Skip to main content

Bihar massacre on Holi day: Brahminical, casteist mindset behind 'uneasy' silence

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* 
Several people were killed in Bihar amidst Holi festivities, but not much response has come in from the media. The silence of the government and the society as a whole is also appalling. We seek to romanticise these festivals, yet we forget that every year they take so many lives. This despite the fact that Holi appears to be the best time for 'avenging things'.
It should have been a big story. In village Mehmudpur, district Madhubani, five members of the Rajput community were massacred. The Brahmin-Bania dominated media in Patna and Delhi virtually killed the story. A google search about the story wouldn’t show much information. One of those killed was a BSF jawan, who had come home to spend his holidays.
Some people wanted to give the incident a communal colour, apparently because the village happens to be Mehmudpur. Bihar police said it wasn’t about caste. I am surprised. What stopped the police and the media to identify the murderers?
Media in this country is brutally casteist. It will easily vilify Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims. If any one from these communities are caught in some evil act, the entire community is targeted. Yet, there is no story from Bihar on this incident. Even the heroes of the secular-liberal elite in Delhi media are silent.
Ironically, the Karni Sena, which is know to have threatened to stop various films about the depiction of Rajputs in allegedly poor light, is also silent. No political party in Bihar has spoken about it. The BJP, which enjoys the biggest patronage of Rajputs in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and elsewhere, has not uttered a single word about it. Human Rights activists have also remained silent as if it is not an important issue.
Madhubani is dominated by Maithil Brahmins. Village Mehmudpur belongs to Kshatriyas or Rajputs. The village temple had a Rajput Mahant, who was killed by a person belonging to the Brahmin community. As reported in social media, Brahmins were determined to take over this temple from the Rajputs, who were resisting such a move.
The names of the local BJP MLA and some Bajrang Dal leaders, who happen to be Brahmins, have been taking rounds as accused. But the police and the administration have not spoken anything about it except that it was not a 'caste war' but a war of two 'gangs'. How is it a war of two gangs, and how come that one family lost everything, including one son who was in BSF and was on his holidays. Was he a gang member?
A Karni Sena demonstration
Caste is the dirty reality in India. Brahmins and Rajputs are co-travellers these days in the BJP bandwagon run by the Banias. All the three savarna communities are united in their common aversion towards the Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs. It is also a fact that all these three powerful communities do not see eye to eye with each other. Their netas need a common 'villain' to survive in politics. But social realities are different.
Imagine if the Mehmudpur massacre accused were some Mohammad or Ali, the media would have gone berserk, seeking blood of all the Muslims. But if the accused is a Jha, a Maithil Brahmin, even 'secular' Brahmins seek to protect their own caste.
We do hear much from the 'liberal' Jhas sitting in Delhi speaking about 'fascism', but they are criminally silent on this incident. The Karni Sena neta shouts from housetops on every small incident, but he is refusing to name Brahmins as accused. They would have gone violent everywhere if the accused were Muslims or Dalits. It’s a dirty caste reality of how the 'powerful' Kshatriyas become 'powerless'.
It is time for the Rajput community to ponder whether they need rabble rouser netas who have no vision or sober leaders who have worked for all and talked with sanity and sense. Rajputs today are isolated. Their netas have turned arrogant and have completely isolated common people in the community. The netas might have become chief ministers, but they have failed to provide a vision.
This is the times when one should look for people like VP Singh, Chandrashekhar, Arjun Singh or Jaswant Singh, who spoke with sense and responsibility. It is time for the community to ponder seriously as to what kind of politicians it is supporting and why the parties and politicians have deserted them at this point of time when a family is butchered on a festival day.
---
*Human rights defender

Comments

TRENDING

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu.  He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

The silencing of conscience: Ideological attacks on India’s judiciary and free thought

By Sunil Kumar*  “Volunteers will pick up sticks to remove every obstacle that comes in the way of Sanatan and saints’ work.” — RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat (November 6, 2024, Chitrakoot) Eleven months later, on October 6, 2025, a man who threw a shoe inside the Supreme Court shouted, “India will not tolerate insults to Sanatan.” This incident was not an isolated act but a continuation of a pattern seen over the past decade—attacks on intellectuals, writers, activists, and journalists, sometimes in the name of institutions, sometimes by individual actors or organizations.

Celebrating 125 yr old legacy of healthcare work of missionaries

Vilas Shende, director, Mure Memorial Hospital By Moin Qazi* Central India has been one of the most fertile belts for several unique experiments undertaken by missionaries in the field of education and healthcare. The result is a network of several well-known schools, colleges and hospitals that have woven themselves into the social landscape of the region. They have also become a byword for quality and affordable services delivered to all sections of the society. These institutions are characterised by committed and compassionate staff driven by the selfless pursuit of improving the well-being of society. This is the reason why the region has nursed and nurtured so many eminent people who occupy high positions in varied fields across the country as well as beyond. One of the fruits of this legacy is a more than century old iconic hospital that nestles in the heart of Nagpur city. Named as Mure Memorial Hospital after a British warrior who lost his life in a war while defending his cou...

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

World Bank arm accused of hiding crucial report on Gujarat’s Tata Mundra power project

By A Representative   The Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) has accused the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), the accountability arm of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), of concealing crucial evidence related to the Tata Mundra coal power project in Gujarat during the period when the case was being heard in U.S. courts. In a press statement released on October 10, 2025, CFA said that the CAO’s final monitoring report, which was completed in 2019 but released only in September 2025, revealed that IFC had failed to take remedial action for years, even as environmental and livelihood harms to local communities worsened.

When communities lead: The story of Puttenahalli lake restoration in Bengaluru

By Alejandra Amor, Mansee Bal Bhargava  The tropical Indian ecology pushed communities to develop the art and science of rainwater collection since antiquity. Traditionally, harvesting rainwater through ponds, lakes, and wetlands formed an integral part of a holistic water system that included rivers, canals, wells, aquifers, and springs. These decentralized systems sustained irrigation, livestock, and domestic needs in rural areas, supported by generations of community water management practices embedded in both utilitarian and ritualistic values.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...