2 Bihari cops from 'Bharat' make it big in 'India'

It may be an interesting coincidence, but the fact is that two Biharis from, what Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi loves to call, Bharat have made it good in India and occupy crucial positions as heads of two most prestigious agencies responsible for containing terror and corruption, the most malignant side of our polity and society. Anil Sinha has already taken over as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director while Dineshwar Sharma is tipped to be new Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief, the agency regarded as the eyes and ears of the Indian Republic.
The IPS officer duo, besides the Bihari tag, have so much else in common. Both have a rural background and no mentionable pedigree to join the top league. Both Sinha and Sharma had their upbringing in extra large families. Anil Sinha, a resident of Dumraon, the place made famous by Bharat Ratna Bismillah Khan and Chetan Bhagat's controversial novel 'Half Girlfriend', is the eldest of ten siblings. Sharma is one among five brothers and three sisters.
Sinha and Sharma have also agricultural background. Though Sinha's father taught Psychology at H D Jain College at Ara, the family owns about 30 bighas of farmland near Dumraon. Sharma's family jointly owns about 70 bighas of land in Pali, an otherwise nondescript hamlet on the Gaya-Patna road having about 100 houses belonging to socially antagonistic groups of Bhumihars and Musahars, the caste men of chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. That Bhumihars and Musahars, unlike other villages of the area, live in peace at Pali speaks volumes about the umbrella role played by the Dineshwar Sharma family.
Sinha, before getting enrolled as a Psychology student, in Patna University had his schooling in a little known government school at Ara. Sharma left the village early to get school education in Theosophical Model School at Gaya, 20km south of village Pali. He completed schooling in 1972 when the Theosophical Model School craved for recognition as a religious minority school as followers of Annie Besant. The Theosophical Society founder claimed Theosophy to be a religion, a claim rejected first by the Patna high court and subsequently by the Supreme Court.
Krishna Prasad, the only surviving teacher who taught English to Sharma, could not share anecdotes as the Model School teacher got a pacemaker the other day in Patna.
Sinha and Sharma have maintained links with their home villages. Sharma frequents Pali more as compared to Sinha's Dumraon visits. Sharma's elder brother Maheshwar lives in the village while none of the siblings of Sinha is stationed at Dumraon.
Interestingly DGP (home guards) Abhayanand, the other Bihari in the race for the CBI top job, is the 'samdhi' of Sharma, the IB race winner. Abhayanand's daughter is married to Sharma's son.
Sharma's family is also engaged in social work as his bhabhi Geeta Devi plays mother to the boys and girls burning midnight oil in the Magadh chapter of Super 30 that coaches poor aspirants to crack IIT-JEE.