Pratapgarh: On Raja Bhaiyya’s turf, still no sign of a rival party or contest

Kunwar Raghuraj Pratap Singh, better known Raja Bhaiyya, has never got less than 60 per cent of the vote in Kunda since 1993, when he fought his first election. The highest he got was in 2003, sweeping 82 per cent of the votes, and winning with a margin over 81,000 votes in a constituency where 1.07 lakh voters turned out. That year he defeated the SP’s Mohammad Sami. Since then, the SP has not even fielded a candidate from the constituency.

The only posters one sees in Kunda are of Raja Bhaiyya. Though he has been winning on his own strength, the SP supports him in his constituency and has made him a cabinet minister several times. The support he commands has been built on two factors: fear and favour.

Locals in the constituency mention the weekly meetings at his palatial house, where Raja Bhaiyya acts as jury and judge to settle petty disputes between villagers. His writ is unchallenged, they say: whatever he decides has to be agreed by both parties. Many believe the system is faster than going to the police or other government authorities, which they say are anyhow under his control.

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A member of the Raja Bhaiyya Youth Brigade claims his helps all the needy in his area, supporting them in healthcare and organising weddings of at least 100 couples every year. “He even pays their dowry. Not a car but everything needed in their homes,” says the supporter. But where does he find the money for all this? “Woh raja hain,” says a voter. Raja Bhaiyya’s family has a number of businesses in the area, the voter says.

Some other people seated at a distance agree with him. They are happy with Raja Bhaiyya and that is the reason he keeps getting re-elected, some of them say, egged on by the Raja Bhaiyya Youth Brigade member.

The member then pulls out his phone and shows the image of a banner he claims many villages have put up at their entrances. The poster reads: The villagers of this village for Raja Bhaiyya. Please do not campaign for any other party here. The Youth Brigade member says many villages had put up identical banners but Raja Bhaiyya got them removed, as he “doesn’t like such things”. The Youth Brigade member refuses to share the photograph, though.

Not everyone agrees, however, that their votes only mean support for Raja Bhaiyya. Two villagers first enure that they are not being recorded or photographed and request that their names or identities will not be revealed. They say Raj Bhaiyya controls all the authorities in the area, including the police. Many who vote for him do so because they don’t want to be caught supporting someone else. One of them says Raja Bhaiyya’s supporters may tell on anyone who dares speak against the leader. He says it was they who put up those banners outside villages, and not the villagers.

At one point there were over 40 criminal cases against Raja Bhaiyya, including a case of kidnapping filed by a former MLA and the killing of a deputy superintendent of police. Various courts have found him not guilty in many of these cases over the years. In 2002, Mayawati’s government jailed him, his father and cousin Akshay Pratap Singh on charges under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Recently, while campaigning in neighbouring Babaganj, BJP candidate Pawan Kumar accused Raja Bhaiyya’s supporters of assaulting him. There, Raja Bhaiyya is supporting independent candidate Vinod Kumar, the sitting MLA, who is also contesting on the same election symbol as Raja Bhaiyya, a saw.

“Can you see any other party campaigning here?” says one of the voters in Kunda, which will vote Wednesday. He says nobody wants to rub Raja Bhaiyya the wrong way. “When even people from the big parties can’t campaign here, says the man, who are we?”