Acha oh...you're from Bihar
“Kisi Bihari ne chura liya hoga”, a joke thrown around Indian households whenever something is misplaced. A joke that has shrunk the entire cultural identity of a state. Somewhere along the way, being from Bihar has become a matter of embarrassment rather than pride. Bihar has become a meme, it has become an explanation for theft. “Arey saala, Bihari hoga” A convenient little remark for whenever someone acts illiterate or uneducated. Being uneducated now has a regional identity.
And the irony? We are belittling a state that was once the heart of Indian politics and intellect. What has Bihar not given us? Patliputra, Maghadha, Mauryas, Nalanda, a legacy of philosophy, astronomy and medicine. Bihar was once a land the world looked towards for knowledge. And today we have reduced it to Katta, gutka, chori aur gareebi - quite a downfall for a state.
And the reasons for this downfall go back to colonial rule, where exploitative land revenue systems like the Permanent Settlement strengthened zamindari and deepened inequality. After independence, limited industrial growth and employment opportunities held back economic development. Decades of political instability and governance failures discouraged investment and pushed generations of people to migrate elsewhere in search of better education and livelihoods. The separation of Jharkhand in 2000 also meant that Bihar lost much of its mineral-rich territory and industrial base. Add to this the recurring floods that devastate parts of the state, damaging homes, farms and infrastructure, and the challenges become even more complex.
And oh bollywood hasn't exactly helped either. Gangaajal and Apaharan, both directed by Prakash Jha, brought Bihar's crime, corruption, kidnapping and political violence to the big screen. Then came Gangs of Wasseypur, with its coal mafia, guns, gang wars and men settling disputes with bullets rather than words. Do Bigha Zameen adds to the rural poverty and hardships. And then, of course, there is Khakee: The Bihar Chapter, a crime series centred around the chase between a feared gangster and an IPS officer, with corruption, political pressure and violence woven into the story. Now, there is nothing wrong with telling stories about crime, poverty or political corruption. These are realities that deserve to be explored. But when these images become the most recognisable representation of a region, what else do we expect people to remember? And when these portrayals spill over from films into memes and reels, the line between a fictional character and an entire population begins to disappear.
The biggest consequence of these portrayals is how difficult it has become for people to separate a Bihari's identity from this carefully constructed image. A Bihari doctor, an IIT graduate, or an entrepreneur suddenly becomes a source of surprise, but bihar has given people like Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, who founded Sulabh International and transformed sanitation practices in India, Vashishtha Narayan Singh, the mathematician from Bhojpur who earned his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley and R. K. Singh, a Bihar-born IAS officer who went on to serve as Union Home Secretary and Union Minister for Power.
So, the next time someone says, “Kisi Bihari ne chura liya hoga,” laugh if you want. But remember that the person you are reducing to a joke comes from a land that once drew scholars from across the world to its centres of learning. All Bihar wants from us is to stop treating it like a punchline. A state can lose its glory, its opportunities, even its place in the national conversation. But why must its people lose their dignity along with it?
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