The Ranvir Sena and Bihar’s political masters
By Rahul Pandita: Bihar’s current Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, rode to power on the promise of clean governance... soon after taking over, he disbanded the Amir Das commission (set up by Lalu’s RJD after the Laxmanpur Bathe massacre to probe the political & administrative links of the Ranvir Sena) before it could submit its report. This came as a huge relief to many leaders in the JD-U, BJP, Congress and RJD. In 2006, Nitish Kumar set up a Land Reforms Commission under the chairmanship of D Bandopadhyay, the architect of successful land reforms in West Bengal. But its recommendations were left untouched..
In 1975, the Bihar government issued licences for firearms to landowners in Bhojpur and Patna districts to enable them to fight the growing leftwing influence. In the mid-80s, Bhumihars formed a militia group, called Brahmrishi Sena, to counter the growing influence of the left. Other upper- and middle-caste communities raised similar militias, prominent among them being the Sunlight Sena. In 1994, Bhumihars created the Ranvir Sena, of which Brahmeshwar Singh was the mastermind. It was named after a retired army man revered by Bhumihars. Initially, its cadre was armed with crude firearms but later, as money came along with increasing political patronage, the Ranvir Sena got access to modern arms such as AK-47 rifles. It also offered an insurance cover of Rs 3 lakh to its active members, whose numbers ran into thousands.
In 1975, the Bihar government issued licences for firearms to landowners in Bhojpur and Patna districts to enable them to fight the growing leftwing influence. In the mid-80s, Bhumihars formed a militia group, called Brahmrishi Sena, to counter the growing influence of the left. Other upper- and middle-caste communities raised similar militias, prominent among them being the Sunlight Sena. In 1994, Bhumihars created the Ranvir Sena, of which Brahmeshwar Singh was the mastermind. It was named after a retired army man revered by Bhumihars. Initially, its cadre was armed with crude firearms but later, as money came along with increasing political patronage, the Ranvir Sena got access to modern arms such as AK-47 rifles. It also offered an insurance cover of Rs 3 lakh to its active members, whose numbers ran into thousands.
In 1967, Ramnaresh Prasad, who contested assembly elections from Bhojpur on a CPM ticket, was badly beaten up along with his comrades by feudal landlords. In 1995, Prasad and another leader ran the state assembly election on CPI(ML) tickets, and won. This prompted the Ranvir Sena to carry out a brutal massacre, in July 1996, of 21 Dalits and poor landless Muslims (including three infants) in Bathani Tola. This was followed by many other massacres including one in Laxmanpur Bathe in December 1997, where 58 Dalits, including 27 women and 10 children were done to death. The Maoist Communist Centre (MCC)—it later merged with another Naxal group, PWG, to form the CPI (Maoist) in 2004—also made retaliatory strikes on upper castes. Prominent among them is the Senari massacre of March 1999, where 34 men were dragged by a 100-man MCC squad and beheaded. The Naxal groups usually spared women and children, but the Ranvir Sena spared none. In an interview to The Times of India in June 1999, Brahmeshwar Singh said: “Hanuman in his fights against Ravana set fire to the whole of Lanka. It is fair if the fight against the demons involves destroying the wombs.”
In 1998, the PWG merged with another Naxal group, Party Unity (PU), active in many parts of Bihar. Concomitant with the political mobilisation of the landless by the CPI(ML)-Liberation, the might of the Ranvir Sena began to decline. Also, around this time, differences arose between the Bhumihar and Brahmin members of the group, resulting in the exit of Sunil Pandey, who is now a member of Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) party.
On 29 August 2002, Brahmeshwar Singh was arrested, curiously on Patna’s busy Exhibition Road, leading to speculation that he had surrendered owing to threats to his life from within the party. He was released on bail in July last year. This happened after the police failed to produce him in a Patna court from Ara jail in April 2010 during the Laxmanpur Bathe case trial... http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/the-real-brahmeshwars
