Rustam hoped the mammoth strength Biharis had shown today would yield results.

“Yahan humlog bahut majboori mein rehte hai. Ek room me aadha darzan log rehte hai. Maalik log gaali deta hai. Agar Bihar vikas karega to humko apne desh mein naukri milega aur hum chale jaayenge (Here we live out of compulsion. Half-a-dozen people share one room. Our employers abuse us. If Bihar gets developed, there will be jobs and we will return to our own land),” he said.

Unlike Rustam, who has made Delhi his second home for the last 15 years, it was Rai’s first visit to “Dilli”, the country’s capital. He reached on Sunday morning and plans to do a tour of historic Delhi tomorrow, but whatever little he has seen so far has filled him with both anger and hope.

The neat and wide roads, flyovers, big cars and the tall buildings have left this Intermediate student with a sense of anger — Katihar and Patna have nothing compared to what he saw in Delhi.

For Rai, the government treated Delhi as it were the only city in the country. “Dilli toh chaka chak hai. Lagta hai sarkar sara paisa yahin lagate hai aur hamare liye bahut kam deti hai. Dilli ke saamne Katihar aur Patna to gaya guzra hai (Delhi is glittering. It seems the government spends all its money here and gives very little to us (Bihar). In comparison to Delhi, Katihar and Patna are hopeless),” Rai said.

But the anger gives rise to a sense of hope as well — that the struggle for a better and developed Bihar that had drawn thousands like him to Ramlila ground would certainly bear fruits. He hoped that the mammoth crowd would compel the central government to give special rights to Bihar and his state would also catch up with the rest of the country.

“We have come here to demand our right. Injustice has been done with Bihar and once we get our rights, our Katihar and Patna will also shine like Delhi,” Rai declared, brimming with optimism.

Rustam and Rai, unknown faces in the midst of the swarming crowd, were symbols of a Bihar aspiring to move ahead. Like these two youths, others in the crowd shed the maligned image of a lawless Bihar and stood as disciplined citizens of the country to raise their voice, firmly enough to be heard in the corridors of power.

Both Rustam and Rai dared the angry push from Delhi police jawans to stand in the front rows and gaze at the stage with a dream of a developed Bihar in their eyes.