For long, Jehanabad had been hitting the headlines for bullets than ballots, caste wars and massacres. But now things have changed and seemingly the power of ballot has overpowered the power of bullets. Amid the chants of NaMo, the traditional caste rivals are on either sides of the fence rooting for their candidate to win the Central Bihar Parliamentary seat.
On Jehanabad seat, the upper caste Bhumihar and backward caste Yadavs have been deciding future of their leaders but this time there are two Bhumihar candidates in the fray against one Yadav strongman. The contest is primarily between Arun Kumar of Rashtriya lok Samata Party (RlSP), Anil Kumar Sharma of the ruling JD(U) and Surendra Prasad Yadav of RJD. Arun Kumar’s party is contesting the lok Sabha poll in alliance with the BJP.
Though, with the NaMo factor lubricating the poll pattern in Jehanabad, a large number of upper caste Bhumihars are supporting Arun Kumar but his caste rival Anil Sharma, a prominent businessman, too is campaigning hard to get support from his caste as well as from party’s core support base of Mahadalits and EBC vote.
The RJD candidate Surendra Yadav, however, is unanimous choice for his caste vote but what makes his passage smooth is en bloc support of the Muslims in the constituency for whom, Narendra Modi is the biggest threat and he should be stopped by supporting RJD-Congress candidate.
“This is not an Assembly election. This is for Centre and we’ve decided to vote for the candidate who could scuttle Narendra Modi’s dream of becoming the Prime Minister of the country,” said Faiyaz Ahmad of Jehanabad town.He also agreed that had Modi not been the factor, their vote must have been divided between the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress. “If NaMo had not been the issue, we too would have voted for Nitish Kumar,” he said.
The BJP PM candidate, Narendra Modi, had come to Jehanabad on April 10 to address a badly attended rally in the town. He addressed the rally for only 12 minutes and flew for another one at Arrah. However, the enthusiasm among the upper caste youths for the leader was quite visible.
“Arun Kumar has got a huge boost with NaMo wave in the constituency. The upper caste now have decided to vote for NaMo which eventually will make an easy passage for the candidate Arun Kumar,” said Birendra Sharma, a part time businessman in Jehanabad.
Besides, Kushwahas — who too form a sizeable chunk of voters in the constituency — are also supporting Arun Kumar because of his party leader Upendra Kushwaha.
Anil Sharma, the owner of Amrapali group of Industries, enjoys the support of sitting MP and local strongman Jagdish Sharma. Jagdish Sharma was denied a ticket this time as he was convicted in fodder scam case and was sent to jail. He has the distinction of never losing any Assembly election between 1977 and 2005 before entering the lok Sabha in 2009.
locals said that as he did not like RlSP candidate Arun Kumar to increase his influence among upper caste Bhumihars of Jehanabad, he is backing Anil Kumar of his party. “But, this time, even he was unable to do much as he was booed down on his home turf Ghosi recently,” said Kunal Sharma of Ghosi.
It is the presence of RJD candidate Surendra Prasad Yadav, a former MP, which has made the contest interesting and changed the battle pattern. He is getting overwhelming Yadav votes and the Muslims in addition to some other floating votes. He is also hoping for the split in the Bhumihar votes.
“There is no contest for me this time. Between their fight, I’ll be through as my support base is solid,” he said.However, the main issue to fetch the votes is not on any casteline. The main factors on which the voting will depend are still roads, electricity and solutions to check lack of irrigation facilities.
“Our vote will go only for the candidate who will provide us the irrigation facility and basic amenities in the area. You can see yourself what kind of irrigation facility the farmers have here,” said Binda Sharma working in his field outside Ghosi.The BJP candidate Arun Kumar, though, has been assuring the voters that he would bring in special Central allocations for Jehanabad if his party comes in power. “I am a representative of Modi. People irrespective of cast affiliations are with NaMo for a strong and stable Government at the Centre,” Kumar said.
It is also said that the influence of communists in the constituency now has been waned since 1990 and with the change in the socio-political landscape, the voting pattern too have shifted its axis.“Though, it’s a triangular fight with NaMo reeling as a factor but the vote ultimately will be caste on caste line. Caste polarisation with NaMo chant is the biggest feature of Jehanabad election in 2014,” said Jwahir Yadav of Shevnan village. Jehanabad goes to poll on April 17.