Patna, a city on the grow

I suppose it must seem odd to those who have visited Patna and those who haven't as well, when they hear Patna'ites and regular visitors say that Patna has really improved. It is condescending for us regulars to speak of a city, a group of people, a community like that.

But it's true. Patna's really changed, even since 2007. The airport is spruced up (they now have screens with live flight information). The main intersections look like Times Square and Piccadily Circus. The roads are being widened, footpaths improved. Poverty is still present and many people live in slums still. Perhaps what I am saying is whilst India sailed ahead in the 90's an the 00's under the BJP, the casteist politicians made Patna and Bihar suffer for more than 15 years under Lalu Prasad Yadav and his illiterate wife Rabri Devi (former chief minister of Bihar who could not sign her own name). They tore millions and millions of rupees away from the state of Bihar, which was once the best run state in the country. Anyway, their time has gone, and Bihar, under Nitish Kumar, has prospered. It is still a crowded, dirty city, but it has hope and strength and is forward looking. No mean achievement since the corruption of the 90's.

One thing to note though, despite all criticisms of Bihar and its past, it has no history of religious persecution. Whilst many states in the north labour under violence against Christians or Muslims, Bihar has had none of it. Obviously, Bihar also has casteism, which is a blight on all of north India.