Two Faces of Bihar

DURING the last few weeks, two distinct faces of Bihar politics have come to the forefront. One was that of a blustering chief minister who, faced with a string of criminal charges, made a disgusting spectacle of himself by shamelessly trying to cling to power. This picture which attracted a lot of media attention, tended to put in the shade the other face of Bihar, which was that of a brave and self-respecting woman who, at around the same time, was drawing thousands of supporters in her fight to bring to the dock the goons of the ruling party who killed her son and two others all activists of the CPI(ML). Their murder was the latest in a series of killings of Leftist cadres by armed gangs of the landlord classes, enjoying the chief minister's patronage.