 "Union Minister R K Singh's election office in Arrah")
Time was when the walls of Arrah were plastered with graffiti saying “mudikatwa se sawdhan” (beware of the head-chopper). A lot of water has flown in the sandy Sone in Bihar since then, but the politics of Arrah stills revolves around the age-old fight between rightist saffron and leftist red.
It's one of the first districts in Bihar where the earliest sparks of the ultra-left movement began. Once a stronghold of the Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) wrested it in 1989. The Leftists, however, couldn't hold on to the constituency because Arrah soon turned into a Janata Dal/Rashtriya Janata Dal bastion.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) made inroads here in 2009 as the Janata Dal (U)'s Meena Singh registered a thumping victory. In 2014, Raj Kumar Singh, who was Union home secretary, won on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket by a margin of 136,000 votes as the Modi wave swept the state, and became minister of state in the central government.
The fight for Arrah is not so simple this time around. The caste equation is proving a tough task for Singh to handle. He is locked in a straight contest with CPI(ML)’s Raju Yadav. The latter is backed by the RJD and other allies of the Maha-Gathbandhan (Grand Alliance) to check the division of secular votes. In return the communists haven't put up a candidate in the Pataliputra seat, where RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti is contesting. In 2014, the RJD's Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha got 255,000 votes while Raju Yadav finished third with 98,000 votes.
While Singh is confident about his victory due to his performance as an MP, Yadav is contesting the election on issues like jobs and the dignity of the poor.
Singh begins his speech with the slogan “Bharat Mata ki jai”. “The development of Arrah and Bhojpur has been my key focus and my approach is holistic,” said Singh, adding, "work on the Koliwar six-lane bridge over the Sone river and making the Buxar-Patna road four-lane is going on in full swing. It will be complete by the end of this year. The rail ministry gave a daily passenger train between Arrah and Patna on my request. I worked hard for the makeover of the city’s railway station. Moreover, I made sure that every household in my area is electrified well before December 31, 2018.”
However, the CPI(ML) paints the electoral contest as a battle between a feudal bureaucrat and a leftist revolutionary. “It's a fight to save the soul of the country,” party General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya told Business Standard.
“They have fielded an arrogant bureaucrat with a feudal mindset. They talk about development, but the roads here are deplorable. You must have seen the condition of traffic in the city. There is no health and education facility in the area. There is no dignity of the underprivileged. On the other hand, our candidate is a son of the soil. His ‘sadak pe school’ exposed the pathetic condition of education in the Bhojpur area. Employment, education, agriculture and social equity are on our agenda.”
While the general perception about Singh's performance is positive, many complain about his bureaucratic attitude. “He has done so much for the area. Earlier, we used to get 8-10 hours of electricity, but today it is 18-22 hours. The roads are better. There is no chance that the reds are going to win. However, he should work on his people skills,” said Rameshwar Agarwal, a trader in Arrah town.
“As a result of increased construction, my business is booming," said a tea vendor at the Kulhadiya railway crossing. “There is better electricity in the villages now. He is trying his best for the development of Bhojpur. He should win.”
However, not everyone shares these views. “We have been Lalu Prasad's supporters since the beginning. He bought respect to our community. There is no way we are going to vote for anyone else,” said Surendra Yadav, a customer at the tea stall.
“Singh has done good work as an MP. He constructed roads and provided electricity, but we support Raju Yadav,” said Surendra Ram, a resident of Chandwa village. Asked about the reason, he said: “Bhajapa babu sahab aur pandi ji log ka party hai, humra to Maley hi hai [the BJP is the party of Rajputs and Brahmins, the CPI(ML) is our party],” he said.
“R K Singh is fighting a tough election. Even traditional BJP supporters are not turning up this time because he has alienated himself in the past five years. Raju Yadav is a people's person. Even his opponents would tell you that he is good at heart,” said Sanjay Singh, a local contractor.
In Bhadwar village, people are happy that they get electricity, but are concerned that they have not received bills for the past one year. “We have stopped using electricity during the day due to fears of getting a hefty bill. We use it only in the night,” said Manti Devi, a resident of the village's Harijan tola.
While a local BJP supporter insisted that power connection happened due to there being a BJP government at the Centre, her son Saroj Kumar protested. “Power companies are looking at profits. Therefore, they are giving us connections. Where is the charity in it?” he asked.
