Kuer Sena


The Kuer Sena was a caste based militia operating in the Indian state of Bihar during the 1970s and 1980s. The majority of its members were young men from the Rajput caste, and the militia was named after the 19th century figure Kunwar Singh, who is considered be a community hero by the Rajputs of Bihar.

History

The Kuer Sena was one of the first of the caste armies to emerge in Bihar during the Naxalite uprising. It was founded by the Rajput landlord and coal businessman, Rajnath Singh who was also an affiliate of the Indian National Congress party.
While it initially had innocent aims, it eventually grew into having a more sinister role and became a violent defender of the existing class and caste structure which the Naxalite insurgents were fighting against. Because of this, Rajnath Singh was eventually arrested by the local government for heading what was essentially a terrorist organisation and the running of the militia was left to his commander, Bir Bahadur Singh. Bir Bahadur Singh was also known to the local authorities and was connected to some 20 murder cases meaning that he was often in and out of jail. He was eventually elected as an MLA for the Jagdispur area and his tenure was mired by atrocities against the so-called "lower castes". They regularly engaged in battles with the MCC militias and often found themselves allying with other caste-based armies like the Ranvir Sena which was controlled by members of the Bhumihar caste and the Bhumi Sena which was controlled by members of the Kurmi caste.

Disintegration

The organisation ended up collapsing due to its over-reliance on a few Rajput landlords as leadership, many of whom were often sent to jail. The Rajputs soon started to band around a new caste-based army known as the Sunlight Sena which was formed in the early 1990s and allied with Muslim landlords in the region.