Aurangabad villagers to defy poll boycott call

AURANGABAD: The residents of Bhelibandh village in Madanpur block under Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency have decided to defy the Maoist poll boycott call this time. However, they will have to trudge over two and a half kilometres to reach the polling booth at Anjanwa to cast their votes.
Till five years ago, even security personnel feared to tread this village, situated on the banks of North Koel canal close to Chakarbandha hills.Most of the Bhelibandh residents belong to the Mahadalit community. Bhelibandh is close to Dumri Nala where nine CoBRA battalion personnel were killed in a landmine explosion carried out by the CPI (Maoists) a few years ago. Agriculture and cattle rearing are the main sources of livelihood for most of them.
“Maoists had come and threatened us with dire consequences before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, if we defied their poll boycott call,” said Santosh Bhuyian (30), a daily wager, on Wednesday.
“But things have changed in the last five years. There are roads and electricity connections in the village. Even security personnel visit us to instill a sense of security among the voters,” said 25-year-old Saryug Jigyasan.
But they are scared as well. “We are aware of the consequences of defying the Maoist boycott call. But how long we will remain silent and not exercise our democratic rights? One has to take a decision,” said Navin Kumar (18), a first-time voter.
Women have also formed ‘self-help groups’ in the village not only to make them self-reliant but also to counter the Maoists’ recruitment drive in the region. Shivrani Devi (35), an Anganwadi sevika, said, “Had the basic amenities like road and electricity been provided earlier, the situation would have been different.”
Other women like Kalia Devi (45) and Leela Devi (38) echo Shivrani. They said the Maoist activities were on the wane in the village, barely 10km away from the Jharkhand border. The residents demanded early completion of Rs1620 crore North Koel Irrigation Project announced by PM Narendra Modi before the 2014 general elections.
The project will change the fortunes of farmers in the region, who struggle for irrigational facilities. The project is aimed at providing irrigation to around 1.25 lakh hectares of land in Aurangabad and Gaya districts.
The project has been pending for the last four decades. “Elections are important for every political party. But once the elections are over, nobody talks about the project,” rued Dadan Bhuyian (56).
There are around 150 houses of Bhuyian community in the village, 4km northeast of Madanpur block headquarters. The residents have to depend on the Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Madanpur for medical facility. There is only one Anganwadi centre to educate the children below six.
Though people talked about development, they will cast votes on caste lines only. In nearby Rafiganj assembly segment of Aurangabad parliamentary seat, the voters seemed divided on caste lines.
Aurangabad has a history of sending only Rajput candidates to the lower House since 1951. Out of the six Congress MPs elected from the Rajput dominated seat, five belonged to the family of former chief minister Satyendra Narayan Sinha only. The other family which dominated the electoral scene is that of BJP sitting MP Sushil Kumar Singh, whose father Ram Naresh Singh alias Lootan Singh was elected twice from this constituency.
Upendra Prasad of Grand Alliance is pitted against Sushil. Upendra is a Kushwaha by caste and they constitute 7% of the total electorate there. While Rajputs have 17% of the total votes. Yadavs are 10% followed by 7% Muslims, 4% Vaishyas, 3% Brahmins and equal number of Dusadh (Paswan) voters.
Bhumihars are also in a sizeable number (6%) here. Six of the 11 blocks in Aurangabad are Maoist-hit. Official records showed that out of 1,965 polling booths, 652 were Maoist-affected. Altogether nine contestants are in the fray. But the main fight will be between the NDA and GA candidates.
Aurangabad goes to polls in the first phase on April 11. It will be interesting to see whether the ‘Chittorgarh’ of Bihar retains its record in 2019 or not.