Mr.
Nagar misses the point. He buys into
what others say. The point is that
every one needs to be judged by
content of their character. Nothing
else matters. He may have gone to
school here in the US but did not
get the central American message.
This is my point. I was born in
Bihar and spent 17 yrs of my life
there. My family still lives there.
I am a Bihari American. I no longer
count myself as Indian - not even
Indian origin.
The point is - I do not know Lalu
Yadav. I do not know those
criminals. My family does not know
these people either. None of us have
any influence to change these
things. We are just trying to lead
our lives. So why should we take
abuse from all and sundry who use
Bihari label in derogatory sense?
When people judge others by such
superficial labels - they tell us
more about their deep in dumps
culture than anything else.
Socio-economic-political problems
can be discussed and solutions
suggested - that is one thing.
Treating everyone from Bihar in
derogatory sense is a totally
different issue. It tells you that
Indians are the most racist people
in the world. Unless that attitude
is solved - India will breakup.
Enough said. - Sanjay Kumar, MA,
USA - Mar. 12, 2008
The
article by Mr. Ashok Nagar is a well
intended article where he is mainly
asking Biharis to rise above
caste/religion, and judge a person
as a person and not by his
caste/religion. I agree with Mr.
Ashok Nagar that Biharis or People
of Bihar should carefully elect
their representative/leaders by
judging a candidate as a
person/character and not based on
his caste/religion.
I also do not agree with my fellow
reader Mr. Sanjay Kumar that Mr.
Nagar has missed his so called
central American message - of
judging a person by his character.
Actually, that is exactly the
message Mr. Nagar has conveyed. In
Mr. Nagar's words (in case you
missed it)- "I find generally people
of Bihar tend to be so blinded by
caste and religion, that they forget
to judge a person as a person."
I am surprised to see Mr. Sanjay
Kumar (as stated) doesn't consider
himself of Indian origin (or Bihari)
any longer. It is a typical reaction
that many overseas educated Biharis
have - to shut oneself up from other
Indians as these Indians mostly from
other states tend to have mixed
opinion of Bihar (hence Biharis),
and some use the term Bihari in a
derogatory way. However, remember
that you guys are the
representatives of Bihar and you can
change that opinion by working
positively, and for the progress of
Bihar (and not by hiding in a closet
or renouncing Indian origin). I tell
all my Bihari friends to go and
interact with other Indians and let
them know that you are a Bihari, and
a different type of Bihari, compared
to what has been depicted in media
unfairly. Thanks to our so called
leaders commonly appearing in media
- Yadavs, Paswans, Alams, Khans etc.
Just look at the number of MLAs and
MPs from Bihar/Jharkhand having
criminal record - the number
surpasses those from other states.
Also, look at today's video placed
on the PatnaDaily.Com about Naval
Kishore Yadav and his ruffianism,
manners of talking, threatening a
traffic police officer, and not
letting the police do his job - if
people from other states see that
video they get wrong impression
about all Biharis. We all know that
all Biharis are not like Naval
Kishore Yadav, or Mehboob Alam,
however everyone gets bad
reputation, and negative
consequences to suffer especially
when they step out of Bihar.
As far as the central American
message (as stated by fellow reader
Mr. Sanjay Kumar) is concerned, let
us not make Americans as the
benchmark of perfection - Just for
your information, there exists
racism and regionalism in America
even today (but they are not as
pronounced and open as in India). I
have seen Americans use derogatory
terms to describe fellow Americans
from other states. For example,
People of Northern American states
are called Yankees by Southerner in
US, and many northerner consider
that term to be offensive. A Yankee
in NY may call a Texan, a cowboy,
and some educated Texans may not
like that. It is USA where there was
race based slavery system where
blacks were forcibly brought from
Africa to USA in bunch, and made to
work in farms, treated like farm
animals, and at night time they were
chained/locked like animals (so they
don't run away). I haven't seen such
a thing in the history of India.
Just the opposite, In India, there
has been so called SC/ST becoming
presidents/central ministers etc. So
far, there has been no black or
women president in USA. (so I don't
understand what central American
message our fellow reader Sanjay has
been talking about).
As far as Bihar is concerned, we
educated and informed Bihari people
must keep working to improve the
condition of Bihar in whatever
capacity we can. We should be proud
(instead of being shy) of being a
Bihari, and try to change the image
of Bihar. - Albert John, USA -
Mar. 13, 2008
I
do not think that people from other
states think anything bad about
Bihar. They know well that Biharis
are most hard working and most
intelligent people. They are well
aware about it's rich past and it's
potential. For me Bihar is to India
is what India is to world. Let them
go to hell who thinks anything bad
about Bihar. - Rajesh Prasad
- Mar. 13, 2008
Here you go again. I will try to be
as clear as I can be.
There are 2 separate issues
#1 - social/political/economic
issues
#2 - Bihari label and treatment of
individual Biharis by some
non-Biharis
When people from Bihar are being
killed in Assam and when they are
being driven out of Mumbai - that is
not because there is a problem with
Biharis. It is because people on the
other side trying to start this
ethnic cleansing are racist. This
has nothing to do with what may or
may not be happening in Bihar. It
has everything do with
Bihari-hater's racist attitude.
There are millions of Biharis -
honest and hardworking - making a
living outside Bihar. But these
racists refuse to see us for what we
are. They look at the trouble makers
and then aim their guns at us.
Mr. Nagar is trying to link #1 and
#2 just as the Thackerays and
Assamese goons are. As if fixing #1
will magically change #2.
Let us keep the 2 issues separate.
Feel free to contribute to Bihar's
development. But never rationalize
the ethnic cleansing that is
beginning to take place. - Sanjay
Kumar, MA, USA - Mar. 13, 2008
I continue to disagree with my
fellow Bihari reader Mr. Sanjay
Kumar that the issues are separate
and not interrelated. As a proud
Bihari, I firmly believe that these
issues pointed out in his comments
are interrelated, and one leading to
another over a long period of time.
Bad social/economic/political
conditions can stop the economic
growth and force laborers to migrate
to green pastures in search for
work. Mr. Sanjay, you are saying
something which is obvious and
everyone knows about. We all know
that Bihari laborers (not Bihari
Babus) are being unfairly targeted
and harassment/violence against them
is wrong and a crime. We all know
that Bihari haters are wrong and
they must be punished if they
committed crime. We also know that
Bihari term is used in a derogatory
way by some people of other states.
So do you have something new to say
that others don't know about? In
fact, it is you who is missing the
point of recent discussions in
PatnaDaily.Com and what Mr. Nagar
has said in his article. I suggest
you read his article one more time.
He has not tried to link anything
that you seem to be too eager to
imply. You are trying to put words
in others mouth and that is not
polite. Mr. Nagar clearly says that
he doesn't agree with what Mr.
Thackeray have to say. At the same
time he provided some insight about
what can be done to make Bihar a
better place to live and work, so
that state as a whole can improve
its overall condition and
reputation. I have personally seen
that condition of Bihari laborers
(due to Bihar's downfall) is so
desperate in their villages that
they are compelled to migrate in
masses to other places in search for
work. Their mass migration can
threaten local workforce and cut in
their earnings. Most laborers are
migrating out from two states -
Bihar and UP combined, and backlash
is not only against Biharis but also
against the UP laborers. Other
states don't have their laborers
migrating out to big cities in such
a great number (at least not yet).
Nevertheless, it is wrong to harass
or target people from a given state.
We all know that.
What I understand, here the
discussion rather is what has led to
Bihar's downfall, to poor impression
(what you call Bihari label) of
Biharis outside Bihar. In fact, Mr.
Nagar doesn't even talk about the
migration of Bihari laborers, and
their harassment. You keep
complaining others have low opinion
of Biharis, so what? Can you change
others mind just by complaining? If
so then I can also join you in
complaining. It is better to suggest
some solution and act on it. Just
think what can you do to make things
better for Biharis other than
renouncing your country of origin?
Do you have any solution to solve
the problem? Just complaining
doesn't solve other people's mindset
and how they view Biharis. At least
Mr. Nagar has tried to provide some
insight into why there has been
Bihar's downfall which may have led
to bad reputation for your so called
Bihari label. I can assure you that
if political/economic condition of
Bihar improves, and becomes better
or at par with other states like
Gujarat then the Bihari label will
mean something different - it will
no longer be a derogatory term,
rather it will become a compliment.
- Albert John, USA - Mar. 14,
2008
I very much agree with Mr. Sanjay
Kumar. I think when he says he is a
Bihari American, he very much
accepts his Bihari origin, and has
great respect and love for his place
of birth. Assuming that he is an US
citizen now, I can very well
understand his anger for the rest of
Indians. There is no point giving
explanation to racist people, who
use Bihari label in derogatory
sense. It's they who have to realize
that they are racist. Even if the
social/political/economic issues and
the uses of Bihari label in
derogatory sense look interrelated,
they are actually not. Money, power
and education may silence someone,
but can't get ride of the hate,
which is there in his heart. As far
as Bihari hate campaign in other
states are concerned, in recent
times, it has to do with the
competition which the locals have to
bear form the Bihari migrants. If
these migrants remain in Bihar, in
what ever bad or good condition and
they don't make any noise, no body
will hate them and no body will love
them. In past the hate campaigns
were mostly propagated by the
educated Bengalis who felt insulted,
when Bihar was carved out of Bengal.
Biharis were trying to stand alone
almost after 200 to 300 years of
Bengali dominance. It is sad that
Bihar didn't have renaissance like
Bengal and Bihar even now lacks the
presence of Bihari Sub-nationalism,
which makes them a soft target. It's
time Biharis stop taking the burden
of nationalism and instead shoulder
Bihari sub-nationalism. This will
unite Biharis for the common cause
of development, both social and
economic. Bihari sub-nationalism
will give Biharis a new identity,
who currently try to find their
identity in the existing caste
system. - Manoj Kumar, Mumbai
- Mar. 14, 2008
I agree to some extent with the
topic its self, to some extent yes
they are responsible for the own
downfall.
I have seen people feeling shame
when they accept that they belong to
place called Bihar.
Things are to such extent that if
you try to relate someone by their
name to the place Bihar, they will
say it is their ancestor who once
lived in Bihar
And since they are settled in a
different place so they are no
longer Bihari! This is so
disgusting.
If people from the same state do
feel ashamed of being belonging to
this place, how can they expect
others to give dignity to them as
well other people from Bihar?
If you do good work, accept you are
Bihari so that at least the others
will see a different Bihari than
what painted by the media.
If every Bihari start taking care of
this small thing, then that day is
not far when people will have
different opinion about people of
our state.
If there are scams in Bihar, so is
the same in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
as well where politician are
questioned as well for their
involvement, but why do people don't
have bad opinion about those state?
This all goes to whether you being
Bihari feel pride in saying that or
not.
It takes time to create the Image
than destroying it. The creating of
image is in our hands, and this we
can do by doing good deeds and
accepting us being people from
Bihar.
The people who are asking Biharis to
leave do fear the challenge posed by
people from our state who are
hardworking.
This is similar to the problem of
brain drain; if we have the best
engineers produced by the IITs then
why do they leave for abroad and not
prefer to work and stay in India?
What happens if tomorrow, US govt
put restriction for non US citizen
and starts asking them to leave,
will it not be the same case for
Indians, as what is happening to
Biharis in their own country?
If today Indians are returning to
India, it is only because of the
recent image of the country in the
world. The country once known as the
land of snake charmers today is
known for its strength in IT,
medicine and other things.
Did it happened on its own? No, but
by the hard work the Indians and
good policies by people in the
politics.
Did it happen fast? No, it took time
but the effort was consistent and
sincere.
Same way we have to think for our
state, If Biharis feel shame to be
called Biharis, they are responsible
for their downfall.
So let's take pride in what we are
and what we were in the past. Let's
contribute sincerely and
consistently to change the picture
of the state.
It is all in our hand. - Onkar
Nath - Mar. 17, 2008
To some extent yes. Among Biharis we
can call each other great but why is
it that in general Indians of other
states look down upon Biharis? I do
not blame all Indians, though.
One reason is Bihar state has been
lagging in development and it has
forced a large number of its poor to
go to other states in search of
employment. In olden days it was
towards east to Bengal and Assam and
in recent years it has been towards
west - Delhi, Punjab, Haryana,
Maharashtra etc. Since number of
poor people migrating out of state
is large and they are able to live
only a lower standard of life, that
gives the picture of a typical
Bihari.
It is true that a large number of
educated and upwardly mobile Biharis
have spread to all parts of India
and abroad, but due to poor image of
the state many of them shy away from
calling themselves Biharis and try
to get away from Bihari traditions.
I will request this segment of
Biharis who are educated, talented
and well off, should come out from
hiding and show the world and the
rest of India that Bihar has great
traditions, great people. They
should celebrate their special
festivals with serenity, share their
special foods with people from other
states and give a good picture of
their cultural heritage wherever
they are and show the path of good
living to our brethren living below
poverty line. Upper income Biharis
should mix freely with lower income
Biharis and show them a path of good
living. Shatrughan Sinha ji and
other Bihari Bollywood personalities
can organize good cultural festivals
in Bombay during Chhath, Holi etc
which will present a good picture of
Biharis, rather than singing to the
tune of Raj Thackeray. Maybe they
can sponsor a trip of Bodh Gaya,
Rajgir, Nalanda etc for Raj and Bal
Thackeray so that they can get some
lesson in non-violence. When they
visit Bihar, they will probably know
that Gandhiji's first success in
India came in Bihar with the help of
Rajendra Prasad and others. Indira
Gandhi's Emergency came to an end by
movement started by Jay Prakash
Narain. - Mithilesh Kumar, New
York, USA - Mar. 18, 2008
Bihari! Bihari! Bihari! SHAME on all
of us that we chant such a
discriminatory slogan!! Biharis
should take the lead in chanting -
Indian! Indian! Indian! It is a fact
that major percentage of IAS / IPS
have some root in Bihar, which
somehow puts them in a position
where this feeling can be actually
spread. Indians still haven't got
into the "Vasudhaiv Kutumbakum" mode
that they preach to the world!! Only
the politicians cannot be blamed, as
they are nothing but elected
officials of the people that they
represent. I totally agree with
others that especially the educated
Biharis shun from calling themselves
Biharis - wherein they are the ones
that can bring about the change in
perception. We ourselves create the
division of caste/creed, and it is
just abominable that we do so even
outside India.
A lot of Biharis and their families
had a lot to do in gaining
independence, and also in creating
the present India. So, Biharis, lead
the way again to RETAIN India - do
NOT let it go astray such that
'others' again take away your
independence and the present status
in
the world!! The MOST important point
is that the Indian that shuns
another Indian is nothing but a
traitor, because without the other
Indians, we would NOT have become a
world power. United we stand, and we
Biharis are a part of the whole 'mutthee'
called India!!
So, people, UNITE and please do NOT
divide!! Remember Bihar is just a
place, not an identity by itself -
and so are the other states. The
states are just there for governing
purposes, not for DIVIDING India
into bits & pieces!! Just realize
that no state can survive by
itself!! By the way, I was born in
Ara, studied in Hazaribagh, worked
in Jamshedpur, and then migrated to
USA -- but I am still very proud
about my Bihari culture and
association - though I look upon
"India" as my birth-place!!
Jai India!! - Ranjit Varma, VA,
USA - Mar. 18, 2008
Some of the readers in their
comments consider Bihari haters as
racist. This sounds ridiculous.
Biharis are not a separate race!
compared to other Indians! A race
can be identified visually. Can you
describe Bihari features that are
sharply in contrast with the
features of other so called Indian
races from other states? If you
place one Bihari next to a person
from Bombay, Pune, Delhi or any
other state - can you tell the
difference. If Biharis are different
race than that should be obvious
visually by looking at their
features or appearance. For example,
you can clearly tell based on visual
features of a person if the person's
race is Chinese, Black, European
etc. India as a whole has its own
race that we call Indian race. It is
a mix of Indo-European race. Biharis
are same as other north Indians, not
a separate race! So why should they
be targeted as a separate race?
Interestingly, I have noticed that a
Bihari (when his identity as a
Bihari is not known) is treated as a
typical Indian by fellow Indians
from other states, but as soon it is
known that the person is from Bihar,
others start having mixed opinion
about that person. I have seen even
a person from eastern UP (who are
not different than Biharis in
culture) using Bihari term in a
derogatory sense or for crude jokes.
Is it that UP guys have different
race than that of Biharis? Not
really.
This is all because their is a lot
of bad reputation/negative
impressions about Bihar and Biharis
- Bihar has become synonymous with
violence and corruption. Thanks to
our Lalu regime that made it worst,
and created division based on caste,
corruption, caste-based violence.
Notorious criminals turn politicians
from Bihar are well known to Indians
- just take the case of the Bihari
MP, Mohammad Shahabuddin during Lalu
regime - under Lalu's patronage -
this criminal, on one hand, would
roam free and talk to media everyday
and boast about his criminal acts,
and boast that no police can dare
even touch him - and on the other
hand, the Lalu regime and his law
enforcement would tell that this
criminal Mohammad Shahabuddin was
untraceable and couldn't be
apprehended (for his well known
crimes). There are numerous examples
like this that has made other
Indians wonder about Biharis, and
why Biharis loved to ELECT criminal
cum joker - called Lalu Yadav -
sorry, Lalu Prasad (now) for so many
years, to manage Bihar. These types
of cases over a period of 40 years
have given Biharis a bad reputation.
Believe it or not we Biharis have
earned bad reputation over a long
period of time, and reputation is
something that can't be fixed
overnight using a magic wand. Bihari
haters now use that bad reputation
of Bihar to discriminate & put down
even a genuine person from Bihar
(which definitely that is not
right)- and they do that mostly for
their own advantage or to show their
superiority against a competing
Bihari. I understand the anger of
overseas educated Biharis and they
don't want that reputation (of Lalu
brand Bihari) to hurt their hard
earned success and reputation.
It is not the fault of educated
Biharis, but we are in this mess
together. In my opinion, the
derogatory use of Bihari label is
based not on racism but based on bad
reputation of Bihar. We educated
Bihari have a hard job to change
that opinion/reputation about Bihar
and show other Indians that there
exists other side of Bihar where
there are intelligent, educated,
progressive Biharis (different that
lalu brand). I agree with my fellow
reader Albert John that if the state
as a whole makes progress in
political/economic front than the
reputation of Bihar can be changed.
However, it won't happen as a magic
as some progressive Biharis may
desire, it will be rather a slow
process. For many of you before you
were born and before Bihari term
took a derogatory tone - there was
actually a time when the name Bihari
was considered rather a compliment
and people used it with pride - I
have seen many older names used
Bihari as the middle name - I can
give you one famous example - Atal
Bihari Vajpayee. I hope that day
comes back to Bihar where others
feel proud to have Bihari as their
middle name again. But remember, it
won't happen magically, educated
Biharis will have to earn that back
by correcting the problems with
Bihar. -
Long live Bihar! - Ashok Nagar -
Mar. 21, 2008
This is very encouraging to note
that a lot of fellow Biharis are
concerned with the current plight of
Bihar and they sincerely want their
beloved State to make progress in
all walks of life.
Before I start to give my opinion
about this article, let me confess
that when I passed my 10/12th exam,
on many occasions I used to hide my
identity whenever I visited outside
my state. My elder brother who used
to go to different places in India
told me to do this when you go
outside and I followed it in a
mechanical way realizing that I was
doing some 'good n intelligent
thing'.
But when I further grew up , I saw
people belonging to different states
comfortably declare their identity.
I felt that if relatively good and
educated people from Bihar hide
their identity, it will only
strengthen the negative perception
about Bihar. Anyway poor and
illiterate Bihari labours can't hide
their identity. Ultimately the
reputation of Bihar will suffer.
What went wrong?
1. Economic backwardness has done
the irreparable damage to the state.
Bihar had everything right from rich
and great historical legacy to rich
mineral resources , fertile land ,
unexploited tourism sector and
hardworking workforce but due to
lack of good governance, the state
started lagging in all fields. In my
opinion Lalu is as responsible for
the backwardness of the state as
Congress. Congress apathy to the
development of state can be best
explained with the examples of poor
power situation in the state. Bihar
ranked first in coal production (32%
of total production in India) and
kept on feeding the thermal power
plants spread across India but it
itself was groping in the dark.
2.Bad law and order and
criminalization of politics.
3.Tell the fellow Indians that Bihar
is not what you think. Bihar is the
land of Buddha, Mahavir, Chanakya,
Chandragupta, Ashoka, Aryabhatta,
Panini, Nalanda and Pataliputra and
Sher Shah.
4.Declare that India is Nuclear
Power because of Bihar/Jharkhand as
uranium is found only in that place
in India.
I fully understand that all the
comments writers are well aware of
the problems the state is facing. So
I don't wish to elaborate on this.
It is high time we come out with
some solutions and work on it. I
sincerely feel that education and
money can silence everyone. Can't
like minded people join hands and
work in the field of education and
population control?
Lets come forward and plan to spend
one's retired age in a village
/small town and do whatever we can
for the betterment of the state. I
myself resolved to take early
retirement for this purpose. -
Abhay Kumar -
Mar. 23, 2008
Racism is not just about colour, but
also about ethnic origin. Mr. Nagar
says – "Bihari haters now use that
bad reputation of Bihar to
discriminate & put down even a
genuine person from Bihar (which
definitely is not right) - and they
do that mostly for their own
advantage or to show their
superiority against a competing
Bihari." I
very much agree with him. This is
exactly what racism means.
Biharis can't live as per the
expectation of others. We don't have
to live to show our morality or
greatness to others. Biased or
unbiased, good or bad, what ever
opinion they have about Biharis
should not be any issue at all, as
long as they don't spread negative
public opinion against us in their
favor. If they do so Biharis should
counter them directly, instead of
rationalizing their stand. We should
understand that it's us, who we have
to show our morality and greatness.
We don't have to prove anything to
anyone. Biharis will live as per
their own terms. - Manoj Kumar,
Mumbai - Mar. 25, 2009 |
