Birsa Nagar (Srinagar, Purnia)

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The ‘Pakistan’ tag

Abhay Singh, July 16, 2023: The Times of India

Ask the residents and they’ll tell you that the name of this village in the Srinagar administrative block of Purnia district in Bihar was changed to Birsa Nagar just after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. There is also a metal board nailed to a tree at its entrance that proclaims this fact. But the village continues as Pakistan tola in official records, say its 250-odd residents.


“Mediapersons started visiting our village to do reports on how it was called Pakistan tola. They were surprised though because our village has no Muslims, only tribals,” says 65-year-old Silhu Hansda, a resident. So, how did the village get the ‘Pakistan’ name?


Hansda can only offer a guess for an answer. He says that post Partition, the village came to be occupied by Bihari Muslims who were forced out of East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh). They came to settle here, finding work as ‘halwahas’, or tillers of land, in the service of “a big Marwari landholder”. The refugees themselves or locals in the area perhaps gave the habitation the name of Pakistan tola, Hansda explains. But where are those refugees now?


“Nobody knows where they went after abandoning Pakistan tola,” says Hansda. “The fact is that for the last six decades it has been only the tribals who have been living in this village. ” The media attention on account of its name saw the Srinagar BDO and circle officer visit the village before the 2019 polls and suggest that its name be changed, Hansda said. The residents settled for Birsa Nagar in memory of tribal leader Birsa Munda, who had led an insurrection against the British in the late 19th century.


But how much have things changed since then? “For us and some other locals, the name of our village is Birsa Nagar. Pakistan tola is also in use. But there is no change in the official record and documents,” says Ashish Murmu. 


Manjhali Hansda says that be it their ration card, voter ID, or electricity bill, all bear the name Pakistan tola. Officials, however, say there is no ambiguity. “As far as the basic land records are concerned, there is no mention of Pakistan tola. Nor is it a revenue village,” Srinagar circle officer Vidyanand Jha said over the phone. Purnia DM Rajesh Kumar said he did not immediately have details about any Pakistan tola but would “try to find out”.