Social justice in a buffalo brawl

The Bihar Police are playing Solomon; not once but twice.

Solomon, as you know, was a wise and just king in the Old Testament. Once, the visiting Queen of Sheba took two look-alike flowers and asked him to spot the real flower, without sniffing. The king ordered the garden window of his palace to be opened, watched which flower the bees flocked to. The story reveals the depth of his wisdom.

In another story, two women approached him with a baby, both claiming to be its mother. The king declared he would cut the baby into two and give a half to each. One woman agreed; the other protested, saying “don’t kill the kid; let her keep him”. The king declared the latter to be the real mother. This story speaks of his sense of justice.

Caught on the horns of a bovine dilemma, the Bihar Police are enacting both stories in a single case.

First the facts. One fine morning, a five-year-old buffalo calf of Suraj Yadav of Seotar village in Gaya district went missing. A village canary told him he had spotted the calf sunning itself in the barn of Prakash Manjhi of the neighbouring Nauranga village. Taking the law in one hand and a leash in the other, Suraj took the calf back home.

Prakash went to the cops. The local SHO Ajay Kumar, a wise soul, played the first Solomon act. Just as the wise king let the bees follow their natural instinct, he let the beast follow its. He set the calf loose. Like bees to flower, the calf grunted and snorted its way to Suraj’s yard, upon which the cop declared that the calf was Suraj’s. Prakash protested, and went to his netas.

Now, the thing about Bihar is that, if it is a dispute, castes get involved. Where castes are involved, politicians pick up the lead and the leash. Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular)’s national spokesman Shyam Sundar Manjhi came out holding the lasso on Prakash’s behalf. Emboldened and empowered, Prakash asserted his mahadalit status and lodged a complaint under SC-ST atrocities prevention act. Not to be outdone, the Rashtriya Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad took up cudgels on Suraj’s behalf. Its ex-MLA Ranjit Yadav took the case to the police inspector-general of the region.

Tabularly arrayed, the battle order could likely develop as follows:

Suraj Yadav vs Prakash Manjhi

Yadav community vs Manjhi community

RJD vs HAM(S)

INDIA alliance vs NDA

Higher-ups in the police realised the brawl could go on till the cows come home. So IG Vikas Vaibhav of Magadh Range took the bull by its horns, and played the second Solomon act. Indeed, no gory cutting act, but he has ordered a DNA test of the calf and its claimed mothers.

DNA testing of buffaloes is nothing new in our land of sacred cows. It’s done by farmers to check the health of their animals, and costs a few thousand. But the Yadav vs Manjhi dispute could be the first test in India conducted to determine bovine maternity.

Most of us would laugh it off as another of those bizarre-India stories, the kind that feeds into the mythology of caste politics that keeps Bihar backward, or how netas make hay and fodder when the caste sun scorches the poorer mortals. But turn the kaleidoscope a little, and you also get a brilliant picture of political empowerment—of a backward Yadav and a mahadalit Manjhi boldly forcing the actors of a far mightier political state and its coercive arm to act on their behalf! If this isn’t social and political empowerment, what is?

Only in Bihar? I don’t know.

prasannan@theweek.in