Scheduled Caste landless persons killed 16 people in Khagaria district of Bihar on October 2 night. Initially it was alleged that the scheduled castes supported by Naxalites attacked people who were asleep in the village Ichwara in Khagaria district, some 200 kilometers from state capital Patna. The police had said that the suspected Maoists, said to be 20 in number segregated the old and the young and tied their hands and legs and then fired on them indiscriminately with firearms killing 16 on the spot. One man who saved his life by pretending to be dead narrated the whole gruesome story to the police. The bodies were lying for autopsy and the situation on the spot is pathetic. The helpless women and children wept bitterly. Among the dead, there are some 10-12 year old children. Nobody knows why they killed the children? But only two days after these gruesome killings, the Naxalites spokespersons told the media over telephone that they were not responsible for the mayhem.

The villagers were so angry that they did not allow the Deputy Chief Minister Shushil Modi to talk to the villagers. He was heckled and forced to leave the village. The Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced ex-gratia payment of Rs 1, 50,000 to the next of the kin of those killed. The police said that land dispute is the reason for the attack. The 200-300 bighas of gairmazarua, the government land is said to be under the possession of people belonging to the Keori and Kurmi caste. The Mushars, a scheduled caste who are called Mahadalits wanted to take possession of these lands, they said that these lands belonged to their ancestors and farmers have fraudulently and forcefully grabbed it. There were some scuffles also few months back which were reported to the police, but they alleged that police in connivance with these farmers did not take any action. Therefore the Mushars decided to kill them in order to teach them a lesson, some people said on condition of anonymity. They contacted the left ultras, the police said, and with their help, they perpetrated the violence.

Bihar has not been witnessing such type of massacres for quite some time. But this incident has again exposed that smouldering hatred and violence still exists. In recent years, Nitish Kumar had earned the reputation of being a good administrator. Media houses had been flooded with reports of improvement in the law and order situation. This incident has again raised eyebrows and the government.

Land reforms have taken a back seat for over a decade or more. No political party wants to risk losing votes and does not dare touch this contentious issue on one pretext or the other. Nitish Kumar, just after coming to power some three and-a-half years ago, set up a ‘Land Reform Commission’ under a retired IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, D. Bandhopadhyay, who had earned a reputation in West Bengal for implementing some excellent measures. This Commission has submitted its recommendations six months ago. The report has not been made public also. But due to setbacks of the NDA (alliance of JD(U) and BJP) in the recently concluded by-elections, Nitish Kumar is not daring to implement the recommendations. Political observers say that recommendations like giving statutory rights to the share-croppers, which the government said would be implemented very soon has infuriated farmers, mostly upper and other backward castes. These groups opposed this move and voted against the NDA, the alliance of which Nitish Kumar is the Chief Minister. Thus this opportunity of implementation of land reforms has also been lost. It is being said that now onwards no political party will even like these issues to be raised and discussed on public forums.