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I visit another ‘home’ of sorts. Here, 18-year-old Chand is making cow dung cakes to be used as fuel for cooking. Chand was pulled out of school when she was in the seventh grade because her older brothers would not send her to the next village to attend high school. Has she heard of the state government scheme, I ask her, which entitles her to a cycle so that she can get to a school safely and quickly? With a shy smile, Chand says that her brothers would never allow it because she would have to cycle past an upper caste village.

I drive out to Shahjahanpur, a Hindu upper caste village. The contrast seems stark. The roads cut at right angles; there is round the clock electricity, clean yards and brick-and-mortar homes. The men wear footwear and vests over trousers, unlike in Gaunpura. The women wear synthetic sarees and jewellery. The children are studying in Delhi or Singapore. I spot some Maruti cars and one Honda city as well! There is cable TV connection in all homes. The Dalits live outside the village, and no Muslim family resides in this village called err…Shahjahanpur.

Dabbang! This is straight out of the latest Bollywood potboiler Dabbang, it seems. When I ask whom they voted for, pat comes the reply, “Nitish Kumar and the BJP…he has reduced lawlessness in the area. We can go out at night without being scared of being kidnapped.” “But what about the Naxalite problem,” I ask. “Oh that is only in the poor areas, you know where there is no development.” Hmm..So there is an area of complete darkness, some area of substantial darkness and some semi-dark areas in the ‘area of darkness’ known as Bihar.

Anecdotes may not be evidence but they do tell a story. Last week, in a village near Patna, a 55-year-old Dalit was beaten to death. Retaliatory attacks by Dalits led to several arrests. Lal Babu Ram had walked through the fields of an upper caste landowner. Some say he refused to work in the landowner’s fields. Babu Ram is dead. We will never know the truth.

Reporters, who travel with the chief minister during his campaign tours, have filed reports that it is development and not caste, that is the main electoral plank this time in Bihar. This is just spin. Politicians have promised development in every election held in Bihar.

Even today, development doesn’t trump caste in Bihar. The choice is not between development and caste. Caste remains a social and political reality in Bihar, which no political leader — from Nitish Kumar to Rahul Gandhi — can afford to ignore. A Brahmin, Rajput or Bhumihar (upper caste Hindu) does not stand a chance of becoming the Chief Minister of Bihar. In the same vein, the empowerment of the poor among the backward castes is still a long way off.

Villagers want bijli, sadak and pani (electricity, roads and water). Every election, it is the same demand, and the same promise. The message is not new. What is different is the style of delivery. Nitish Kumar, the current chief minister doesn’t indulge in histrionics as his immediate rival Laloo Yadav. He has indubitably brought about a change in Bihar, at least in some parts of Bihar. But decades of misgovernance have made corruption and criminalisation a part of the system.

Things are changing in Bihar since I was last here. The change, though perceptible, is very slow. Bihar needs to change faster, and change equitably for the complete society. If I, in my lifetime, come to a place in Bihar and don’t have to ask, “Where is the Dalit village?” I’d say India has emerged. Else, I am not going to take even President Obama’s word for it. (ANI)