Amid speculations about Nitish Kumar’s continuance as Chief Minister of Bihar for the fourth consecutive term despite a massive anti-incumbency against him and the BJP would not like to lose this “golden opportunity” to having its own chief minister now, in Sasaram, Arwal, Paliganj and Bhojpur, there are two big issues- corruption and prohibition that threaten to spoil Mr. Kumar’s prospects.
“Corruption at the block and panchayat levels and at local police stations are so rampant that people, especially those from the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) are badly affected… it is because of EBC support, Mr. Kumar has been in power for 15 years but in the last five years, corruption among officials has gone manifold and we’re hit hard”, Bansidhar Paswan, a bicycle mechanic at the Paliganj bus stand, told The Hindu.
He alleged that the local police “doen’t move a step” without bribe. “Paisa diye bina kuch bhi nahi hota hai..pehle aisa nahi tha [without giving money nothing moves...it was not like this earlier]”, he added.
‘But, is prohibition an issue for them? How good it has done for the villagers?’
“What prohibition?... daru [liquor] is available everywhere…even at local police stations…either policemen or the local goondas [ruffians] are proliferating over prohibition, otherwise for us, for common people, the cost has gone up two-three times”, an agent at the Paliganj bus stand said.
“Likh lijiye, darubandi bhi Nitish Kumar ko bhari padega election mein…BJP kyon nahi samajhti hai is baat ko? [write it down, prohibition will cost heavy for Nitish Kumar in this election…why doesn’t the BJP understand this?”, he stated.
The Paliganj scene
In Paliganj, rebel BJP candidate who is contesting on Lok Janshakti Party ticket Usha Vidyarthi has made it a three-corner fight. Ms. Vidyarthi, an upper caste Bhumihar is pitted against National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Jaivardhan Yadav who, in 2015, won on Rashtriya Janata Dal ticket but ahead of poll joined the JD(U), and young Sandeep Bhaskar from ‘mahagathbandhan’ ( CPI-Marxist-Leninist). Both Mr. Bhaskar and Mr. Yadav are Yadavs---apparently making it easy for Ms. Vidyarthi. The constituency has nearly 88,000 Yadav and 46,000 Bhumihar voters.
A few kilometres away, at Prasadi-English village in Arwal district, sexagenarian farmer Shiv Nandan Sharma echoed the same.
“Koi dekhane wala nahi hai, sir…sirf bahashan baji karte hain Nitishjji...yeh kar diye, who kar diye…ghuskhori charam seema par hai, khas kar ke nichale level ke adhikariyon mein [none is here to look after us…Nitish Kumar does only tall-talks in speeches…I’ve done this, done that…bribery is at its peak everywhere, especially at lower-level officials]”, said Mr Sharma, though he admitted he has been a supporter of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“But, Mr. Modi supports Mr.Kumar and has projected him as the chief minister face of the NDA again in this poll?”
“Yes, but it will be better if the BJP has its own chief minister this time…anyone can be a good chief minister than Nitish Kumar”, he said while adding quickly, “inko [Nitish Kumar] badaliye, jaise bhi ho [replace him, anyhow]”.
“And what about prohibition?”
“You all know… it is available everywhere”, he said with a hearty laugh. “Visit our village market in the evening and see how effective is Mr. Nitish Kumar’s prohibition is in villages”, he said.
For the voters of Dedhgaon in the Dinara constituency of Sasaram district too, corruption and prohibition appeared to be two major issues for their reluctance to vote for Mr. Kumar as chief minister for another term.
“I challenge, if Mr. Kumar himself goes to a block office in disguise for any work to be done there and gets it done without paying any cut money to the officials… or, he could file an FIR at a police station without bribing the policemen there, I’ll roam in my area with my face blackened”, retired Army jawan Harendra Kumar said.
“The fist term of Mr Kumar was good… he was active and really wanted to do things for people even living in villages but, nowadays he listens only what his chamcha (sycophant) officials feed him”, he added before igniting his bike to move on the pot-holed track of the village.
Normal life in Sasaram
In Sasaram town, late evening on October 18, life was absolutely normal, with all shops open and people jostling outside on the dusty road. The traffic policemen at the local post office chowk (thoroughfare) were seen having a difficult time in managing traffic with rush of vehicles, carts, cycle rickshaws and bicycles from all directions.
The apprehension or precautions for COVID-19 has not been an issue at all for the people on the road. “Corona has gone now…for how long it will survive in a place like Bihar”, an elderly man in a group of people sitting at a roadside tea stall said.
“But, yes, like corruption has reached at district, block and panchayat levels, availability of liquor too has reached at all levels… let’s wait for the poll results to come. Mr Kumar will realize then what is happening at the ground level”, Amarendra Singh, a small-time hotelier near the Sasaram railway station, said.
Actor Sushant issue
Besides, the electorates en route were also not keen to accept the death of Bollywood actor Shushant Singh Rajput as an issue to influence their voting.
“He was living in Mumbai… how could his death be an election issue for us, though they [ruling NDA] tried to rake up the issue as a poll plank. Even Rajput voters of our area are not ready to accept this as a poll issue… for us, rampant corruption and loot in the name of prohibition are the main issues to vote for”, Sanjay Singh, who runs a private school in Sasaram, said.