Bihar MPs face wrath of villagers for being ‘absent’ for five years

PATNA: Several sitting MPs in the state are facing the wrath of the voters during electioneering for one reason or another. In some cases, they were even not allowed to enter the villages for canvassing.
Finding the situation going out of control, the contestants belonging to different political parties preferred to remain silent and moved on to other villages for obvious reason.Needless to say that majority of the MPs, who had to face the hostile crowd of electors, were from the ruling NDA.
Take the case of Ramchandra Paswan, the LJP MP from Samastipur. Paswan was not allowed to enter Bela Pachrukhi village under Kalyanpur assembly segment for being absent for the five years. “Why should I vote for you? You didn’t take care of us for five years,” a 35-year-old youth told Paswan.
The residents also shouted slogans against Paswan, the younger brother of Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan. They were agitated over lack of drinking water facilities. The hand pumps have gone dry as water level has decreased substantially in the area.
Similar situation was witnessed during the LJP nominee’s election campaign in other villages such as Silaut (Punas panchayat) and Ratanpura (Singhia Khurd panchayat) under the Samastipur Lok Sabha constituency. Paswan tried to pacify the agitators but in vain.
“MP saheb panch saal baad phir najar aa rahe hain (The MP is being seen after five years),” said a visibly angry Amit Taneja, a resident of Punjabi Colony in Samastipur. Similar views were echoed by Bhushan (45), a resident of Mulchand Road in Samastipur.
Another NDA candidate, Ajay Kumar Nishad, who had won the 2014 Lok Sabha poll on the ticket of the BJP from Muzaffarpur seat, had to return from Basua village under Aurai assembly segment. A motorcycle-borne youth intercepted the MP’s cavalcade on the outskirts of the village and asked him to go back.
“You have not kept the promise you made to us about five years ago. Why have you come to seek our votes again when you failed to keep your promise?” asked the youth. Ajay Nishad, the son of former MP Captain Jai Narain Prasad Nishad, had to obey and return from the village without canvassing.
Ajay Nishad, who is seeking re-election from Muzaffarpur, said, “It happened about a week ago when I had gone to the village for canvassing. I had promised a retired teacher of the village to build a room at the local school, which I couldn’t do. But I will try to fulfil the villagers’ demand next time.”
The BJP nominee, however, hastened to add that leaders had to face the ire of the electors during elections. He cited the reasons for not being available in the constituency he represented in the lower House. “We have to attend the Parliament sessions. Besides, there are other works for which you need to stay in Delhi,” he told this newspaper over the phone on Friday.
He, however, claimed that he had spent around 98% of the MPLAD funds on the development works in his constituency.
BJP state president and Ujiyarpur MP Nityanand Rai and LJP MP from Khagaria Choudhary Mehbood Ali Kaiser are not exception. While Rai had to face the ire of electors at a village under Sarairanjan assembly segment, Kaiser was asked to go back at Kasela village under Parbatta assembly segment on Wednesday.
Though Kaiser couldn’t be contacted, one of his close aides said, “A group of people shouted ‘go back, go back’ slogan. They were agitated over the MP’s reluctance to visit the area during his five-year tenure. There was nothing serious.”
However, the MPs from the other parties too had to face the music for not visiting the constituency on a regular basis. But there is a bit difference. “The MPs of the RJD, Congress or other parties are not facing such a hostile crowd during campaign as they were not part of the ruling dispensation,” a senior RJD leader said.
In fact, nobody wants to invite the angst of the electorate at the time of election.