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Eunuchs to do their bit
Manoj Chaurasia
PATNA, Sept 22: If you thought eunuchs only have “nuisance value” and provide tacky entertainment, then you don't know the whole truth. They are “brand ambassadors” of Bihar under Nitish Kumar’s government with state officials virtually lining up before them and unhesitatingly seeking their help to change the face of the impoverished state. From filing empty coffers to bringing the state in the pink of health, they are doing it all.
The state welfare department plans to involve them in women and child awareness programmes such as the importance of breast-feeding. Recently at a function organised here, the officials invited eunuchs and urged them to participate in the programme.
Lalan Hijra said: “The officials will tell us the time when the drive is to be launched. We are enthusiastic and want to be a part of society,” the leader of the eunuchs said.
In their reincarnation as “ambassadors of love”, they are expected to do what society or charity organisations or even the state government has failed to do.
Despite their extortionist tendencies, eunuchs earned laurels recently when they solemnised the marriage of an orphan, Khushboo, at Chausa in Buxar from the liberal donations they received.
The eunuchs' strong-arm tactics helped slum-dwellers get a hearing before the Patna district magistrate for rehabilitation. They had been engaged by the Patna Municipal Corporation authorities to collect taxes from habitual defaulters. The latter rushed to pay their outstanding taxes after a visit from the eunuchs, civic officials said.
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