A ‘deenee taleem’ (education of divinity) woman Seema Khanam is in the panchayat poll fray for the post of mukhiya of Gurha panchayat under Tarhassi police station in Palamu. Seema Khanam is a classic example of women empowerment, of which PM Narendra Modi is a strong a votary. There will be half a dozen other women candidates fighting her, said sources.
Gurha panchayat has 4,200 votes and 13 wards. The voters are varied Yadavs, Keoris, Chamars, Giris, Khans etc. This Gurha panchayat has the distinction of having two mandirs of sant Ravidas whose priest is also a chamar Santosh who proudly identified himself as Santosh chamar when The Pioneer met him near the mandir on Wednesday the day of diwali about 40 kilometres from Daltonganj .
Incidentally, the Hindus here have a big Shiv mandir at Srikedal not far from the mandirs of the chamars, but there is no cross over divinity in this panchayat.
like Bihar, where in the vidhan sabha election polarization of votes took place, here too in the panchayat election polarization of votes can not be ruled out. Voters of any caste here can upset the applecart of any candidate in this panchayat election.
Seema Khanam’s husband Bada Mumtaz ( Village Gurha has two persons named as Mumtaz and one for his longer height is affectionately called Bada Mumtaz) too agrees that polarization of votes may occur here where the voting is in third phase. Bada Mumtaz is being assisted by another Khan Neeyamat who showed where the former mukhiya Saba erred too badly .
The Khans told The Pioneer “Voters of the Hindu community sat for Seema Khanam and she then only decided to file her nomination.” However, sources said there were many faces who attended Seema Khanam’s nomination were again found present in other candidates’ nomination. Village politics goes like this commented Chandan Kumar an Economics student who lives here.
The chamars of this panchayat live in grace. They value most in panchayat poll. Sources said these scheduled caste people dared to say no to the former mukhiya of the Gurha panchayat Saba Firdousi over the construction of a rural road there.
Health care in this Gurha panchayat is in the hands of ANM ( auxiliary mid wife nurse) as the nearest primary health centre is at Tarhassi about 7 Kms from the Gurha panchayat.
Sources said about two years back the Maoists used to have their base in the harijan tola of this panchayat but now the Maoists are off the scene. Cadres of TPC a splinter group of naxals continue to pour in here said a villager Kumar.