Chirag and Manjhi clash over Dalit mantle in Jamui, Gaya

PATNA: The two parliamentary seats from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his electoral campaign in Bihar on April 2—Gaya and Jamui—will go to the polls on April 11. The importance of the seats has already been driven home by the PM staging his first two rallies here. Contesting from these two seats are two most prominent Dalit faces of Bihar.
LJP’s Chirag Paswan is defending his Jamui turf as the NDA candidate while former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is contesting for the third time from Gaya from a third political party. Both are trying to win the seats as champions of the Mahadalit cause.
Chirag, the son of LJP chief and nine-term LS member Ram Vilas Paswan, is facing the Mahagathbandhan candidate Bhudeo Choudhary of RLSP, who had won the seat in 2009 on a JD(U) ticket. Manjhi, the president of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), is pitted against another Manjhi (Vijay) of JD(U), an ally of BJP which dropped its sitting MP Hari Manjhi and ceded the seat to its partner.
Both Jamui and Gaya are reserved seats for scheduled caste candidates. Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Patna Sahib MP Shatrughan Singha addressed a rally at Gaya on Tuesday in support of the former chief minister.
Chirag is the LJP parliamentary board chairman and the heir apparent to his father and the party. The BJP-led NDA had roped in Manjhi earlier in the 2015 Bihar assembly election as a big Dalit face to counter chief minister Nitish Kumar and his JD(U), but the results were disappointing as only he could win from Imamganj and lost from Makhdumpur out of the 21 seats HAM(S) had contested. Then JD(U) had contested the assembly election with RJD of Lalu Prasad and Congress. The 2015 results dealt a severe blow to the image of Manjhi as a big Dalit leader. He could not fetch votes of his community either for himself or his alliance partners.
In Jamui, Chirag is hopeful of making it for the second consecutive time on the development plank and Modi’s credibility. However, Arun Kumar Singh alias Babban-ji, a close aide of Bhudeo, said the sitting MP was not accessible and what Chirag is claiming is nothing more than a few foundation laying functions to fool the voters.
But Manoj Kumar of Dumri village in Chakai assembly segment refutes Arun’s charges. “The Jhajha-Chakai-Giridih railway line foundation stone, medical and engineering colleges in Jamui are something we had not heard of when Bhudeo was the MP. And how many times the former MP had visited the seat during 2009 and 2014? People will vote for development and Modi,” Manoj, a Dhanuk by caste, told TOI.
Jai Prakash Yadav from Jhajha said Bhedeo would score well in the rural areas. Asked about Chirag, the advocate said he cannot make everyone happy. Regarding caste votes, he said a section of Yadavs will vote for Chirag in the name of development, but Muslims will support Bhudeo. “Chirag visits his constituency more than any other MP,” he said. Amaresh Kumar of Jamui and Avinash Kumar Sinha of Jhajha back Yadav.
Sunil Kumar Mishra of Chakai said the Ravidas community is likely to vote for BSP candidate Upendra Das. “Many SC/ST voters are opposed to Chirag because of the controversy over the Act, but upper castes will back the LJP nominee,” he said and ruled out the possibility of Rajput support to Bhudeo because of BJP’s denial of ticket to Putul Kumari Singh in Banka.
Gaya, on the other hand, has been a Jan Sangh-BJP bastion for years. JD(U) candidate Vijay is the son of former MP Bhagwatia Devi. Famous for its legacy of Lord Buddha and infamous for the murder of two former MPs, Ishwar Chaudhary and Rajesh Kumar, during electioneering, Gaya has over three lakh Manjhi voters, followed by two lakh Yadavs and an equal number of Muslims and over 3.5 lakh upper caste voters.
Umleshwar Kumar, a Chandravanshi by caste and an autorickshaw driver by profession, said Manjhi of HAM(S) did nothing for the town during his tenure as CM. “We will vote for national security and development,” he said.
Umashankar Prasad Gupta of Tekari Road backs Umleshwar, but said the JD(U) nominee has good support in urban areas and HAM(S) chief will garner substantial votes in rural areas. “Manjhi has done a lot for the development of Khizarsarai, Karimganj, Abgila, Navkar and Wazirganj areas,” he said.
But Ram Pukar Singh is confident of Vijay’s victory. “Jitan is a turncoat. No one trusts him. His previous records with Congres, RJD and JD(U) are for everyone to see. Manjhis will vote 50:50 for both the NDA and Mahagathbandhan candidates, but Vijay has solid backing among the upper castes. He also enjoys good support among the other extremely backward castes because of his mother, who enjoyed a very good reputation as an MP. Also, people in general acknowledge the development work of CM Nitish Kumar,” Singh told TOI.