Vaishali: Hindutva Wave Against Caste Seawall

Published here
Bettiah, May 7

There is a sense of looking through a microscope in Vaishali: the micro transactions of caste taking place all over Bihar are magnified here. However linear political parties may have wanted them to move, castes have behaved counter-intuitively, preferring to preserve themselves before worrying about the idea of a consolidated political community being imposed on them.

This is not to say there is no support for Narendra Modi in Vaishali: there is an overwhelming number of electors, especially upper caste, saying they want him to be the Prime Minister. However, the main battle is between three castes - Yadav, Rajput and Bhumihar - that do not see eye-to-eye, and two of them have been coming together of late to defeat a third.

There are four main candidates in Vaishali, which votes on May 12 - Raghuvansh Prasad Singh of the RJD, Rama Singh of the LJP which is in an alliance with the BJP, Vijay Sahni of the JD(U) and Independent candidate Annu Shukla. Conventional wisdom would say the RJD would get the Yadav votes while the BJP walks away with the Bhumihar and Rajput ones. However, RJD's Singh, who is seeking a sixth consecutive term, is a Rajput and Annu Shukla, Lalganj MLA, is a Bhumihar.

"We want Modi sarkar, but we also want Raghuvanshbabu," said Sekhar Singh of Dhanaiya in Paru block of Vaishali, going directly to the heart of the Rajput dilemma. RJD's Singh has won here since 1996 by bringing together the Yadavs and Rajputs. The constituency has always elected either Bhumihars and Rajputs, who, barring a few instances, refused to back the same candidate. "We Rajputs will not vote for a Bhumihar. If they want to, let them come and vote for us," said Chandrabhushan Singh of the same village, referring to the fact that the LJP's candidate is also a Rajput.

This is where the "Hindu unity" idea of the BJP breaks down. Vaishali is symptomatic of what has been observed all across Bihar - despite the BJP's projection of Narendra Modi, the local candidates and their castes matter. Most Bhumihars of Muzaffarpur are set to vote for Congress's Akhilesh Prasad Singh, a Bhumihar. The Mallaahs of Muzaffarpur will mostly vote BJP while most of those of Vaishali will stick with JD(U) - these parties have nominated Mallaah candidates in these constituencies. The Rajputs, out to defeat RJD's Rabri Devi in Chhapra, are rooting for Raghuvansh Singh in Vaishali.

The BJP's victory will depend on a precise definition of "most," when talking about the Bhumihar votes to Akhilesh Singh, for instance. Candidates for the major parties in each constituency are almost always from the most populous castes. The BJP will need its candidates to deliver their caste votes while hoping Narendra Modi can bring over a good number of voters from the opposing candidates' castes.

At Chainpura in Paru block, Anil Kumar Singh - a Rajput - said that his vote will be for Narendra Modi: "No one knows Rama Singh. We are voting for NaMo." However, Singh also does not rule out the possibility of the Rajputs voting for Annu Shukla to keep out the RJD. "If Rama Singh is going to lose, we BJP cadres will vote for Annu Shukla. If she wins, she will be going over to the BJP, after all," he said. Annu is the wife of Vijay Kumar "Munna" Shukla, a former JD(U) MLA currently serving a life sentence for murder. Her campaign material prominently features her husband, shown to be standing behind bars with palms folded. Two duo seem to have burnt their bridges with the JD(U).

"We forward castes want Modi, but at the end of the day, it is all about caste.... We will say "Modi, Modi," but finally we will all go and vote against Raghuvansh Singh," said Pankaj Kumar - a Bhumihar - of Vaishali village, which lends the district its name. "People from our caste advised Annu Shukla not to contest and to let NaMo win. But she has bad chamchas around her who will grow in importance if she contests. Now that she has decided to contest, I have no choice but to vote for her. It has become a question of astitva," said Kumar. Incidentally, Rakesh Kumar Singh - a Rajput - of Dhanaiya also said that voting for Raghuvansh Prasad is an issue of astitva - existence.

It is not that the Bhumihars hate Raghuvansh - called Brahmbaba for his bearded appearance and educational qualifications by the electorate here. "Whatever happens, he is in the constituency on Saturdays and Sundays. Even if we Bhumihars invite him to a function, he will come. However, he never comes here asking for votes. He should; maybe some of us will vote for him," said Surender Prasad Singh of Vaishali.

"When Modi builds a road, we will all benefit," said Shivji Singh, a Bhumihar, of Paru block's Suhasi. "My village has not seen development even after Nitish [Kumar, chief minister]. People are calling it a Maoist village now. The Bhumihars of Lalganj can vote for Annu Shukla, but everyone in my village wants Modi," he said.

However, mere vote transfers by adding raw caste numbers won't ensure victory. "We Bhumihars don't vote. My family has 16 electors; not more than four vote," said Vaishali's Surender Singh. These are villages which were once famous for booth captures. "We would just occupy the booth here and wouldn't let the Yadavs vote. They began voting after [former chief election commissioner] T.N. Seshan," said Pankaj Kumar of Vaishali.

The men consider women as being part of a backup plan, to be used in case they need additional votes. "The women used to stay at home on polling day even though the booth is adjacent to the village. Now, they have begun going on their own. This time, we will ensure all of them goes and votes for Modi," said Anil Singh of Chainpura. "Back in the day, the women never went. We would introduce ourselves to the officials at the booth and cast their votes, too. After EVMs came into being, we ask them to wait till the afternoon. If we sense our candidate is losing, vehicles are arranged to take them to vote," said Chandrabhushan Singh of Dhanaiya. There is a suspicion among men that women - especially from the OBC, mahadalit and EBC castes - will vote for the JD(U) to reward the Nitish Kumar government's pro-women policies. Whether their upper caste counterparts will follow suit is anyone's guess.

Reminding his audiences that he had arrested L.K. Advani during his 1990 Rath Yatra, Lalu Prasad has positioned himself to take credit if the BJP falls short of its targets in Bihar. While Prasad has been leading the charge, it is caste - the consciousness of which was awakened during the backward classes movement - against which the Modi wave has been lashing. "If it wasn't for these regional parties that split us according to the castes of their leaders, Modi wouldn't have had to work so hard," said Satyendra Prasad Singh - a Bhumihar - of Gokula in Paru block.

JD(U) on verge of losing crucial Madhepura

Published here
Saharsa, April 29

From the EC120 Eurocopter, Sharad Yadav pointed to the Kosi and a bridge across it. "I had it built," he said, with the authority of someone who has won four times from Madhepura since 1991.

Later, he spoke of the 3.59 km bridge, connecting Baluha Ghat and Gandual and inaugurated last December, at Amarpura in Kehra block. "Give me your vote based on what we have done," he said, "we" being him and the government led by the Janata Dal (United), of which he is national president. However, Yadav had no answer when a member of the crowd started heckling him over an unbuilt plus-two school. "My job as an MP is to look after the big projects," he told the crowd, as an intended answer. At the end of his speech - a schoolmasterly one - he asked the crowd if all of them would vote for the arrow his party's symbol. Some people merely crossed their arms and smiled sheepishly.

A lot is at stake for Sharad Yadav and his party at Madhepura. With the JD(U) expected to take heavy losses this general elections, there is an urgency to protect the home bases: Nalanda, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's home constituency, and Madhepura. CM Kumar himself came to embody this desperation when he camped at Madhepura town from April 18 to 28, having files sent over from Patna by special messengers and campaigning for his party's president.

However, it does not seem to be adding up for Sharad Yadav. Kumar's vikas, which once lent credibility to the JD(U) claim of jamaat over jaat, has slowed down and threatens to dry up. "He always thought that dealing with day-to-day affairs was always below him. Dealing with big projects works if there are party MLAs doing groundwork. We had only three MLas in the six assembly constituencies of the area; one has left now," said a JD(U) leader. The MLA who left is not quite out of the doorway yet - former Industries Minister Renu Kushwaha has been suspended by the JD(U) for campaigning for Vijay Kumar Singh, who is the BJP's candidate.

Yadav, who built his political career by riding on the mass appeal of others, has only the Mahadalit votebank created by Kumar to fall back on. "He always won by eating a little into the Muslim-Yadav votebank of the RJD and then getting our votes. That's how he famously defeated Lalu [Prasad Yadav] in 1999. Where will he get that now?" asked a former BJP MLA from the area. It was alleged that BJP's Singh, who had never contested elections, was a dummy candidate - a result of Yadav's close association with BJP leaders that also saw him become the NDA Convenor. However, the BJP has fought hard to protect its votebanks and attract youngsters, making Madhepura a triangular contest. "When I was in Patna discussing ticket distribution, we were quite relieved that there was no BJP organisation in Madhepura. I returned to see many people willing to support them," said the JD(U) leader.

In search of a victory, Yadav has been pushed to do things he would not have done otherwise, like going to murder-convict, Rajput Bahubali and former MP Anand Mohan's house to seek his mother's blessings. "Why do you call him Bahubali? Anand Mohan is a goonda. His brother Madan Singh works for our party; that's why I went there," said Yadav when asked. Most of his expletive-laden answer cannot be printed, and his inability to assimilate has become a headache for the Madhya Pradesh-born Yadav's campaign managers: he rarely uses aap, prefers tu and does not speak Maithili.

In contrast is the soft-spoken Rajesh Ranjan, the RJD candidate behind whom the Muslims and Yadavs have lined up once again. Dressed in a full-sleeved pink-and-white striped shirt and white linen trousers, he stood deferentially before the crowd at Banma Itahri block's Gordor village's madrasa, sampling from the many plates of snacks before him. "You have kept so much food before me; it's hard not to eat it all," he said to laughter. At the end of a speech, during which he seemed to be mumbling to himself, he said, "The same thought that inspired Mohammad Saheb drives me. Pappu is the name of the one who will help the last man." Thunderous applause followed.

Pappu is also the man who was convicted of a murder in 2008 before being acquitted last year by the Patna High Court. Even as he faces an appeal in the Supreme Court, Pappu Yadav has 24 cases - including a charge of murder - to keep him company. "Lalu Yadav has given the lantern [RJD's poll symbol] to a bulldozer and asked it to come after me," said Sharad Yadav at Amarpura. His reputation as a Bahubali precedes Pappu. "I have been noticing an anti-Pappu wave in the last two days. People, like the vaishyas, who remember the violence unleashed by his people during Pappu's peak, will hopefully come over to us," said the JD(U) leader.

Pappu, large and towering, also has a proportionally large heart, according to his supporters. "The M-Y equation might work for Lalu, but I am a servant of all people here," said Pappu as his open jeep made the last campaign trip through predominantly Muslim areas of Saharsa on April 28 evening, an hour a supporter described as, "one hour, 5000 votes."

Pappu was not well and everyone seemed to know this. "He has gone to the bathroom," said a middle-aged man at the entrance to Chotta Gordor village. Even as he sipped a chilled ORS solution, Pappu sampled everything kept before him by waiting crowds. In between, he finds time to signal that if elected, the violence might re-start. However, as opposed to the past, when his gangs fought the Rajputs, a new enemy waits Pappu. "I want to end the injustice being perpetrated by the Nitish government. They have placed Mahadalit dalals in each government office. Their people are in control. I want to end that," he said.

Its Convenor arrested in 1992 case, TMC says govt witch-hunt

Bokaro, March 22

TMC's state convenor Dilip Chatterjee was on Saturday arrested in Dhanbad and remanded to judicial custody in a 22-year-old case, with his party accusing the JMM government of a political witch-hunt.

Chatterjee was sent to 14-days' judicial custody for a 1992 attack on the convoy of then-Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad. Nine policemen were injured in the attack, carried out with bows and arrows, election symbol of the JMM. A Dhanbad court had issued an arrest warrant against him on Thursday.

"The Hemant Soren government is scared. It is trying to protect the murderer Jagarnath Mahto, but is sending people to jail in old cases," said TMC leader Chandra Shekhar "Dadai" Dubey, referring to JMM's Giridih candidate, named in a murder FIR.

Ironically, the case is from a period when Chatterjee was a member of the JMM. He rose to occupy the position of general secretary before leaving over differences with the coterie around Shibu Soren.

Since taking over the TMC's activities in the state, he has overseen exponential growth, often at the cost of the JMM. The party has two legislators now - Dadai Dubey, who switched over from the Congress, has since resigned his state Assembly membership.