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{{short description|Caste-based private army in Bihar, India}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox war faction
| name = Lorik Sena
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| war = [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency]]
| image =
| caption =
| active = 1980–1990
| position =
| leaders =
| clans =
| headquarters = Jaitipur village
| area = [[Nalanda]] district, [[Jehanabad]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kd28Ay09adgC&pg=PA48|title= Broken People: Caste Violence Against India's "untouchables"|
author1=Human Rights Watch Asia|author2= Smita Narula
|publisher=Human Rights Watch|year=1999|isbn=1564322289|access-date=4 January 2021|page=48}}</ref>
| size =
| partof =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| allies =
| split =
| battles =
| website =
}}

The '''Lorik Sena''' was a [[caste]]-based private army with its headquarters at the Jaitipur village of the [[Nalanda]] district of [[Bihar]]. The majority of its members hailed from the [[Yadav]] [[caste]] who were organised by its founder Baiju Yadav to launch an armed struggle against the Naxalites. It was another group after ''Samajwadi Shoshit Sena'' which recruited primarily from the Ahir-Yadav community.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HbAjKR_iHogC&pg=PA346|title=Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age|author=Susan Bayly|publisher= Cambridge University Press|year=2001|
isbn=0521798426|pages=346–347|access-date=4 January 2021}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Kumar|first=Ashwani|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA108|title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar|date=2008|publisher=Anthem Press|isbn=978-1-84331-709-8|location=|pages=108–112|language=en|access-date=4 January 2021}}</ref>
According to folklores, Lorik was the legendary hero of the Yadav ''raiyyats'' (peasant[s]) who waged struggle against the tyranny of repressive kings and the landlords and held the Yadav dignity intact. These ''Senas'' were based primarily on the name of such community figures, either realistic or mythical who were venerated by whole community. While the Rajputs chose 19th century realistic figure [[Kunwar Singh]]'s name for their private army, Yadav found their mythical hero as suitable for the same.<ref name=":1"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vu8eZrzGwuoC&pg=PA55|title= Action Sociology and Development
|author=Bindeshwar Pathak|publisher= Concept Publishing Company|year=1992|
isbn=8170223199|pages=55–59|access-date=4 January 2021}}</ref>

==History==
The founder of the "Lorik Sena", Baiju Yadav belonged to an influential family of the Jaitipur village and was reported to have worked for [[Indian National Congress]] leader Jagdish Sharma, a powerful member of state legislative assembly, who hailed from [[Bhumihar]] caste. The Sena came into existence after '[[Indian People's Front]]', a radical organisation of the [[Communist]]s succeeded in mobilising the backward caste peasants in the region, which threatened the socially and economically advantaged Yadavs and Bhumihars of the region. The ideological differences and caste hostility between the Yadavs and Bhumihars was kept aside for a while and the richer section of Yadavs in the region tried to mobilise the majority of the poor members of their own caste by invoking the mythological tales of "[[Veer Lorik]]".<ref name=":1"/>

Apart from Jagdish Sharma whose electoral constituency included the Jaitipur village, the Sena's headquarters, it was also supported by Ramasharya Singh, a leader of [[Communist Party of India]]. The [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation|CPI (ML)]], which was leading the landless labourers and poor peasants from the backward communities, in its official document argues that the "Lorik Sena" was an attempt by the local landlords and the Congress government dominated by them to play Yadavs and [[Harijan]]s against each other and create a drift in the class struggle. According to the same document, one of the major reason behind the formation of the Sena was the growing incident of cattle theft and "dacoity" (robbery) which affected some of the rich Yadavs of the area.<ref name=":1"/>

==Impact==
The first incident of attack by the Sena came into light in 1985 when it assassinated a landless labour in the Hilsa and Ekangasarai.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/special-report/story/19860115-violence-rocks-south-central-bihar-as-landlords-rage-war-against-retaliating-serfs-800469-1986-01-15|title=Violence rocks south-central Bihar as landlords rage war against retaliating serfs|website=[[India Today]]|first=Farzand|last= Ahmed|access-date=4 January 2021}}</ref> Unlike the private militias of the upper-caste, the "Lorik Sena" didn't indulge in any big massacre and its activities involved the incidents in which less than four or five people were murdered. After the coming into being of the "Yadav caste army", Baiju Yadav became the biggest target of the Indian People Front, who barely escaped an attempt upon his life. After that incident, Sena became more aggressive. The members of the Sena frequently resorted to looting of the properties of the [[Dalit]]s and tried to capture the common ponds and pasture lands in an around its strongholds.<ref name=":1"/>

It was also argued that it was used by [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] leader Mahendra Prasad Singh and CPI leader Ramasharya Singh for their own electoral benefits.<ref name=":1"/>

==Decline==
Following the suit of [[Bhumi Sena]], the Lorik Sena also declined during the 1990s due to leadership crisis arousing in it and the careful tactics of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation|CPI (ML)]] to mobilise the ordinary Yadavs against it. The CPI (ML) led both armed and political struggle to destroy the Sena cadre in which the ordinary Yadavs around its influence zone were issued letters to refrain from joining it as it (according to Liberation) was the potent weapon in the hand of landlords to disrupt the ongoing class war.<ref name=":1"/>

Like the "Bhumi Sena", it also lacked a strong ideological commitment and in the later period of time came to be dominated by criminal elements under the leadership of Ramanand Yadav, who was patronised by the leaders of various political parties. The "Party Unity", another armed militia of the [[Maoist]]s assassinated Ramanand Yadav in 1990 following its policy of eliminating hardcore leaders of the armed militia of the landlords leading to leadership crisis.<ref name=":1"/>

Further, the founder leader Baiju Yadav also joined [[Rashtriya Janata Dal]] in 1995 and the remaining members of the armed squad came into electoral politics lured by new opportunities it provided to the Yadavs after the emergence of Lalu Yadav in the 1990s.<ref name=":1"/>

==See also==
*[[Bhumi Sena]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uxJlAgRemHgC&pg=PA204|title= Averting the Apocalypse: Social Movements in India Today|author= Arthur Bonner|publisher=Duke University Press|year=1990|
isbn=0822310481}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1nC4bFLgK4AC&pg=PA102|title = Contemporary Political Leadership in India George Fernandes, Defence Minister of India|author1=Shiri Ram Bakshi|author2=Shiri Ram Bakshi|author3=Sita Ram Sharma|author4=S. Gajrani|publisher=APH Publishing|year=1998|
isbn=8170249996}}

[[Category:Paramilitary organisations based in India]]
[[Category:Private armies]]

Lorik Sena - Revision history

->Citation bot at 12:16, 3 February 2021