Bihar is headed for a keen triangular contest in Central part of the State with all three major stakeholders retaining their core support base. While the BJP is banking on upper castes, a section of OBC and pro-Modi wave, RJD chief lalu Prasad retains his hold over the Muslim-Yadav combine. Similarly, Nitish Kumar has been able to protect his support base among the Extremely Backward Castes, a section of dalits and women.
Barely 30 kms away from where Narendra Modi was addressing a public rally at adjacent district Jehanabad, a group of youths first told this correspondent they voted for the BJP, but on deeper probing they disclosed their votes have gone to ‘teer chhap’, JD(U)’s election symbol.
“We all voted for Nitish Kumar...he has done a lot for us…you see these houses constructed and we’re living peacefully, is just because of Kumar,” said Rakesh Kumar, Ajith Kumar and his friends, while admitting that for them Modi was not an issue at all.
Meera Bigha is a village with 700-800 votes with mixed population of Extremely Backward Caste population. At Bhuiyan Tola of the village Shiv Ratan Manjhi, Phoolan Devi, Gangadini Devi all had voted for Kumar for his works.
However, the former mukhia of the village Ram Bali Manjhi was an exception as he declared that he had voted for Narendra Modi. “Modi ki charcha hai isiliye Modi ko de diye vote,” he said with a toddy smell from his dry mouth.
Similarly, at the neighboring Naugarh village, a Yadav dominated village, voters came out openly in support of their leader lalu Prasad. “We’re voting for laluji … he is our leader and we’ve been voting him for long … why to vote elsewhere and waste our rightIJ” said Kapildeo Singh Yadav of the village.
When asked about NaMo wave on the village voters, he took a long pause and said earlier a few among us were inclined to vote for Narendra Modi but later they too changed their mind to vote for the RJD.
Pintu Yadav and his group of Yadav men at the village turning point were seen discussing the poll trend on radio. “Nitish Kumar is finished in this election … unka supra saaf ho gaya hai is baar,” he said but when asked hasn’t Nitish Kumar done development works for their village, he added “sirf badi-badi battein ki hain.”
At Khaneta polling booth, mixed reactions came in for the parties. Gyan Chand Prasad had voted for Kumar while Mohan Prasad and Pankaj Kumar have vote for the BJP. “It’s all divided … the Extremely Backward Castes are voting for the JD(U) candidate, Yadavs are voting for the RJD and we, the Upper castes and Banias are stamping for Narendra Modi,” said businessman Mohan Prasad.
When asked whyIJ he said: “Because we need change and Modi is the only leader who can bring back the glory of the country … he is the need of the hour.” Interestingly, the youths irrespective of caste affiliations were seen enthusiastic about Narendra Modi and said “this man (Modi) should be a given a chance to run the country,” said Dhananjay Paswan, his friend Sujit Kumar Anand and Shailendra Kumar. They all were standing in queue at the polling booth to cast their votes.
At the Muslim-dominated Bara village under Gaya town block, the voting patter appeared completely changed and significant. Bara is a big village of 4,000 voters, three polling booths and four masjids.
At booth No 177, Mohd Ghulam Saddique said this time the election was different for all of them. “Yeh mat nahi, majboori hai,” he said that to stop Narendra Modi this time they would vote for the RJD-Congress candidates.
“As the challenge is bigger and at the Centre we’ve to vote for the Congress to stop a person who is fighting the poll battle on media hype ... it’s necessary to stop him,” said Mohd Nissim who is a driver in a Gulf country.
Though, the villagers agree that change must be the regular option in electoral politics, but this time it was something different. “If the BJP has put some other candidates as their prime ministerial nominee we’d have voted for the party but not Modi … you all know why ... we can’t rely on him,” said Mohd Sahin who is doing MTech in a Hyderabad college.
But what about Nitish Kumar and his development worksIJ “Yes, he has done a lot for us and, above all, brought peace and that is what we require most now, there is no law and order problem here,” they said in one voice. “And, in Assembly election, we’ll certainly vote for Kumar but not in this election. It is simply not possible,” quipped Mohd Dawood who works in a garment factory in ludhiana and has come to his village to cast his vote.
A few steps away at poll booth No 178, Mohd Shoaib and Mohd Faiyaz Ahmed too expressed similar sentiment. “Is baar majboori ka mat de rahe hai choice ka nahi. Usko rokna jaruri hai. Kya BJP mein koi aur doosra aadmi nahi PM ke liye. Koi aur neta hota to second thought hum dete bhi,” they said.
However, in upper caste villages and talking with roadside crowd, the NaMo factor appeared reeling the polling grounds. “It’s all NaMo NaMo everywhere. There is no option, he must be given a chance to rule the country … see the condition of the country today,” said Kapildeo Singh at Naugarh village polling booth. “Even the Kurmi-Koeri castes were casting their votes to Narendra Modi,” he added.