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A 21-year-old young businessman, Hardik Patel is hitting the news headlines in past weeks. And the popularity of the youngster rose to many folds after his mega rally on 25th August, 2015 at GMDC ground in Ahmedabad. Further, he was detained by police and released within an hour in charges of not having permission to stay on at the public grounds after the rally. Hardik is the face of a massive agitation to demand reservation in government jobs and colleges for the Patel community or Patidars. In fact, Hardik who has become the face of the movement, the PatidarAnamatAndolanSamiti (PAAS) has been holding massive rallies in small towns and large cities for the past two months with the warning that they can "make and break governments in Gujarat." However, Tuesday’s rally caused unrest in the state of Gujarat as the supporters of Hardik took the streets and violence broke out in many part of the states.

Before I proceed ahead, let me clarify that I am not endorsing the movement led by Hardik in Gujarat, let the law of country decide the merits / demerits of Patel reservation movement. But I draw some connection of PAAS with long-drawn demand of reservation of Surjapuri people in Bihar. From the past records I think somewhere the movement on demand for OBC status to Surjapuris lacks strong leadership or aggressive representation as Hardik is doing for Patels. And, need of the hour is that since the demand is genuine the community may identify a new leader to refuel the long-drawn demand within the rights / provisions of the constitution.

Who are Surjapuris?
The Surjapuri community is an ethnic entity with their own life-style, culture and a dialect, are largely concentrated in the Kishanganj, Araria, Purnia and Katihar districts of Bihar, and neighbouring Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal. Generally Surjapuris are economically backward, mostly illiterate and typically orthodox. But they have a very sizeable population in these districts and they speak Surjapuri language. There is confusion around the Surjapuri language as well. Whereas in some sections Surjapuri language is considered to be a dialect of Hindi, others consider it as part of Rajbanshi and thus a dialect of Bengali language. However, as per online sources in a PhD thesis in an Australian University a student named Toulmin while adding another name for the language ‘NothernDeshi Bangla’ correctly argues, the debate is “not really about language at all, rather it is about social and political identity”.

Demand for Surjapuri Reservation
The demand for Surjapuri reservation is underway for at least past three decades under the banner of Surjapuri Development Organisation (SDO), a non-political outfit constituted by the people of the region. SDO is fighting for OBC status and reservation in Central government jobs and other opportunities for the ubiquitous Surjapuri Muslim biradari (community). Although the efforts are made since long time but apart from getting almost negligible percentage of reservation under OBC category only in Bihar, this community has not got the fair rights based on their financial condition. The people associated with SDO earlier claimed that each political party, considering their numerical strength and political significance, has only tried to take them for a ride. Every time, elections are round the corner, the politicians dole out lofty promises to extricate us from morass of backwardness and poverty through several packages. Like many politicians of state and national levels, even RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav, while attending a state-level conference of Surajpuri Muslims in Patna in the year 2010, promised to provide reservations to them in government jobs. But, though promises have been made from time-to-time, no follow up action has been made as till date.

At this moment, though Government of Bihar recognises Surjapuri language as a special dialect, the Central government is yet to do so. It should be mentioned that former Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting PriyaranjanDasmunshi (he represented Raiganj constituency in Uttar Dinajpur, West Bengal) during the Parliamentary debate on Jharkhand state formation in 2000 said, “The place I came from as an MP… Here the culture is Surjapuri and Surjapuri language holds a special place…if we do not respect Surjapuri language and claims we the Bengalis, the son of zamindar or people from higher caste, have the final word to say [it] cannot sustain. This chauvinism cannot continue.” The concerns raised by the minister have often found resonance among the Surjapuri people, and also remembered by Surjapur Development Organisation (SDO) time-and-again. However, the demand for reservation never turned into a massive movement that can cater the attention of policy makers.

The yearning for a separate social and political identity for Surjapuris has augmented in the recent past as well. A number of Surjapuri associations of the region especially Kishanganj and Islampur fiercely engaged with the Central and Bihar government for establishing an AMU study centre in Kishanganj. In fact, on 12th October, 2011 around 2.5 lakh people participated in massive dharna against Bihar government for allocating land to AMU Kishanganj Centre, which brought out positive results. Within few weeks the government of Bihar came into action, and the land was transferred on 30th December, 2011 to AMU administration for establishing the special Centre.

Meanwhile, along with consistent efforts of SDO, in March 2013 a two member delegation comprised of  LokJanshakti Party leader from KatiharAdilHasan Azad and former president of AMU Students Union Abdul Hafiz Gandhi visited the office of the National Commission for Backward Classes with the request to include Surjapuri Muslim community in the Other Backward Class list. They met the commission member Mr.Shakeel-Uz-Zaman Ansari and submitted the memorandum, but no any development is reported in this regard till date.

Need of the Hour?
Taking some cues from the AMU movement in the recent past and other movements staged out in demand of providing reservation or special status in other parts of country, the Surjapuri reservation movement may be triggered with a fresh leap. Most importantly, the movement / struggle for demand of Surjapuri reservation at the Central level needs a strong leadership. With a strong and visionary leader the demand for Surjapuri reservation may be achieved under the provision of Indian Constitution. If the Surjapuris get OBC status from the Centre, it will be not less than a new dawn for lakhs of deprived people residing in the region and open the gates of opportunities.

The author hails from Kishanganj, and presently working as Public Relation Officer (PRO) in Central University of South Bihar.