Why do Biharis agitate?

New Delhi: While street protests against the Central Government's new recruitment policy for the defence forces that began yesterday in Bihar are not showing signs of abating, the agitation has been having a ripple effect in states including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. A related question: Why has Bihar mostly been at the forefront of citizen protests and mass movements?

The Bihari Psyche

It was at Champaran in Bihar where Mahatma Gandhi launched his first successful struggle against the then British rulers in 1918. Years later, Jayaprakash Narain or JP's call for a "Total Revolution" triggered off a massive and nationwide upsurge against the Indira Gandhi government in the seventies. 

A million other small mutinies have - and are continuing - to erupt in a soil rich with revolutionary flavour: From the bloody caste wars of the private armies to the pro and anti-Mandal agitations of the nineties to recent demonstrations against the Union government's policies on recruitment to the Railways or the defence forces. 

At the drop of a hat have Bihari youth been blocking trains by squatting on tracks -  or joining the "mashaal"(torch) march to protest the real or perceived atrocities of the authorities. 

Bihar has retained its status as the melting pot of diametrically opposed ideologies and persuasions: From socialism to communism to Naxalism or the Hindutva - while the popularity of the political Robinhoods has also remained undiminished. 

Any journalist who has spent a fair amount of time in Patna would hardly have missed such scenes: Of chappals, stones or plastic chairs being thrown at the stage of a public meeting. 

"The Bihari is usually of a no-nonsense variety: Spontaneous and reactive; articulate and firm of political beliefs - while being reverent and irreverent of authority at the same time", senior Patna-based scribe Ajay Kumar said. The question, however, remains: What explains the Bihari psyche?

The poverty of Bihar

A simplistic answer to this can be found in the state's demographic profile and data concerning the developmental index. Bihar is not only India's youngest state ( 58% of citizens below the age of 25), but it also has the dubious status of being at the bottom of the heap on most social development parameters.

Unemployment figures are at 14% the highest among all states. According to the Niti Aayog's Sustainable Development Goals Index report for 2020-21, Bihar has the lowest score among all states. 

A high proportion of the population (33.74%) lives below the poverty line and an even higher percentage of 52.5% suffers from multidimensional poverty, official records show. 

42% of children below the age of five are stunted (highest in the country) and the state also has the lowest literacy (64.7%) in the age group of 15 years and above. 

With private-sector jobs in the land-locked state being virtually non-existent, Bihari youth are passionately driven by the desire to obtain "sarkari" jobs. The point is this: With their stomachs empty - and facing a situation of shrinking job opportunities - the Bihari youth do have a strong motivation to protest and agitate.

The historical perspective

Bihar is known as the land of Gautama Buddha, Mahavir and Ashoka the Great - all of whom rebelled against the socio-political stereotypes of the times.

The state also boasts of having established the world's first democratic Republic known as the Licchavi Republic in the 7th Century BC, with its capital at present-day Vaishali.

"Through the ages, the Bihari people have apparently remained proud people; having imbibed the spirit of inquiry and change. They have not been afraid to speak up against injustices. Because of the rebellious spirit of its people, the state has been denied administrative and economic patronage; earlier by the British rulers and subsequently by the elected governments in New Delhi. The state has remained impoverished, but the spirit of its people has remained robust", said DM Diwakar, former director of the Patna-based AN Sinha Institute of Social Sciences.