PATNA: Regimes change. So do jokes. The joke in Nitish Kumar's Naya Bihar is on Muslim officers in the state police. The state's paramilitary force, Bihar Military Police, simply known as BMP, is now being jokingly referred to as 'Bihar Minority Police'.

And rightly so. For, "a large number of us have been shunted to the BMP and other soft postings like the Special Branch or CID," a DSP, belonging to the minority community, rued.

"There's no need to shed a tear for these officers. They reaped a long harvest with prized field postings in the Lalu-Rabri raj," another officer said, recalling the joke in the old regime: A building on Bailey Road in Patna housing several low-key police departments was then rather uncharitably referred to as "Ranvir Bhawan".

Most of the officers belonging to a particular caste were then 'shunted' on these posts. Baba Ranvir is believed to have led the victory of these particular castemen over their foes � once upon a time.

The new joke in the Nitish regime is also not charitable. "And it has substance. Just look at the list of Muslim DSPs shunted to the BMP and other insignificant postings," an aggrieved officer said while reeling off the names of 12 such DSPs in the BMP, two in the vigilance, another two in the CID and one in the Special Branch.

"Talks of victimisation on communal lines are rubbish," a senior police officer said. Admitting that several of the sidelined officers had been entrenched in Patna for most of the past decade, he said the department needed a pragmatic shakeup for better, effective policing.

"What witch hunt?" another senior officer asked, adding all the four Muslim SP-rank officers are holding the fort in districts and the solitary Muslim DIG Shoaib Khan is also in the range.

Of the two IGs belonging to the minority community, one is retiring on Friday and the other next month. The lone Muslim ADG Shafi Alam is in charge of modernisation and training.

However, another officer could not comprehend why Amir Javed and Dilnawaz Ahmed, two young officers with training from the 'Grey Hounds' � Andhra police's elite Special Task Force, have been 'dumped' in the CID and Bhagalpur IG's office respectively.

"The chief minister's secular credentials are unflinching," JD-U spokesman Anil Pathak said. Afzal Amanullah was CM Nitish Kumar's personal choice for state home secretary's post, he recalled and added he is the first Muslim home secretary of the state.

Source: TOI