Revisiting the Musahar Community: The Maha Dalits of Bihar

BY: AREEB UDDIN

Although, the Indian Constitution guarantees equal protection & treatment under the law, but on ground level things are very different. The Bihar election is on the verge of the table, and the parties are pumping up their manifestos and promises to win over. Before the Partition happened, the colonial era was very regressive for the marginalized classes, because after the Independence, the only thing which was different for them was the 'oppressors'.

In Bihar, there is an ancient tribe to be known as the -- Musahar Community (eventually they survive by eating rats and snails). The road of development is still not connected to the village where they reside, most of them are found in Bihar, Maharasthra and Uttar Pradesh. If we relocate the pyramid of the so called Caste system then they are on the outer layer of the structure itself.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera, one of the resident of the village confessed that “Earlier our meals were dependant on the availability of rats and grains that we would procure from the rat holes. However, things are changing for some families as their children have gone to different states to work. We now catch rats mostly during the harvesting season.”

If we give a plain reading to Article 15 of the Indian Constitution, it states that -- No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to— (a) access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment; or (b) the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use of the general public.

& nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children. But imagine, you don't even have a hospital within the premises of the village? Forget about the discrimination, but there are not institutions where one can be discriminated. The road are not maintained, the villages are not electrified, there are no 'toilets'. The official data states that 100% villages including Bihar are defecation free, but the reality is totally the opposite. The social reformation is necessary for the society to be uplifted, and as Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had rightly remarked that -- “There is no doubt, in my opinion, that unless you change your social order you can achieve little by way of progress. You cannot mobilize the community either for defence or for offence. You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole.”

(Image: Hamza Nomaan Masood)

The social setup is constructed in such a manner that they have been eschewed by the Politicians too. The political promises are always half-hearted because the development is no where visible and the condition is degrading day by day. Recently, family of Sanjay Manjhi, who happened to be from the Musahar community was socially boycotted because they converted to Christianity. Amarnath Tewary, had rightly argued in his piece for The Hindu that -- "All the governments keep promising and announcing schemes. But when we look at the ground reality, it is a dismal picture. However, one good thing that happened in the previous RJD government was that many benefited from the Indira Awas Scheme. This is due to Lalu Prasad Yadav, who asked them to build their own houses in three stages instead of asking the contractors."

(Image: Hamza Nomaan Masood)

They have been witnessed surviving on rats, snakes and snails. Article 21A which talks about compulsory education and entails a positive duty over the State to educate the children finds no place here. Education, healthcare, sanitation and welfare is just on papers for them. The fancy doctrines of equality, liberty and fraternity can't even find a way to enter the village.

(Image: Hamza Nomaan Masood)

In the age when the whole world is fighting against the pandemic, there is a community which cannot even fight its own existence. Dr. Ambedkar had rightly said that rather than a political reformation, India needs a social reformation. Most of the people from the community are part time labours, that too without any land to possess. They still reside in their half-baked houses which cannot be protected, registered or counted. Even the politicians don't consider to fulfill the promises which were made in their election speeches, because they have been used as a vote bank since decades. With the upcoming elections, one can only hope that their condition is uplifted and there is ray of development. At least a hospital would make a difference, forget an institution to study. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, had rightly observed in his book 'Annihilation of Caste' that “The path of social reform like the path to heaven at any rate in India, is strewn with many difficulties. Social reform in India has few friends and many critics.”

About the Author: Areeb Uddin Ahmed is a law graduate from Faculty of Law, AMU. He is currently associated with Indian Civil Liberties Union. Can be reached at:

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