Holi Milan with motia-mazdoors-for a demand one should pursue with patience and data and try to garner support from all quarters

Holi Milan with motia-mazdoors-for a demand one should pursue with patience and data and try to garner support from all quarters



On 12.3.2010 ,I had been once again with the motias living south of Ranchi railway station whom I told that I will accept their request for a night stay there if at least 11 motias are literate, taking class from their child. I know it is difficult but I assured them I can spare once a month time for their medical check up and any time they can come to my chamber for free consultation. I had gone them to thank for their support to the cause of Ranchi-Jayanage train which finally could be announced in the railway’s budget of 2010 after a protracted struggle of AMP since 1996 to which later many organizations like Maithili Manch,Harmu, Vidyapati Smarak Samiti ,Ranchi etc, have collaborated. I had gone to them because I had told ADRM Mr. MK Yadav that this train was the demand of railway porters, majority of them were from Mithila.

I had incidentally discovered those motias on 19.2.2003 (when amid heavy hailstorm and big sized ice falling I had run to take shelter in a Hanuman temple, south of Ranchi railway station in way from Niwarnpur where in the Micrographics press my autobiography pages were being corrected; I was going to catch a train for Bokaro to attend marriage of Santosh son of Madanji of Doranda college hailing from village Tyotha;sister of Madnji was married to my late mama Dr. Vivekanand Jha of Koilakh; My sister told me that Santosh had fixed marriage without a dowry and hence I had decided to attend that). One ice had stroked my right ball of thumb which pained for long but my head and thus life was saved due to that small temple where I found many had taken shelter and everyone was talking in Maihtili. I found all of them were from Madhubani and Darbhanga districts and lingua franca was Maithili there. They told me that Shripati Yadav alias Pahlwanji was their leader.

Later I had a meeting with them and was in their contact whenever I used to go to station parking my car that side. On 21.3.2005 there was a Holi Milan in chain of various places of various groups (Madhukam; Ratu Raod ShivDurga Mandir; Samastipur Mitra Mandal’s at HEC’s Sector II Shiv Mandir; Tirhut Mitra mandal’s at Shrikrishan Singh Park, Doranda; Bharti’s in Shyamali;Gandhinagar-Dr.RK Jha’s residence; Santhal Pargana Mitra mandal’s at ShivDurga Mandir,AG office; Bhagalpur Mitra Mandal’s at Hatia Chowk High school ; Munger Mitra Mandal’s at Debadih, Saharsa Mitra Mandal’s in Forest Colony; Purnea Mitra Mandal’s at the Lotus Apartment near Magistrate Colony, and also in Kadru for a Class I Maithil officers. It is not that all were successful but surely some had a great success and among them one with those railway porters was highly successful and was widely publicized by the Hindustan Times.

The porters had asked me to provide a train to Darbhanga so that they can go to their homes for celebrating Holi as bus –owners were looting them . Though on the suggestion of Ram Ekbal Singh ‘Vineet,’ the then deputy editor of the Ranchi Express I had submitted an application for such a train to the then railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on 26.10.1996 when he had visited Ranchi for the conference of National Union of Working Journalist of India(NWJUI) and when I told him in Maihtili that we wanted a train to Darbhanga he had asked ‘Barasta (via),’ I had replied,”Dhanbad-Barauni and he had instructed to railway officials but it was not implemented. Then Anil Mishra of Antarrashtriya Maithili parishad, Muri had given petition to Railway Minister Neetish Kumar in 2002 fro train to Darbhanga and Saharsa. For Saharsa extension to pata super was done but Jaynagar’s remained.

When I returned back from Bangalore I raised this issue in the AMP meeting at Chadrashekhar Azad Club and then at High Court Colony, Harmu where on 16.8.2008 when we went to the shop of Arun Jha of Maithili Manch to Fax that news and asked him to collect some 1000 signatures with addresses of Home railway station beyond Samastipur(as I was advised by D N Jha ,President of AMP, Ranchi South whose brother was ambassador of India in many countries. DN Jha had said that railways have perfect business data for all tickets sold). Arun Jha said,”Maithili dekhitanhi,Lalu avedan tarka dait achhi..’thek hai dekhenge,’ aa railway san survey kara lelak achhi je economically viable ee train nahi hoyat.”

On the same day there was a discussion with him also when he said that Jharkhand Maithili Manch did not recognize Antarrashtriya Maithili Parishad. Subodh Choudhary was also with me. Then AMP delegation met ADRM,MK Yadav and convinced him for trial train and thereafter a ssuccession of meetings and petitioned led Lalu’s announcement of train but Mamta Banerjee withdrew that tarin and it was a difficult task for us from both ends(Ranchi and Jayanagar to raise the issue. I personally talked to Babulal Marandi, and Arjun Munda(who both sent letters to Mamta Banerjee), Hukumdev Narayan yadav, Poonam Azad(wife of Kirti Azad,MP,Darbhanga), sent message through Pune president AMP to Mangani lal Mandal, AMP Jharkhand president, Dr.Guneshwar Jha petitioned Governor,Jharklhand,Syed Sibte Raji in Janta darbar with Lekhanand Jha of Vidyapati Smark samiti, Maithili manch Harmu concted Ravindra Pandey,MP from Giridih. I sent petition to mamata several times by post and through Ashok Jha,Kolkata who was a TMC worker and finally on 4th Feb.faxed Mamta, copy taking from website that special train had a wait list when it was given for longer duration and hence on all count that train was going to be commercially viableand even today I see for the train of 22nd March more than 50 per cent berths are booked.

So what is needed for a demand one should pursue with patience and data and try to garner support from all quarters. Maybe many will not give you credit for the work but persue the work without desire of name and fame-people by and large will bless you and that I saw in the eyes of those motias and gave them a 100 rurpee note for Hanumani Jhanda for ramanavi when there will be full day kirtan at that Mithila hamnuman Mandir,the name I spoke so gladly all accepted. Today I told to the reporter of Saubhagya Mithila TV to go there on Ramnavami and take their bite who speak only Maithili in that hamlet.