J ust after the independence, till early fifties Bihar was in the forefront of industrialization and all the developed (now) states such as Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, Gujarat, Punjab, etc. were behind Bihar. What made the other states progress so much while the land so much endowed with natural resources became the most laggard? The single most important reason for this, in my opinion, is the fallen leadership of Bihar. It is the great betrayal by the ruling elite of Bihar that brought this ratnagarbha province to such a sorry and miserable state of affairs.

We can blame Laloo and his cohorts for all the ills and problems of Bihar. But, the question is, did Laloo emerge from the Vacuum? Or, did he fall from sky? Was corruption started by Laloo? Or, can he be blamed for criminalization of the society, for law and order situation, non-implementation of land reforms, lack of proper infrastructures and the mess created in the field of education in Bihar ? These evils have attained the pinnacle during Laloo's reign no doubt, but they all started creeping into Bihar much earlier and saw a gradual period of several years of development.

I remember that during seventies, many people from the elite and ruling class used to take pride in naming someone from their community who was utterly corrupt or was wielding power due to contacts with criminal elements of the society. Now the same class of people cry hoax if Laloo and his cohorts indulge in corruption and support criminals because it might affect or have affected them directly or indirectly. It is the principle of selectivity of judgement adopted by the elite of Bihar. It is good till they got benefited (irrespective of the concerns for the masses in general) and became bad once they started losing the fruits as well as getting affected in turn.

Bihar did not produce any leader with a great vision after independence, who could implement certain policies vital for the development of any state, e.g. implementation of land reforms, education to the masses, justice in time, extreme corruption at high places, etc. which could have laid a solid and strong foundation to a just and equitable society. All the leaders barring a select few right from the very beginning turned out to be crooks. As they started accumulating wealth and power themselves by all means, they failed invariably on all the fronts for proper development of the state. They had the least interest in the welfare of the state as well as its masses. While the leaders of other states were clamouring for more funding from the centre and were making all efforts for wooing the industries, Bihari netas were busy in filling their own coffers and Bihar was not able to utilize even her sanctioned funds umpteen times. The administrators of Bihar were and are hands in gloves with the political leaders in plundering her. No wonder, Bihar remained entrenched in the quagmire of abject poverty and lawlessness while other states made rapid strides in all round development of their people.