Led by their Sirdar, sometimes dressed in a sari to represent the Goddess Kali, the men would assemble around a clay pot filled with liquor, their faces painted white, red or black. Armed with swords, muskets and pistols, provided by the great Zamindars of colonial Bengal and Bihar who had secretly raised them, the gangs would end their worship by marching out into the darkness to pillage. The hiss of a lizard, the bellowing of a bull, or a man sneezing signified danger. A jackal or a virgin girl crossing their path promised fortune.

Few men, colonial officials lamented, could be found to give evidence against the great 19th-century dacoits of Bihar and Bengal, like Sona Faqueer, Madhoo Chung, Jadoo Musulman, or Madhu Tautee. Former dacoits who were persuaded to turn approver then mysteriously disappeared.

Earlier this week, the Bihar government released politician Anand Mohan, who was sentenced to life for the murder of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer G. Krishnaiah, from prison—rewriting jail rules to allow those guilty of killing public servants to be released earlier than other kinds of murderers.

The release, engineered by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to aid his Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) allies, illustrates the influence of gangsterism in Bihar politics. Entwined with the state’s toxic politics of caste, and the often-brutal competition for control of government spending and resources, the baahubali—literally, strong-armed—occupies an almost institutional role in the struggle for power.

Electoral politics didn’t create the gangster-politician, though. The failure—some would say by design—of the colonial and then independent states to conduct effective policing of organised crime made democracy just one more object for it to prey.

A culture of crime

Long before mass politics began to reshape Bihar and its neighbouring states, effective rule lay in the hands of Mughal-era Zamindars, controlling vast estates. Even though the East India Company clashed with these feudal armies to raise revenues, historian Hetukar Shah writes, they came to see the Zamindars as valuable allies. A colonial official noted: “Though a Zamindar has no legal control over his people, he possesses greater effective……

To read more: https://theprint.in/opinion/security-code/anand-mohans-release-shows-criminals-still-call-the-shots-in-bihar-just-as-centuries-ago/1541475/