India, Oct. 26 -- "Congress has too many cheats today. There is a great wave of deceit. Those suspected of wrongdoing must either leave the Congress or be expelled. Some say there are many goons but we must tell them, we will not fear you, we will keep working. Good people must tell goons, you may kill us, but we won't run away".

These were not the words of any BJP leader, but of Mahatma Gandhi, spoken on March 18, 1947, at Bir village in Masaurhi, Bihar, after the communal riots. Seventy-five years later, Gandhi's words still echo in the political corridors of Bihar a state where caste, crime, and politics remain tightly entwined.

Today, as Bihar gears up for elections, the old question of "control over thugs and rioters" resurfaces on...