Jungle raj vs clean politics — Anand Mohan’s release sets stage for Bihar’s 2024 battle

Nitish Kumar’s govt ensuring the release of a murder convict looks like an apparent bid to garner Rajput votes.

Anand Mohan Singh, now 69, has always evoked strong and opposite reactions. On Thursday, he walked out of Saharsa Jail after 15 years and 9 months. He was serving a sentence for instigating the murder of Dalit IAS officer G Krishnaiah.

On one hand, there were images of joy expressed by his supporters. “Everyone should give aashirwad to us. For more than 15 years we have waited for this day”, said RJD MLA Chetan Anand to ThePrint. On the other hand, was TV channel interviews of a dejected Padma Krishnaiah, the daughter of the slain officer. “I will request PM Narendra Modiji. Such people should not come back to the society,” she said tearfully.

Anand Mohan belongs to that era of Bihar’s politics when the state was notorious for being under a ‘jungle raj’. Today, at a time when Nitish Kumar is meeting various opposition leaders to project an alternative for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, his government ensuring the release of a murder convict looks like an apparent bid to garner Rajput votes. But this also gives ammunition to the BJP and the Modi govt whose polls plank has been ‘clean politics’. Singh’s release sets in motion the 2024 fight a little too early. And that is why it is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.

Anand Mohan has been in the news since 10 April when the Bihar cabinet amended the Bihar Prison Manual 2012. It deleted a portion of the rule which dictated that those who were convicted of the murder of a government agent have to serve 20 years for it to be considered a life sentence. 27 prisoners including Singh, who had served 14 years were now eligible for release.

Crime and justification

On 5 December 1994, Krishnaiah, then District Magistrate of Gopalganj, was on his way to Hajipur when his car crossed a crowd led by Anand Mohan. They were protesting the murder of a gangster Chhotan Shukla. The crowd turned into a mob and Krishnaiah was pulled out of his car and lynched to death. Six persons including Anand Mohan were arrested for provoking violence against the 1985 batch officer. In 2007, the trial court of Patna awarded life imprisonment to the other five and a death sentence to the don-turned-politician. A year later, the Patna High Court commuted it to life imprisonment, which was also held by the apex court.

The actual order for the release of Anand Mohan and 26 others came on last Monday. “The government was in such a hurry that it even released a prisoner in Buxar who died six months ago,” taunted former IPS officer Amitabh Das.

The issue has picked up so much steam that the Bihar chief secretary Amir Subhani addressed a press conference on the same day the don-turned-politician was released.

“There have been no favours granted to Anand Mohan Singh. The state remission council holds regular meetings. During the last six years, 681 prisoners facing life imprisonment have been released,” he said. He explained that the state council is headed by a senior home department official and has two district judges on its panel. Reports from the local SP, DM and trial court judges were also taken before a decision was made.

“The clause about government servant on duty was dropped because it was found to be discriminatory. Moreover, we found no other state treating such killings differently,” Subhani remarked. He had also mentioned that Anand Mohan’s ‘good conduct’ in jail contributed to the release.

When asked about the FIR against him for having mobile phones in his jail cell, Subhani said he had no knowledge of it.

Political rise

The rise of Anand Mohan in Bihar politics was a result of the social conditions triggered by the Mandal Commission implementations.

His first taste of politics came in 1975 when he participated in the Jayaprakash Narayan-led agitation. His official journey began in 1990 when he became a Janata Dal MLA from the Mahishi seat. Both Nitish and Lalu Prasad Yadav were in Janata Dal then. The friction between Lalu Prasad and Anand Mohan began the same year. The caste-based gangs of Anand Singh and independent MLA Pappu Yadav clashed over the Mandal Commission’s recommendations.

Post-1992 Lalu Prasad emerged as the face of the Yadavs and other oppressed castes, their animosity only became stronger.

In 1993, Anand Singh left the Janata Dal and started the Bihar People’s Party. His aggressive speeches against Lalu Prasad led to his popularity with upper caste youth. He has been described as “Robin Hood Mohan who raised guns to protect the “pride and dignity” of the [Rajput] community.”

His moment of glory came in the 1994 Vaishali Lok Sabha by-polls when his wife Lovely Anand defeated Janata Dal candidate Kishori Sinha who was supported by Lalu. For the first time, it was proven that Lalu could be defeated in elections.

However, after this his political career is full of flip-flops—sometimes with Nitish Kumar and sometimes with Lalu Prasad. He was elected as MP from the Seohar Lok Sabha seat in 1996 and 1998 when he was in jail for instigating the murder of Krishaniah. However, the Krishnaiah murder case caught up and cut short his political aspirations.

Changing alliances

Anand Mohan was on parole for attending his son’s engagement, when the Bihar government announced the rule change that would lead to his release.

The IAS officer’s widow Uma Devi has urged Nitish Kumar to rethink his decision. She has also appealed to President Droupadi Murmu and PM Modi to intervene. She has also announced her intention to approach the Supreme Court. A petition against his release has been filed in Patna high court by Das.

The changing political and social scenario of Bihar has laid the path for Anand Mohan’s release. The social tension between the upper caste and backward caste is no longer volatile. A recent photograph shows once arch rivals Anand Mohan and Pappu Yadav hugging each other. His release has also been viewed as the first step in him joining former rival Lalu Prasad’s Rashtra Janata Dal. The party is said to be eyeing Anand Mohan’s hold over the four per cent Rajput votes.

Views are personal.

(Edited by Theres Sudeep)

Source: The Print