issued instructions to the government asking it to take immediate steps for withdrawal of strike.

CM Nitish Kumar’s criticism of the Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav and describing him as the “world biggest liar” kept the politicians and media engaged for a week. The Railway Minister also retaliated and called Nitish depressed and a frustrated politician. Kumar said “Lalu Yadav’s only achievement as Railway Minister was to link his village and Rabri Devi’s village with railway line’’. Kumar was also upset over shifting of railway wheels factory project from his assembly constitutency, Harnaut in Nalanda to Chapra, Lalu Yadav’s constituency.

Bihar Political- June

Analysis

The rebellion in the BJP against the deputy chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, seems to be over in Bihar with the central leadership declaring him as the leader of legislature party following his majority in the organization.The party summoned all the legislators to New Delhi and held secret voting. Modi got popular support in the secret ballots and the party president, Rajnath Singh declared him as the undisputed leader. For the last six months, the deputy chief minister was facing rebellion in the legislature party following cabinet reshuffle in which some influential party ministers were dropped from the cabinet.

The rebel leaders who had been camping in New Delhi returned to Patna after losing the vote of no-confidence and reaffirmed their faith in Modi. The two senior ministers, Ashwini Kumar Chaubey and Nandkishore Yadav, who were leading the anti-Modi campaign also declared their faith in Modi .With Modi returning to Patna after getting support of the central high-command and also his legislators, the BJP is now engaged in preparations for the coming Lok Sabha elections. The central high-command can not dare top ignore Modi,a senior party leader and also a popular leader of the backward castes ,who are deciding factor in the elections in the state. Modi has also backing of the Sangh, since he was former Pracharak too.

New political equations are seem to be developing in the state/The Lok Janshakti party chief, Ram Vilas Paswan, has appreciated the role of the chief minister, Nitish Kumar, in developing the state and declared Kumar was doing better than Lalu Prasad Yadav.Paswan, who is keen to get his wife elected as member of Parliament ,is also trying to have adjustment with Kumar For both Kumar and Paswan, Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD is the common enemy and Paswan who had contested the last elections without entering into alliance with other parties may enter into strategic adjustment with the Janta Dal(U) to ensure RJD's downfall.

Paswan has tried to establish himself as Mr Clean as he did not come out in the open to support Suraj Bhan, the LJP member of Lok Sabha,who was convicted for life by a court in Begusarai in a murder case. Suraj Bhan,who was elected on LJP ticket in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections is considered the main financer for Paswan.

The Governor,R S Gavai,has been removed mid-way through his five year's term and sent to Kerla.The veteran Congress leader and Kerala Governor, R L Bhatia, has replaced Gavai, who had earned the goodwill of the people and the government as he had improved the academic atmosphere in the state. Due to his efforts as the chancellor of the universities, examinations are now being held on schedule and results also getting declared within stipulated period, in some cases even within three days of last dates of the examinations, as done by Patna University this year. Teachers, even the senior political leaders enrolled on the jobs in different universities had started attending to their classes due to his directives. The chief minister, Nitish Kumar, has taken serious objection to Gavai's removal and claimed it was against the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission, Kumar claimed Gavai had done a lot for improvement of education in the state and got the universities freed from politics as he even got several senior teachers suspended for not taking classes.

Bihar Political Analysis May

PATNA:The 30 –months-old NDA government in Bihar faces crisis for its survival due to differences within the alliance. The recent attack on a senior BJP legislator, Phalguni Prasad Yadav, at Chakai in Jamui district by the food minister, Narendra Kumar Singh, in a public meeting has once again exposed the rift between the two partners of the NDA in Bihar.

In an earlier incident the then culture and sports minister, Janardan Singh Segriwal,a senior BJP leader was publicly humiliated by a Janata Dal(U) legislator, Rampravesh Rai, in the minister’s constituency. The minister was insulted by the Janata Dal(U) legislator on the high-way.

The BJP legislators are agitated as they feel they are being treated as number two in the NDA government. They feel that the chief minister, Nitish Kumar, has done nothing to control his party legislators and leaders who have time and again acted against the BJP. Narendra Kumar Singh is senior to Kumar in the politics and had been involved in many controversies in the past too. In November 2,005, he had assaulted a magistrate on duty at the assembly gate as the magistrate wanted his identity card. Last year, he assaulted an old woman at Sabour Agriculture University, where the woman had gone to seek job for his son.

The minister and the BJP MLA, Phalguni Prasad Yadav, were sharing the dais for an official function at Chakai. Later the minister pushed the legislator and he fell down from the dais and fractured his leg. The BJP legislators have complained about the matter to senior leaders in Delhi and their legislature party leader, Sushil Kumar Modi, who is himself facing rebellion in the BJP for “mortgaging” the party to the Janata Dal(U).

The BJP legislators are seeking his removal as they feel that it is due to him that JD(U) which was a smaller party than BJP in Bihar has now overgrown BJP. The rebels have been out in the open ever since the cabinet reshuffle took place and they allege that Modi has always used his proximity to party president Rajnath Singh and general secretary Arun Jaitley to quiet any dissent in the party.

Earlier the rebels were confined to the in-house discussions but this time it appears that the nearly two dozens legislatures have decided to go for an all out war. The fact that Portfolios of two senior party leaders Nand Kishore Yadav and Ashwini Chaubey were changed has given fuel to the fire and it would require more than political acumen on the part of Modi to douse this fire.

The state BJP is also apprehensive that in the next general election it would be the JD(U) that will win hands down as all the credit of the work being undertaken in the state has the stamp of Nitish Kumar in it and he has successfully managed to portray himself as the face of the present government. This has led to the fear among the party legislatures that BJP would be reduced to a non-entity in the next election. And they feel that’s it’s Modi who is responsible for this as according to them Modi has promoted himself, not the party.

Bihar political Analysis April

The long awaited cabinet reshuffle in Bihar has threatened to turn into a major headache for both the JD (U) and BJP. The shuffle was being awaited for the last 2 and a half years by the legislatures and their supporters from both the coalition partner and when now it has finally occurred it has led to growing tensions in BJP and JD(U).

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar replaced ten members of his Cabinet and added 19 new faces. Eight leaders from the Janata Dal (U) and two ministers from the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) were asked to resign from their ministership on ground of 'less than satisfactory performance'.

The state BJP is facing its first major problem since time immemorial. Angry protests and voice of dissent among the supporters of those leaders who were dropped from the cabinet including former Sports, Art & Culture Minister Janardan Singh Sigriwal and former Health Minister Chandramohan Rai has forced the BJP headquarters in Delhi to intervene.

Former ministers and their supporters are pressing for the removal of Deputy CM Sushil Modi and party state president Radha Mohan Singh. The removal of Chandramohan Rai has caused the most resentment as he is a very senior leader and had done quite well when he was in charge of the Health ministry.

The disgruntled leaders of BJP are blaming Modi of practicing autocratic culture and have alleged that he is doing all he can to stop any other party leader from gaining roots. The vociferous protests forced the BJP to summon Modi twice to Delhi in order to work out some solution. Kalraj Mishra, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary and party in-charge of Bihar was also rushed to Patna to calm the protestors but he was not able to make any headway.

Though reports coming from within the party suggest that Modi has been given a breather till the Karnataka polls and the dissenters have been told that their issues will be sorted out after the polls in Karnataka and till then they have been asked to cooperate with the new ministers and avoid using media to voice their anger.

It’s not that JD (U) hasn’t developed any fissures post reshuffle but Nitish Kumar has been able to quell any such protest within the JD (U) only because he is a much taller leader than Modi. No other leader in the state JD (U) can match the political credentials of Nitish. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about Modi who though is experienced yet is young when it comes to some of the senior state BJP leaders. And it’s these leaders that have let it know to the party High command that they are being felt led down and their long standing loyalty is being ignored.

In between all the recent political development it seems that “Development of Bihar” has taken a back seat. 

Although Nitish Kumar has categorically said that development of Bihar will still be the main emphasis of the present state government but it’s anyone guess that with clashes of so many political aspirations and ambitions, how long the social and economic development of Bihar will continue to be the primary focus.

Political diary- Chhattisgarh ,Bihar and Madhya Pradesh

Chhattisgarh:

Chhattisgarh will be one of the most affected states due to delimitation of constituencies for Lok Sabha and Assembly seats. Jagdalpur in Bastar, Ambikapur, Surajpur, Premnagar and Paal would be changed into general seats from SC/ST at present. Kanker Lok Sabha seat will become a general seat from ST reserved at present and Janjgir-Korba, presently a general seat will now become a SCC reserved Lok Sabha seat. Ms Karuna Shukla, niece of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and president of All India women's wing of the BJP represents the constituency.

The heavy weights likely to be affected include former minister, Satyanarayan Sharma, whose traditional Mandir Harshoud seat will cease to exist and Ms Renuka Singh, another former minister, whose Prem Nagar seat is being converted into a general seat.

Ms Singh has challenged the recommendations of the Delimitation commission in Supreme Court and opposed the decision of the Cabinet to reduce ST reserved seats for Chhattisgarh Assembly from 34 to 29 and ST reserved seats in Lok Sabha from the state from four to three.

The former chief minister, Ajit Jogi, who represents a general seat-Mahasamund in the Lok Sabha has also pleaded like Jharkhand, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland, Chhattisgarh should also be exempted from delimitation of constituencies in the coming elections. The elections for the new assembly are due in November this year.

The Chief Minister Raman Singh is hoping that his ambitious 'Rs 3 per kg rice and Rs 10 per litre Kerosene for BPL families' scheme will help the BJP government in Chhattisgarh in wooing the rural voters where 42 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line.

The state BJP leadership recently had reasons celebrate as the party grabbed victory in the recent assembly by-poll in the Naxal stronghold of Keshkal (Bastar).

The saffron party has now decided to put enhanced efforts on the impoverished regions of the state where corruption and delays stops people from getting food grains and kerosene from the Public Distribution System (PDS) as political pundits are of the view that that if the welfare schemes are sincerely implemented the BJP would be able to enjoys its success in the forthcoming assembly election.

Raman Singh has issued instructions to the government officials asking them to maintain strict surveillance to prevent any malfunctioning and corruption in the rice distribution scheme or face stern actions.

Bihar:

The delimitation of constituencies would affect adversely several leaders, including state RJD president, Abdul Bari Sidiuqqui, health minister, Chandra Mohan Rai (Ram Nagar) and sports minister, Janardan Singh Segriwal (Jalalpur), whose constituencies will cease to exist in the coming assembly elections.

Sadhu Yadav, brother-in-law of the Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav ,who was elected from Gopalganj (general) seat to the Lok Sabha will have to search new constituency as Gopalganj has now become a SC reserved seat ,Ramchandra Paswan, LJP MP and brother of Ram Vilas Paswan and Surajbhan, another MP of LJP will also have to look for new seats as their current seats , Rosera and Balia have been scrapped.

In the 243 state assembly, now, there would be 37 SC and two ST seats and six out of 40 Lok Sabha seats from Bihar would be reserved for SCs

Patna Saheb and Pataliputra will have two new Lok sabha constituencies with changes in the areas of Patna and Barh constituencies. In Patna, there will be one new assembly seat from Kumhrar, which would be carved out from the existing Patna South, Masaurhi and Phulwari constituencies.

Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) has decided to don the political cap with the party now working to make its presence felt between the OBCs and the Minorities. MJ Akbar, who once successfully contested for the MP seat from Kishanganj (Bihar) is all set for a comeback, though this time he will be going to the Upper house courtesy JD (U).

Madhya Pradesh:

If the Lok Sabha elections are held immediately in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress would be gainer .The past trends of the by-elections also indicate, the BJP would be loser, as in all the by-elections, the BJP lost the seats won by it in the last elections. The BJP lost the Khargone Lok Sabha seat to the Congress in November. In the summer, the party could not retain the seat it had won in 2004 elections in Shivpuri.

The recent 60000 crores debt relief relief given to the Kisans by the finance minister, P Chidambaram, will definitely help gain the support of the cotton growers of Khargone-Khanwda and soyabean growers of Malwa region and also in central Madhya Pradesh. Many farmers had committed suicide in these regions due to heavy loans.

The former chief minister, Ms Uma Bharti, who would be fielding her candidates against the BJP, would also help the Congress in a triangular contest.

Politically stating Congress is on a revival mode after Suresh Pachori was made the state PCC chief recently. The old PCC had virtually become defunct under Subhash Yadav and inspite of many opportunities presented by the BJP, the PCC was no abe to successfully utilize them. Now the workers are hoping for a change in fortune under Pachori as he is more taller than Yadav and commands more respect among the senior leaders like Digvijay Singh, Jyotiraditya Scinda and that would help him to silent the intra-party fighting that has been brewing for quite a while now.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) was hoping on using the Ram Sethu issue for electoral gains in Madhya Pradesh but it got a rude shock as the Ramsetu issue backfired as was clear from its performance in the Karnataka local body elections where the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) emerged as the winner.

BJP and Congress both have shifted their spotlight to the sizeable number of tribal votebank in Madhya Pradesh. This was evident after LK Advani chose Jabalpur to launch his 'sankalp yatra' while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a visit to the remote tribal belt of Jhabua.

Tribals dominate both Jhabua and Jabalpur regions. They play a decisive role in 91 of the state's 230 assembly constituencies. Of these, 41 are reserved for the community.

Tribals would play an even more significant role if the delimitation of constituencies takes place before the polls. Under the new system, the number of tribal seats would go up.

The significant of the tribal vote was demonstrated in the 2003 assembly polls at Nimar, Malwa, Mahakaushal and Vindhya regions. The BJP swung 15 percent of the tribal votes away from the Congress and won three-fourths of the tribal seats.

Though recent trends suggest that the Tribals appear to have distanced themselves from BJP as was evident in Khargone Lok Sabha and Sanver and Lanjhi assembly by-polls which the BJP lost.

Another important part in the whole picture is to be played by Gondwana Ganatantra Party (GGP), which has substantial strength in the tribal areas of the Mahakoshal region.

Both the BJP and the Congress are wary of GGP and if the Gonds in the Mahakoshal region, where 60 percent of the voters are tribals, decide to go with GGP, the electoral prospects of the two mainstream parties will surely suffer.

Similarly Mayawati’s BSP which recently organized a show of strength in Bhopal, will also give sleepless night to both BJP and Congress strategist as BSPs policy of wooing the Brahmin vote bank is sure to change the political equations in the state.

The plight of being Bihar

I had to draft a letter to Mr.Tarun Tejpal . Editor of Tehelka after his magazine carried out a highly biased report on the state of governance in Bihar in the December 29th issue “ Two years On, no new deal ” . Also have produced a counter-article and mailed the same to Tehelka. Producing the same here. Abhinandan

Dear Mr.Tejpal,


This is with regard to the piece on Bihar that has been published in Tehelka's 29th December issue. “ Two years On, no new deal ”

I expected a much better supervision from your side before the article saw press. Even a man from mars will be able to say that you already had a pre-determined negative picture of Bihar in your mind when your magazine started working on that report.


You have every right to to paint such a negative picture of Bihar but just for the sake of it and for the sake of the principles of journalism you could have inserted the other side too.


I have drafted a letter in reply to the article and if you get time then do go through it. Maybe then you will realize that things are bad because they are portrayed bad. And I hope that you understand that every thing has two sides.


Warm regards and best of luck.

Abhinandan Mishra , New Delhi


The plight of being Bihar

We have time and again read and heard the the concept of “ Prejudiced reporting ”. Those who have gone through this weeks Tehelka magazine ( December 29, 2007) would have surely read the article “ Two years On, no new deal ” on the state of governance in Bihar by Tehelka’s Bihar correspondent. And one would not find a better example of ‘prejudiced reporting’ than the above mentioned article.

Those who are not aware of the ground realities in Bihar are sure to rise in unison and call for the rolling of Nitish ‘s head after reading the current Tehelka’s write up. The writer has left no further scope for criticizing Nitish kumar led JD (U) government and he has through manipulative use of facts turned every work of progress and development that has been taken up by Nitish into that of misdeed.

He in the end of his article says that the ‘people of Bihar are wondering whether they did the right thing in electing Nitish as a CM’? The writer has failed to answer on what is the parameter that he has has used while constituting ‘the people of Bihar’ in the present case.

The writer has embarked on a “feel bad” drive while criticizing the state government and made sure that by the end of the article people start feeling that “Nitish is the worst thing that has happened to Bihar”.

It would have been better if the writer had acknowledged the efforts that are being taken up by Nitish to improve the situation Bihar which has been result of 15 years of ‘‘susasan’’ by RJD. (pun intended)

It has been only two years since the JD(U) assumed power in Bihar. The Correspondent at one place says that Nitish has formed commissions after commissions to implement policies.and to conduct enquiries into the various social and legal misdeeds of the previous state government. What else he expects? Does he expects that all mis-adventures of the previous government should be ignored?

For the records one of the commission was on the 1989-90 Bhagalpur riots. The Justice N N Singh Commission of Inquiry which was constituted in February 2006 recommended that victims of the 1989-90 Bhagalpur riots should be compensated on par with those of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Later after the JD(U) came into power a Bihar court sentenced Kameshwar Yadav, the prime accused to rigorous life imprisonment. The police had earlier closed the case against Yadav, citing lack of evidence. In fact, he was later given a citation for maintaining communal harmony by the state police in 2004 when the state was ruled by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) government of Rabri Devi.

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Chief Minister Nitish Kumar last year ordered a fresh probe into the 27 riots cases that were closed by police citing lack of evidence. So much for bad governance.

Later the writer says that although the crime rate has gone down in the state after the new government yet crime committed has increased. He states that this is due to the fact that the police machinery has been told not to register cases. If this arguments has any substance then I am sure that the previous government also had enough ‘clout’ over the police to stop them from registering cases. But under the RJD rule both the crime rate as well as crimes committed increased.

The writer further quotes a PUCL worker to substantiate his claim. It is illogical to expect that a human rights activist with due respect will say that all’s well in the state. Better choice would have been a local trader or a local journalist.

The biasness continues to gain strength as we turn the pages. The magazine goes on to criticize Nitish Kumar on the ground that by setting up speedy trial courts he is targeting his political adversaries. They further say that the CM is targeting leaders from particular castes. One of the so called ‘target’ was Anand Mohan , a JD(U) leader and a former MP. He was ‘targeted’ by Nitish for inciting a mob to lynch the then district magistrate of gopalganj Krishnaiah 13 years ago.

Then the magazine dwells on the issues of development. The appointment of 3.12 lakhs of teacher comes up ; but even in this case Nitish earns negative input. He uses this number to point out that only 1 lakh post of policeman and engineer have been filled up till now. Nobody not even a CM possesses a magic-wand these days and expecting him to bring the golden days of patliputra back in a short period of 2 years is a bit too much.

The most childish of the magazine claims is embedded in the first paragraph of the article. The writer says that Nitish and company are worried after around 2 lakh disenchanted people turned up for a “Chetavni rally’ of Lalu yadav.

Those who were in Patna at that time will tell that these rallyist were not the ‘dis-enchanted lot’ and by no stretch of imagination they numbered 2 lakhs. As a matter of fact that rally was supposed to go on till 5 PM but when the RJD leaders saw the sparse crowd they decided that it was in their best interest to windup the rally by 2 PM but not before Laluji dedicated his two sons to the service of the nation.

Much of the rallyist composed of rural people who came in buses and tractors, not because they wanted a change in the state but because it was better to earn some bucks and have a good time in the city rather than idlying away a Sunday afternoon.

Quoting opposition leaders and local activist for describing two years rule may give a picture but it will not be a true and complete picture.

I have time and again reiterated that a mess that took 15 years to be done cannot be undone in 2 years. Atleast Nitish is trying and putting efforts to put things back on track. Let us save our critiques for 3 more years and till then let Nitish do his job and let Bihar live in peace for the state has already earned more than its share of bad name.

http://desicritics.org/2008/01/01/001242.php