In August 1977, less than six months after she was voted out of power post-Emergency, Bihar’s first caste carnage brought Indira Gandhi to Belchhi atop an elephant, an image that transfixed the nation long before TV, a photo-op which lifted hopes of the Congress reeling across the Hindi heartland.

Backward Kurmis had burnt 11 landless Dalits in Belchhi, the spark being a dispute over land. For Indira, the elephant was the only option to get past waist-deep water and slushy roads.

Thirty two years later, on Indira’s 25th death anniversary, not much has changed in Belchhi — the people there swear they still “do not feel connected” to development, their village a picture of neglect, ignored by successive governments. No top leader from Indira’s Congress or, for that matter, any other party has cared to visit Belchhi, barely 90 km from Patna. Incidentally, this is Barh, the home turf of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and a Kurmi stronghold.

All that the kin of the massacre victims can show as compensation are three litres of kerosene oil on ration cards every month, one acre each of barren gairmajurua land and an open pan toilet. Nitish Kumar’s welfare schemes have not reached these people — no Indira Awas, no job card, no school uniform. Gyanendra Singh, local Barh MLA of the JD(U), hardly visits the village.

Only the district board road from Harnaut to Saksohra which takes one to Belchhi (13 km from Harnaut) has been converted to National Highway-30A. But even this road is full of potholes, any ride on it very bumpy. Belchhi, a panchayat during the time of the carnage, is a block now but minus the infrastructure.

... contd.