“Jungle Raj” earlier, “crime capital” now.
Rahul Gandhi on Monday gave Bihar the sobriquet “crime capital of India” following the string of murders in the past fortnight, and called on voters to “save” the state in the upcoming Assembly polls.
Posting images of news reports with the headline “31 murders in 11 days” and the rates of the “contract killing industry”, the Congress MP wrote on X: “Bihar has become the ‘crime capital of India’ — fear in every alley, unease in every home! Unemployed youth are being turned into killers by the goo-NDA raj. The CM is busy saving his seat, while BJP ministers are raking in commissions. I’m repeating again — this time, the vote is not just to change the government, but to save Bihar.”
Highlighting the back-to-back killings, Bihar’s leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav posted on X: “Lawyer shot in Patna. Girl murdered in Vaishali. Teacher shot dead in Parsa. Chief Minister ill, state helpless. A barrage of bullets in Bihar!”
Victims of the spate of murders, which has turned the tables on the NDA government’s handling of law and order, included BJP leader Surendra Kumar and industrialist and former BJP member Gopal Khemka.
According to latest State Crime Records Bureau data, Bihar recorded 1,376 murders with an average of 229 every month between January and June, compared with 2,786 in all of 2024 and 2,863 in 2023, PTI reported.
“A state which has over 60 per cent of the population under the age of 30 and unemployed is bound to be vulnerable to law and order problems,” additional director-general of police (headquarters) Kundan Krishnan said.
Several of the 31 murders in the past fortnight stemmed from petty disputes and superstition. Five members of a family were burnt alive in Purnea district on the suspicion of being witches.
Deputy chief minister and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary told reporters: “If a murder happens because of a personal dispute, it is a bit hard for the government to stop it. But no organised crime will be allowed in Bihar.”
The BJP allies, however, are not buying it.
Union minister Chirag Paswan, who heads the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), posted on X: “How many more murders will Biharis have to face? It is beyond comprehension what the responsibility of the Bihar Police is.”
Ram Kripal Yadav, who switched over to the BJP from the RJD in 2014, spoke out after the murder of BJP leader Surendra Kumar by bike-borne assailants in Sheikhpura near Patna.
“Family members (of Kumar) said the police reached the spot two hours after the incident,” he told reporters.
More than two decades after the end of “Jungle Raj” — largely associated with the tenure of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi — Bihar has continued to remain one of the most violent states in India.
Threatened by reports of contract killings, even traders have begun to support the CPIML-Liberation, largely considered a party of landless peasants.
Inaugurating the party’s small traders’ wing on Sunday in Patna, general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said: “For trade and business to flourish, peace and harmony are a must. Crime, madness and anarchy areprevailing today.”
