THE atrocities on Mahadalits in Araria, Bihar, and the murders of CPI(ML) leaders organising struggles of the Mahadalits to retain hold on their rightful land, have once again called the bluff of the JDU-RJD Government’s claims of ‘social justice.’ This atrocity is the latest in a long line of similar attacks on homestead lands of Dalits and Mahadalits, and killings of activists organising struggles of the oppressed and landless poor. The rape and murder of a teenage Mahadalit girl Dika Kumari in Hajipur inside a Government-run Ambedkar hostel has also added to this churning.

Can any talk of social justice be meaningful without the right to equitable, good quality education; without dignified employment; without land rights and land reform; without justice and dignity? In the first phase of ‘social justice’ governance during the Laloo-Rabri regimes, the Ranveer Sena massacres of Dalit landless poor took place, at Bathani, Bathe, Mianpur and many other places. The social, economic and political assertion of the poor was met with massacres – with the collusion of the entire state machinery. In the second phase, Nitish Kumar has claimed to represent ‘Sushasan’ (good governance), which he defines as ‘nyay ke saath vikas’- ‘justice with development.’ In reality, his regime presided over the serial massacre of justice for the victims of the Bathani, Bathe and other Ranveer Sena massacres. While in alliance with the BJP, Nitish Kumar’s Government emboldened the feudal forces enormously, assuring them of impunity, and attacks on the landless poor - over issues of land and dignity – increased sharply. The killing of landless poor Muslims at Forbesganj, the anti Dalit atrocities at Baddi, the killing of CPI(ML) comrade Bhaiyyaram Yadav, the arrests of CPI(ML) leaders Satyadeo Ram and Amarjit Kushwaha following an attack on a Dalit settlement in Siwan were just a sample of such attacks. In Nitish Kumar’s ‘secular’ avatar, ruling with the RJD, such attacks are continuing, with several instances of arson against Dalit homesteads and killings of activists organising struggles of the Dalit landless poor.

On February 19 2017, CPI(ML) will hold an Adhikar Rally (Rally for Rights) in Patna with the slogan ‘Samajik Nyay Ke Teen Aadhar, Shiksha, Rozgar Aur Bhoomi Adhikar’ – to emphasise that the three essential pillars of social justice are education, employment and land rights. While the BJP, Sangh Parivar and Modi Government are ideologically and politically enemies of social justice, the Bihar Government which claims to champion social justice also fails and betrays miserably on all these counts. In this feature, Liberation provides in-depth coverage of the Araria atrocities and killings, and the struggle for justice for Dika Kumari.