At Mandal Ground Zero, plea for jobs, education, ‘real social justice’

About 10 km away from Madhepura town, as one turns right from the Purnia-Saharsa highway and crosses the railway line, a row of kutcha houses with tin roofs greet you. At the end of the village, Murho, stands a memorial of former Bihar chief minister Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal renowned for the Mandal Commission report.

Barely 100 metres off the Mandal memorial, in a corner of the Musahar tola, lies a mud hut, where the grandsons of the first member of Parliament from the region, Kirai Musahar, live.

As Bihar CM and Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar rides on the state’s caste survey released last year and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi pledges a nationwide caste census as part of the Congress plank in the Lok Sabha elections, it appears development has clearly bypassed Mandal’s village.

A key torchbearer of the country’s social justice politics, Mandal’s vision spawned a slew of socialist leaders, including Samajwadi Party (SP) founder late Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, and Nitish Kumar. Mandal’s ancestral house and the memorial in his name are among the few concrete structures in Murho village.

Sitting under the shade of bamboo trees adjoining his hut, Musahar’s grandson Jivachh Rishidev says, “The social justice movement was frittered away by Lalu and Nitish as both began catering to their respective castes. Dalits have got nothing from either. They continue to remain the poorest of the lot.”

His brother Umesh, who is also active in politics locally and works with former Madhepura MP Pappu Yadav, adds, “Look at our own house. Have you seen a former MP’s house like this? For all the talk of Mahadalits, what is the condition of Mahadalits here? Look at the condition of the