Page 24 - AUG2018E

Muzaffarpur rape scandal

taints Nitish Kumar governance

Muzaffarpur shelter home rape scandal in Bihar has surfaced at a time when Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar is politically recovering. This case has exploded the myth of sushasan (good governance) for
which Kumar had been getting applauds for nearly one and half decades, writes anil sinha
A access to the top brass in the state capi- the chief minister and dethrone him,
horrific incident of 34 girls
being raped in a Muzaffar-
tal and being saved even after an ad-
a desire that has been nursing since
verse report from the Tata Institute of
long. Senior leader and former union
pur shelter home run by
a local newspaper owner
minister CP Thakur has demanded Nit-
Social Sciences, the third-party auditor
and power broker, Brajesh
table to the people. Protests are going
Thakur surfaced. Accused Thakur was of shelter homes in Bihar, is unaccep- ish’s resignation. Thakur suggested that
the minister should not be on the post
found to be highly connected with on in every part of the state. However, till the investigations are on. Here, for-
considerable clout in the state capital. the media supporting the ruling party mer minister Verma has also warned
His call details revealed his close con- is largely ignoring it. the chief minister that other leaders
nections with the husband of the state In this case, the role of BJP is also involved in the scandal should also be
social welfare minister Manju Verma. important. The party does not want brought to book.
Verma was shocking.Verma was look- to own up the failures of a governing Kumar, expressing remorse said that
ing at the shelter homes in the state and state. The leaders of the party view this he is ashamed of the incident. His asser-
her department was responsible for incident as an opportunity to denigrate tion that it was a failure in the system
providing funds to the NGOs which run
shelter homes across the state.
The incident forced her to step down
from her post immediately though Bi-
har Chief Minister Nitish Kumar tried to
shield the minister by saying that there
was no question about her resignation.
He had political equations in mind be-
cause Verma belongs to the caste of
Kushwaha and the chief minister was
grooming her against his arch rival and
Minister of State in the Union Cabinet,
Upendra Kushwaha. When the revela-
tions of Verma’s husband receiving reg-
ular calls from the main accused came
to light, Kumar was left with no option
than to ask her to resign.
Muzaffarpur rape scandal has ex-
posed the vulnerability of the state
apparatus to manipulations by vested
interests that can go to the extent of
indulging in heinous crimes of raping
helpless poor girls. Some media, as usu-
al, being friendly with the ruling regime
didn’t show the anger of the people in
Bihar properly.
The fact that a notorious journalist
involved in the rape scandal and having

wtehelka / 31 august 2018 24 www.tehelka.com