14/04/2014

 

Jehanabad: The old Bhumihar-Yadav tussle is still on 


Soroor Ahmed

 

In the past the Jehanabad parliamentary constituency was known more for the battle of bullets rather than battle for ballots. Even the electoral battles were often marred by large scale violence and complaints of irregularities. The worst clash took place in 1984 between the supporters of the then Congress nominee King Mahindra and of the CPI, Ramashray Yadav. Several people were killed and the latter finally won the poll.

However, things have started chaging in the last few elections. Still the traditional rivals, Bhumihars and Yadavs, continue to be on the either side of fence. The only difference is that this time there are two Bhumihar candidates in the fray against one Yadav strongman––not to speak of other small party and Independent nominees.

The contest this time is primarily among Arun Kumar of Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, Anil Kumar Sharma of ruling Janata Dal (United) and Surendra Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal. 

The interesting feature of the election is that while Bhumihars in general are reportedly supporting Arun, the Janata Dal (United) candidate, Anil, the owner of Amarpalli group, is leaving no stone unturned to make it a triangular contest. Apart from some Bhumihars, he is banking on the support of Extremely Backward Castes, Mahadalits and a small section of Muslims too. 

Though the RLSP is hardly a prominent party its alliance with the BJP is helping it a lot. The saffron party organized the rally of Narendra Modi on April 10. 

Besides, Kushwahas––who form a sizeable vote––is likely to back Arun because of Upendra Kushwaha. These factors have made the fight between the two strong Bhumihar candidates very interesting. 

Anil, though an outsider, has her daughter married in Arwal. His daughter and son-in-law are also in the field. He has a big construction empire in Delhi and has been playing a key role in Brand Bihar campaign outside the state.

He enjoys the support of Jagdish Sharma, the strongman of Ghosi, and a former Janata Dal (United) MP, who can not contest this time because of conviction in the fodder scam case. He had the distinction of never losing any Assembly election between 1977 and 2005 before entering the Lok Sabha in 2009. As he does not like Arun to increase his influence among Bhumihars of Jehanabad he is backing Anil.

Arun runs a chain of schools in Gaya, Jehanabad and Patna.

However, it is the presence of Surendra Prasad Yadav, a former MP from Jehanabad and at present RJD MLA from Belaganj in Gaya, which has changed the very nature of the battle. 

He is likely to get overwhelming Yadav votes, besides that of Muslims and some other floating votes. He is hoping too much on the split in the Bhumihar votes. 

Jehanabad was till recently known for the bloody feud between the Left extremists as well as Ranvir Sena.

The Patna-Gaya rail and road routes run parallel and cut the district into two. What is interesting is that the western half of the parliamentary constituency has witnessed more bloody violence than the eastern half, which last time saw a big killing in 1988. The then chief minister, Bhagwat Jha Azad, father of now BJP MP from Darbhanga, Kirti Azad, had his face smeared by Virendra Vidrohi, an activist of the Indian Peoples Front, then the open outfit of the CPI ML (Libertion). The incident took place in Damdaha-Khagritola village near Kako block when Azad visited it after the killing of about a dozen Dalits in July 1988. Since then the eastern part has been relatively peaceful.

In contrast the western and more fertile region has has seen more violence. Shankar Bigha, Senari, Rampur, Aiyara, Laxmanpur-Bathe etc all are situated here.

River Punpun and canals of Sone criss-cross this part of constituency. 

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