In Nitish’s village, they praise his work but fear Lalu will bring a nightmare | The Indian Express
In Nitish’s village, they praise his work but fear Lalu will bring a nightmare
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Muzamil Jaleel | Harnaut (nalanda) | September 23, 2015 3:44 am
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Nitish Kumar with Lalu Prasad at an event in Patna Tuesday. (PTI Photo)
THERE’S this small village in Bihar that can be reached through four shiny, paved roads. A l
arge parcel of land at its entrance houses a 20-bed hospital, a double-storey high school and an ITI. There is a shooting range too, and a temple near an artificial pond.
According to its residents, the power supply is mostly uninterrupted and water flows through taps from a high reservoir.
Surrounded by paddy fields, Kalyan Bigha, in Nalanda’s Harnaut, is a model of “good governance”. It is also the village of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
As the assembly polls approach, a majority of people in the village and the nearby Harnaut market are offended when asked who they support. For them, voting for Nitish is a foregone conclusion. But the few who say they won’t vote for him provide a peep into the harsh reality of Bihar’s electoral politics.
Nitish is praised for building roads, restoring electricity, getting schools in almost every village and restoring law and order. As Rameshwar Choudhary, wearing only a loincloth and sitting on the edge of the road at Harnaut market, said: “Nitish is our saviour.”
But it’s clear that the one thing he couldn’t fully build is a bridge over the caste divide, especially among the forward castes.
Efforts by Nitish and the JD(U) to connect with Mahadalits don’t appear to have been entirely successful either.
Seated on a gunnysack outside his son’s cycle repair shop, the frail Choudhary is selling toddy from a plastic jug at Rs 5 a glass. He claims he has turned 100 and his family has been selling toddy “for generations”. “
Nitish is from here, he has done a lot. He has taken on Narendra Modi, we will vote for him.”
The caste factor is not far away. Sitting nearby, Raj Kumar Das refers to his own caste while stressing that “Nitish is our man”. “The villages around here couldn’t have dreamt of seeing a road. Nitish has done a lot for the Ravidas community,” Das said.
The halwai’s shop is next, where Sahil Sahu is stirring samosas from behind a simmering pan. Sahu says he will vote for Modi. “
It is true Nitish gave us the courage to call ourselves Biharis. But he shouldn’t have gone with Lalu Prasad. We cannot afford to bring Lalu back. His 15 years were a nightmare.”
Across the road is an open-air market where everything is sold on carts, including one that is watched over by Narinder Sahu. “
People gave you victory twice against his jungle raj and you went with him,’’ said Sahu, referring to Nitish’s tie-up with Lalu. “Nitish has done a lot but only because the BJP was his partner. Lalu won’t let him work. We don’t want to go back to a time when we had to close at 6 pm.”
While acknowledging that
Nitish brought roads, electricity, schools and hospitals, Sahu says the people want “other things too”. “
Modi talks about plans for the youth. He is going to end joblessness. Nitish was making beggars of our children. He started a programme to distribute khichdi at school and now the first thing our child asks before leaving for school is a bowl for khichdi,” said Sahu.
Another grouse of sahu is that “he allowed a liquor vend to come up every 3 km”.
But the main reason why his vote will go to Modi is to see the same government in the state and at the Centre. “Modi will send a lot of funds. In the
Lok Sabha polls, all cart owners here from our caste held a meeting and decided to vote for Modi,” said Sahu.
For him, the “
worst day for Bihar was when Nitish and BJP broke their alliance”. “We cannot understand why he did that
. Nitish would have been CM for the next 25 years and done whatever he wanted with the help of Modi,’’ he said.
Rakesh Prasad, who had been listening in, cut in. “Modi only indulges in empty talk. Everything has become costlier,’’ said Prasad, who runs a pan shop, and claims to be from the Barai community, “also called Tamoli’’.
By now, a dozen people have gathered.
“Why don’t see how Modi made a name for the country across the world. He even got land for a temple in Arabia (UAE),’’ said Sahu. Prasad explained:
“We know. As soon as he became PM, it’s as if he got a cheap travel package. Why doesn’t he focus on home?”
Back in Kalyan Bigha, Jay Prakash Narayan Singh owns a house opposite Nitish’s house, across an artificial pond built for Chhat Puja. Singh is a retired government official based in Patna and keeps returning to the village. Otherwise, he says, his house remains locked like Nitish’s. And like the CM, Singh says, he belongs to the kurmi caste.
“
I have known Nitish all my life. He is an upright man. A lot of people from our caste are upset because they were expecting government jobs for their children after he became CM. But he doesn’t respond to such requests. He hasn’t accumulated wealth or promoted his family. He only wants development of Bihar,” said Singh. “Other than the forward castes, every one else will vote for the grand alliance of (JD
-RJD-Congress).’’
Nitish Kumar with Lalu Prasad at an event in Patna Tuesday. (PTI Photo)
........ ye sab Modiji ki chaal hai.
