Ranvir Sena - History

History

The name Ranvir comes from Ranvir Baba,an iconic local hero of the Bhumihar Brahmin caste and a supposed mythical figure, and Sena is a Hindi word (origin: Sanskrit sena, meaning 'army'). As the legend goes, during the late 19th century, Ranvir Choudhury, a retired military man and a resident of Belaur village in Bhojpur district, protected the rights of the Bhumihar Brahmin, a land-owing upper caste of the State, against the domination of the Rajputs. It is said that, due to the activities of Ranvir Baba, the Bhumihar Brahmins asserted their power in Bhojpur district and established regional supremacy of the Bhumihars. In September 1994 Dharichan Chaudhary of Belaur had founded the Ranvir Sena and its founding and continuing commander is Brahmeshwar Singh of Khopira village.

The sena originated in Bhojpur in 1994 with the avowed aim of wiping out the communist movement led by various Naxalite groups and the Communist Party of India, Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) Liberation in central Bihar. It was formed after repeated attacks by lower caste militia who attacked upper caste people, their villages, their functions and even grabbed their lands with the help of the naxals. This is widely believed that this all happened with help of Lalu Yadav led state government, which was staunchly against the upper caste with slogans like Bhura-Baal-Saaf-Karo ( means cleanse the state from upper castes like Bhumihar-Brahmin-Rajputs-Laala) and had charged the atmosphere of the state dangerously with caste wars. With such poor and casteist nature of governance the upper castes were unsafe and dejected, forcing Brahmeshwar Singh to build Ranvir Sena and attack naxals and attackers of upper castes.However the Indian government considers the group a right-wing extremist group, which serve the needs of wealthy landowners. It was founded in September 1994 in Belaur village of Udwantnagar block, Bhojpur district following the merger of private caste armies like Savarna Liberation Army and the Sunlight Sena. The forerunners to the Ranvir Sena in Bhojpur district were the Brahmarshi Sena and Kuer Sena, Kisan Morcha and Ganga Sena. These groups were smaller in size and operated with a limited area.

Brahmeshwar Singh of Khopira founded Ranvir Sena.

Brahmeshwar Singh was killed by unidentified gunmen on 1 June 2012 at Bhojpur (Bihar) while he was on his morning walk. Singh was facing life imprisonment in various massacres but was acquitted and released from jail in April 2012.

A day-long curfew was clamped on the district headquarter town in Bhojpur district as tension escalated following the gunning down of Brahmeshwar Singh. Prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC were also enforced in the district.