NEW DELHI, Dec 2: Had it not been for the unprecedented death toll, last night's massacre wouldn't have been news in Central Bihar. For the story is the same: landless Dalits -- mobilized by the CPI(M-L) Liberation -- being marginalized by upper-caste and OBC landowners and an impotent administration. But the Jehanabad carnage, seen in the backdrop of the current instability at the Centre and the resultant realignment of political forces, gives a sinister twist to the story.

Never before has the political isolation of the CPI(M-L) Liberation been so evident. Virtually no party in the State has a political stake in the plight and the future of the Liberation. Ironically, therefore, the only parties which have backed the group's demand that Chief Minister Rabri Devi resign are the BJP and its ally, the Samata Party.

Others, including the Congress and the mainstream Left, consider discretion the better part of valour. Expressing token shock, they have demanded an immediate crackdown on the outlawed Ranavir Sena and asked the Centre to rush additional Central forces for the purpose.

It is this political apathy towards the landless in central Bihar that has emoboldened the Ranvir Sena. Over the last couple of months, it has been systematically expanding its operations outside its traditional bastion of Bhojpur district. It's well-known that the Sena enjoys the patronage of sections of the BJP, Congress and the RJD. And it is this all-party character of its support that gives the Sena its strength. So despite being a banned group, there has been no crackdown yet on the Sena.

On the contrary, RJD leader and Union Minister Chandradeo Prasad Verma openly demanded that the ban on Ranvir Sena be lifted when there was pressure for a crackdown after the Bathani Tola massacre in July 1997.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.