Release of Saharsa's strongman exposes caste fault lines in Bihar

Former Member of Parliament (MP) Anand Mohan stepped out of Saharsa Jail early Thursday morning. He quietly sat in the rear seat of a sport utility vehicle, which sped away to Patna. It took the gangster-turned-politician 15 years and a change in prison rule by the state government to walk free again.

Mohan was convicted for his role in the 1994 murder of the then Gopalganj District Magistrate and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer G Krishnaiah. A lower court sentenced him to death in October 2007 and the Patna High Court (HC) commuted it to life imprisonment in December 2008. The Supreme Court also upheld the HC’s verdict in 2012.

On April 10, the state Cabinet approved tweaking the Bihar Prison Manual, 2012, removing a clause that states the prison terms for those convicted of killing a public servant cannot be commuted. It soon sparked a political controversy for the Nitish Kumar government, facing criticism from the Opposition and its bureaucrats.

Mohan’s release has also exposed the fault lines within both the ruling and Opposition parties. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appears to be divided, many in the ruling coalition are also not sure how to interpret the message sent by the state government.

The history

Son of a freedom fighter, Mohan hails from North Bihar’s Kosi region. He started his political journey with Janata Dal in 1990 when he was elected to the Bihar Assembly. Unhappy with V P Singh government’s decision to implement the Mandal Commission report on reservation for backward classes, he joined Chandra Shekhar’s Samajwadi Janata Party.

In 1994, he formed Bihar People’s Party on a strong anti-Mandal ideology. This made the ‘Sher-e-Bihar’ a favourite among upper castes, especially among Rajputs and Brahmins.

On December 5, 1994, G Krishnaiah, a 1985 batch IAS officer, was returning after attending an official meeting in Hajipur. Unknown to him, trouble was brewing in Muzaffarpur after the killing of Kaushlendra alias Chhotan Shukla, another gangster-turned-politician associate of Mohan. Mohan, along with thousands of his supporters, was protesting with Shukla’s body, on the NH28.

According to official reports, the protesters attacked Krishnaiah’s official car and overturned it. They, then, dragged the IAS officer outside and beat him mercilessly.

Mohan, his wife Lovely Anand, Professor Arun Kumar Sinha, Akhlaq Ahmed, and others exhorted the crowd to take revenge for the murder of Chhotan and teach the administration “a lesson”.

The prize

Ever since the decision of the apex court, Mohan’s release has been a hot topic among Rajput voters in Bihar. Nitish promised all possible help to the jailed leader before the 2015 Assembly elections, the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and the 2020 Assembly elections.

Ahead of the 2024 general election, with Nitish back with Mahagathbandhan allies Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress, demands for Mohan’s early release became more vociferous.

“Rajputs are a strong community,” said Professor N K Chaudhary, an acknowledged academic. “They might not have the numbers, but they have control over land and capital. RJD’s state chief (Jagdanand Singh) comes from this community, the state Congress president (Akhilesh Pratap Singh) is a Rajput, Janata Dal (United)’s, or JD(U)’s former state unit chief (Bashistha Narain Singh) is a Rajput, and the BJP also has its fair share of Rajput leaders,” he added.

“They can directly influence the results in at least 10 parliamentary constituencies, and 35-40 Assembly constituencies. These include seats such as Arrah, Aurangabad, Vaishali, Saran, Siwan, Sheohar, Maharajganj, Motihari, Nawada, and Banka. In an election where every seat matters, no political party can ignore this many seats,” said a political analyst.

While some say that Mohan’s release will not be as important a factor for the new-generation voters, others counter that Mohan’s anti-Mandal politics still resonates with the upper caste voters. 

The politics

While the BJP leaders have trashed the Nitish government for amending the prison rules, Mohan’s early release has put them in a fix. “An unconstitutional and anti-Dalit action has been taken in the state,” claimed BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi.

However, Union Minister Giriraj Singh welcomed the move. “Poor Mohan was a scapegoat for the Nitish government.”

“This also shows how divided the BJP state unit is. This issue brought the ongoing forward versus backward tussle in the state unit into the limelight,” noted  journalist Bhibesh Trivedi.

Nitish government’s decision also sent shockwaves through its strongest ally — the bureaucracy.

“Krishnaiah was the son of a lineman. He grew up in extreme poverty and worked odd jobs to finance his education. He was the true representative of our forefathers’ dream of Independent India,” vented one senior IAS official.