Nitish Government fools the people of Bihar on crime.

The move of Nitish Government to post the names of convicts and other details on state Home Department's website aimed at checking crime rate in the state is grossly misleading, ridiculous and attacks just retired criminals while actually protecting the practicing 'goons'. This step of the Sushasan Babu is just meant to fool the people of Bihar on Government's seriousness on tackling crime in the state. It is beyond comprehension that, while the people are terrorstricken by criminals who are either not arrested or manage to bypass judicial process, Nitish Government tries to blow trumpets on criminals who have already been convicted long ago and do not matter anymore for proclaiming "Civil consequence of Crime".

To quote an example from Saharsa District Jail, the website has the names of Trivani Sharma, Lalan Sharma, Ashok Yadav, Upendera Sharma and Raghuni Sharma all of whome committed crime in 1997. Those also arrested at present include notorious criminals like Umesh Dahlan, Sashi Kumar Singh, Manoj Yadav and politically known Anand Mohan. Dreaded Manoj Yadav, main accused in Babhani Massacre and with 52 cases of heinous crime against him, do not figure in any list of the Home Department. Infact, Manoj Yadav contested and won as Pramukh of Patarghat Block, in the Panchayati elections. Now, such criminals will feel more safe that they are not in any 'list' of Home department.

If the Nitish Government would have been really serious in tackling crime rate, the Home Department would have released a list of criminals with many serious and heinous crime and taken action against them under Section 110 Cr P C. Therefore, the Government should refrain from making empty announcements and take real steps to work towards 'crime-free' Bihar.

Rahul Gandhi UP plans may hit OBC road-block.

Rahul Gandhi UP plans may hit OBC road-block.

The flip-flop of Congress in muddling with the Mandal formula to severely damage OBC quota at National level with an expectation of UP minorities votes might get boomeranged with Muslim voters not necessarily taking Congress side en-masse while other OBC groups clearly keeping off Congress in the ensuing UP state assembly election. The blame shall rest on the Congress strategists in UP including Salman Khursheed and Digvijay Singh, while it will be the dreams of Rahul Gandhi which will be shattered.

Congress took certain steps on splitting OBC reservation with 4.5% specially meant for minorities, i.e., the Muslims. The reservation for OBCs has always been a touchy issue for them and others too. It took several years for Central Government, largely ruled by Congress since independence, to let OBC reservation roll off after Mandal Commission, formed during Janta Party Government ( i.e. a non- Congress Government), and implemented by VP Singh headed Janta Dal Government ( also non-Congress), made OBC reservation in Central Government services a reality. It is a fact that even now the OBC reservation is not honestly implemented and the Congress dodging the promise of Caste census is a case in point. So, the talk of Reservation for Women etc. has always been considered by OBC groups as a way to pull down benefits to OBC in form of quotas. In such a circumstance when the Congress strategist decided to demarcate Muslim quota within the OBC reservation, OBC suspicion has gained credence on the conspiracy to snatch away the reservation benefits meant for it as a monolithic group.

What is again of concern to OBC groups is the go ahead for Jat inclusion in OBC category. Now with Congress strategist hopeful of reaping its benefits in UP election have overlooked the loss of the other OBC groups in UP due to this step. Secondly, let us predict what relevance shall these steps have on Minority votes swaying in Congress favour. It is evident that the Muslim votes across the nation, as well as in UP, is not a monolithic whole but divided between upper caste and pashmanda Muslims. The beneficiaries of the reservation would like to vote for Congress, but depending on the candidates and local situation. It is a common tendency among Muslim voters to vote for the Party in power, so BSP will also command a respectable percentage of Muslim votes. That the Samajwadi Party has been an old preference of Muslims in UP will also mean that the party will have its own share of Muslim votes. With Muslim votes in UP spreading across political spectrum during election, it will be naïve for Rahul Gandhi to believe his strategists promise of mass support of Muslim votes.

Though the Congress has given due percentage of tickets to OBC candidates, the real question is what will they go with to their voters, when there is a general feeling among the OBC voters that the Congress has duped them. The real miscalculation comes from Rahul’s own coterie which is dominated or rather has only Thakurs, headed by Digvijay Singh to advice him. Now, Digvijay Singh has been an utter flop in his home state Madhya Pradesh. His habitual ‘foot in the mouth syndrome’, everytime he opens his mouth will certainly be a liability for Congress and Rahul Gandhi will bear the burden. Digvijay Singh will do a Amar Singh on Rahul Gandhi, it can be concluded safely.

Rahul Gandhi had definitely gained by taking up the farmer’s issues when he was arrested, while he was staging a sit-in in Bhatta Parsaul village in support of farmers agitating against inadequate compensation for the acquisition of their land for a highway project. Mayawati had responded to Gandhi issue by saying that the decision was in the hands of the Centre… and had called the act “ his frustration by indulging in mean dramatics." Inspite of this the farmers are not a monolithic group and the Dalit farmer’s, we would like to believe at this point are largely with Mayawati. Schemes as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act cannot be effectifely translated as an election issue. A Centre for Media Studies report showed that the corruption has increased in UP. But with the advisors having put Rahul Gandhi onto logger heads with Anna Hazare, the impression gone out is that the Congress is the hardcore defenders of the corrupt. So, it would be difficult for the Congres to take mileage against incumbent Chief Minister Mayawati in a case about disproportionate assets, while Samajwadi party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav also has a case pending against him in a similar case. Interestingly out of a total of 403 MLAs, 143 face criminal charges. But this has no meaning for Congress especially when in neighbouring Bihar wives of Dons Anand Mohan and Pappu Yadav decorate Congress hierarchy.

While, the Brahmin votes are concerned, it would be difficult for Congress to woo them away from their traditional support to BJP and new found loyalty towards BSP. Therefore, with Congress finding it difficult to get on to its agelong winning social combination of Brahmins, Dalits and Minorities, the waning of the chance too woo the OBC or at least a section of it, makes power a distant dream for it in UP.

चुडा-दही और मानसी का कुत्ता.

चुडा-दही और मानसी का कुत्ता.

बात १९९९ लोक सभा चुनाव की है. मधेपुरा लोक सभा चुनाव क्षेत्र से मैं नव-गठित पार्टी एन सी पी से रा ज द अध्यक्ष लालू प्रसाद व जद(यु) अध्यक्ष शरद यादव के मुकाबले खड़ा था. दरअसल कुछ वर्षों से मेरे साथी और मैं, "मधेपुरा युवा मोर्चा" के तत्वाधान में 'बहरी नेता भगाओ - मधेपुरा बचाओ' मुहीम पर थे. हमारा कहना था की लालू प्रसाद और शरद यादव दोनों मधेपुरा के नहीं हैं, और राजनैतिक मलाई खाने के लिए मधेपुरा से चुनाव लड़ते है, जिससे मधेपुरा की अस्मिता को ठेस पहुंची है और स्थानीय नेतृत्व पूरी तरह कुंठित हो गयी है. सांसद के तौर पर इन दोनों ने मधेपुरा और उसके लोगों की अवहेलना ही की है.

दो राजनैतिक सांढ़ जब लड़ते थे तो तर्क और मुद्दे उस धूल मैं खो जाते थे और इनके निजी समर्थन पर सभी बहस सिमट कर रह जाती थी. उनके बीच अपनी बात को मैं एक वाकया सुना कर कहता था.

उन दिनों कोसी क्षेत्र के लोग गंगा-स्नान के लिए मानसी जाते थे. मानसी खगडिया के पास एक प्रमुख रेल जंक्सन है. गंगा-स्नान के बाद लोग चुडा- दही खाने के लिए प्लेटफार्म पर बैठते थे. चुडा- दही पडोसने के साथ ही कहीं से दो कुत्ते आस-पास बैठ जाते थे. अब जब तक ये चुप-चाप थे तो खाने वालों को क्या आपत्ति हो सकती थी. परन्तु पहला कौड़ लेने के साथ ही कुत्ते एक दूसरे पर गुर्राने लगते थे. गुर्राते-गुर्राते दोनों एक दुसरे से भिड जाते थे, और कुछ पलों में गुथम-गुथ हो जाते थे. उसके बाद लड़ते-लड़ते वे चुडा-दही पर गिर जाते थे.

कुत्ता से ख़राब किया हुआ चुडा-दही कौन खायेगा! गलियां देते हुए लोग चुडा-दही को छोड़ कर हट जाते थे. जैसे लोग चुडा-दही को छोड़ कर हटते थे, दोनों कुत्ते बिना किसी झगडे के मिल-बाँट कर चुडा-दही खा लेते थे, और सिल-सिला चलता रहता था.

मैं यही समझाने की कोशिश करता था कि मधेपुरा के लोग जानें कि अगर चुडा-दही मधेपुरा था तो वे कुत्ते कौन हैं?

Singham DIG at Saharsa.

Saharsa, 13th January, 2012. It is a typical replay of the scenes from Hindi block-bluster “Singham”, when an active, vigilant and dynamic Deputy Inspector General of Police Dr Paresh Saxena, a 1994-batch IPS officer widely known for his professional integrity and achievements, like the hero of the film is hounded by criminals in connivance with some Police officials and a section of Media, for cracking on criminals and taking corrupt, complacent and docile Police officers at sensitive Police Stations in Kosi Range to task. However, the common people are with the DIG for drastically reducing crime graph in the region. Even the simple villager in the area could guess the real reason when the Incharge of Saur Bazar Police Station, suspended for repeatedly ignoring the order to arrest some criminals, alleged nearly a month later before media that the DIG had verbally abused him and threatened to kill him.

Kosi region is the grazing ground for some notorious criminal turned politicians like Anand Mohan, Pappu Yadav, Kishore Kumar Munna et al. Anand Mohan and Pappu Yadav are in jail and Mohan is lodged at Saharsa Jail itself. It is more than evident that the command of Anand Mohan runs from the VIP ward of the jail itself and even in jail it is Mohan who decides the wards for the inmates. Mohan was visibly irritated over the raid in Jail in which several mobile phones, charger and sim card were seized even from VIP ward. The encore against the DIG, it seems is schemed at the VIP ward, which also houses Umesh Dahlan, another criminal turned politician arrested on the intervention of the DIG, and with support of Kishore Kumar Munna, otherwise at loggerheads with Anand Mohan. Kishore Kumar Munna enjoys excellent rapport with the Superintendent of Police at Saharsa Md Rahman.

Dr Paresh Saxena joined as DIG of the Kosi Range at Saharsa in August 2011. As a ‘no-nonsense’ tolerating officer he immediately got to the task of cleansing the Police system and crime at Saharsa. Several pending cases were taken up in the region and with Police finalizing their reports, trial were speeded up in most of the cases. Most important was arrest of notorious criminals like Manoj Yadav, Umesh Dahlan, Sashi Kumar Singh alias Chunnu et al. Manoj Yadav elected as Pramukh of Patarghat Block at Saharsa, the main accused in Bhabani Carnage and with nearly 52 heinous criminal cases against him and pending FIRs was moving around freely. Santosh Yadav, a dreaded criminal was killed in an encounter at Saharsa. With heat turning on against criminals, interestingly those who got most inconvenient were some Police Station Incharges, who otherwise had issued ‘free passes’ to most of the criminals.

Says Congress leader and Delhi University Associate Professor Suraj Yadav, “ Mr Saxena is one of the officers who are trying to reiterate rule of law against rule of jungle in the so-called ‘Su-shasan’ of Nitish regime. We are just keeping our fingers crossed that he is not prematurely removed to appease the criminal-police nexus”. Several law-abiding citizens of the area echo his concerns.

Dr Paresh Saxena has been in the eye of the storm in past also. In 2008, then an Assistant Inspector General (Inspection) he gave Bihar’s leading politicians goose bumps when he served a legal notice on Urban Development minister Bhola Singh of the BJP as a precursor to a defamation suit. A deeply upset Saxena, a medical doctor by training, wanted an apology from the minister for the insulting remarks Bhola Singh made about Saxena at a public ceremony in Gaya then. This was the first time in India that an IPS officer had served a legal notice alleging defamation by a sitting minister. The fire in him remains , it seems.

सहरसा के पुलिस उप-महानिरीक्षक "सिन्घम" के अवतार में.

सहरसा, १२ जनवरी, २०१२. लोकप्रिय हिंदी फिल्म "सिन्घम" के दृश्य सहरसा में दोहराए जा रहे हैं और कोसी रेंज के पुलिस उप-महानिरीक्षक डा परेश सक्सेना, १९९४ बैच भारतीय पुलिस सेवा के अधिकारी, जो ईमानदारी और कर्त्तव्य-परायणता के लिए जाने जाते हैं, अपने कर्तव्य-पालन और अपराध से लोहा लेने पर फिल्म के नायक की तरह अपराधियों और उनसे सांठ- गाँठ रखने वाले पुलिस अधिकारीयों और मीडिया के एक वर्ग के निशाने पर हैं. हालाँकि आम नागरिक पुलिस उप-महानिरीक्षक के अपराधियों पर सिकंजा कसने के मुहीम की सराहना कर रहें हैं, परन्तु पुलिस के ही संगठन मीडिया में सक्सेना पर नित्य हमले कर रहे हैं. शुरुआत सोनवर्षा के निलंबित थाना प्रभारी के उस बयान से हुई जब निलंबन के लगभग एक महीने बाद उसने मीडिया में आरोप लगाये की पुलिस उप-महानिरीक्षक अभद्र भाषा में और उसे जान से मारने की धमकी दे कर उसकी प्रताड़ना कर रहें हैं. थाना प्रभारी महोदय पर आरोप था कि लगातार निर्देश मिलने पर भी उसने अपराधियों और एक कांड के आरोपियों को नहीं पकड़ा. वैसे देहात का साधारण आदमी और आम नागरिक भी जिनका थाने से वास्ता पड़ा है, वे थाना-प्रभारी के आरोप को हास्यास्पद मान रहें हैं. ऐसा माना जा रहा है की मीडिया में इसे उछालने के पीछे कई प्रभावशाली नेता बने अपराधी और सहरसा के पुलिस अधीक्षक मो. रहमान की मिलीभगत है!

कोशी क्षेत्र में कई पूर्व कुख्यात अपराधी नेता बन कर सामाजिक- राजनैतिक रूप से प्रभावशाली हैं. उनमें प्रमुख हैं आनंद मोहन, पप्पू यादव, किशोर कुमार मुन्ना इत्यादि. आनंद मोहन और पप्पू यादव सज़ायाफ्ता हैं और जेल में हैं. आनंद मोहन तो सहरसा जेल के वी आई पी वार्ड में हैं, और जेल से ही उनका फरमान चलता है. जेल में भी कैदियों के वार्ड का अनौपचारिक आवंटन वे ही करते हैं. कुछ दिनों से जेल में रेड के बाद वी आई पी वार्ड सहित अन्य वार्ड से मोबाइल, चार्जर और सिम ज़ब्त किये जाने पर तो वे नाराज़ थे हीं, साथ-साथ अपराधियों पर शिकंजा कसे जाने पर भी वे खुश नहीं थे. ऐसा माना जाता है की डी आई जी सक्सेना के विरुद्ध मीडिया के एक वर्ग द्वारा आग उगले जाने का साजिश वी आई पी वार्ड में ही रची गयी जहाँ एक अन्य अपराधी-नेता उमेश दहलान भी कैद हैं, तथा जिसे किशोर कुमार मुन्ना का भी समर्थन प्राप्त है, जो अन्यथा आनंद मोहन से असहमत ही रहते हैं. समझा जाता है की किशोर कुमार मुन्ना की सहरसा के पुलिस अधीक्षक मो. रहमान से बहुत अच्छे सम्बन्ध हैं.

डा परेश सक्सेना अगस्त २०११ में कोसी रेंज के पुलिस उप-महानिरीक्षक पदस्थापित होकर सहरसा आये. सहरसा आते के साथ ही बढ़ते अपराध को रोकने और पुलिस व्यवस्था को सुधारने के दिशा में सक्सेना ने कड़ी कार्यवाही शुरू कर दी. पुराने मामलों के अनुसन्धान को गति दी गयी, और कई मामले न्याय के लिए कोर्ट में गति दी गयी. यह महत्वपूर्ण था की की कई कुख्यात अपराधियों को गिरफ्तार किया गया जिनमें मनोज यादव, उमेश दहलान, शशि कुमार सिंह उर्फ़ चुन्नू आदि शामिल हैं. मनोज यादव, पतरघट प्रखंड का प्रमुख, बभनी नरसंहार का मुख्य आरोपी और जिसपर ५२ से अधिक मामलें दर्ज है, नए प्रथम सूचना रपट के बाद भी खुले आम घूम रहा था. सहरसा में कम उम्र में ही दहशत फ़ैलाने वाला कुख्यात अपराधी संतोष यादव को सहरसा में मुठभेड़ में मार दिया गया. अपराधियों पर शिकंजा कसने से सबसे अधिक विचलित कुछ थानेदार और कनीय पुलिस अधिकारी ही हुए जिनके छत्रछाया में वे खुलेआम संरक्षित थे.

परेश सक्सेना पहले भी विवाद में रहे हैं. सन २००८ में सहायक महानिरीक्षक (निरीक्षण) के पद पर गया के पित्र्पक्ष मेला के उद्घाटन समारोह में तत्कालीन नगर विकास मंत्री भोला सिंह को मंच पर माला पहनाने से मना करते हुए सैलूट दिया. मंत्री ने भाषण में कुछ ऐसे टिप्पण किये की आहत सक्सेना, जो मेडिकल डाक्टर भी हैं, मानहानि दावा करने के लिए मंत्री को कानूनी नोटिस दे दिए. यह भारत में पहली बार हुआ की एक भारतीय पुलिस सेवा के किसी अधिकारी ने वर्तमान मंत्री को क़ानूनी नोटिस दिया हो. वो जज्बा शायद आज भी डा परेश सक्सेना में है.