Last Wednesday, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary held a rally at Semariya in Revelganj block of the Chapra Assembly constituency in support of the BJP’s new face, Chhoti Kumari.
Around the same time, barely 2 km away, RJD candidate Shatrughan Yadav, popularly known as Khesari Lal Yadav, a Bhojpuri film star and singer, was holding his roadshow through narrow, serpentine lanes, drawing big crowds.
As his convoy of SUVs reached Jigna Tiwari Tola village, a boy shouted, “Khesari has come!” And within minutes, people spilled out of their homes to see him.
Dressed in a white shirt, Khesari, 39, leaned out of his vehicle’s sunroof, waved and bowed, pressing his hands together to greet people.
Some villagers even climbed atop a garbage heap to catch a glimpse of the Bhojpuri star. “Many locals skipped work today just to see Khesari, though most of them are daily-wage labourers,” said Rabuddin, a retired Army man.
But once the convoy passed and the excitement faded, he looked at the village’s broken roads, and pointed out: “They were built five years ago, just before the 2020 elections.”
The village’s ward 8, inhabited by Dalits, is marked by small houses with mud walls and clay tiles. Some are built with bamboo and hay. They are encircled by pits filled with stagnant water.
“There’s no proper drainage in this settlement,” said Shatrughan Ram. “A central drain was supposed to connect all the smaller ones, but it was not done.”
Pointing to the half-built central drain covered with concrete slabs, he added, “It doesn’t have any outlet. The construction was stopped midway… The mukhiya claimed there were no funds left to complete it.”
The incomplete central drain in Jigna Tiwari Tola (Ward 8) (Express Photo by Himanshu Harsh)
As the sun dipped on the horizon, a few women sat on the protruding concrete slabs along a stretch of the drain.
“When it rains, drains overflow and water enters our homes. The clogged drains are a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Honestly, things were better earlier. Such mindless construction is useless and should just be demolished,” said Pappu Ram, 28.
Women seated on a protruding section of the drain within the Dalit settlement of Jigna Tiwari Tola (Ward 8) (Express Photo by Himanshu Harsh)
“Ye Dalit ki basti hai (this is a Dalit settlement),” said Kundan Kumar, 28, “Yahan na neta aata hai, na unka vikas (neither do leaders visit us, nor development).” He pointed to a water pipe laid under the Har Ghar Nal Yojana before the previous elections. “They connected nearly a hundred households to a single borewell. There’s no pressure. Water reaches about eight homes for 10-20 minutes. Most families still rely on hand pumps,” he said.
“As daily-wagers, we get work for 5 to 10 days a month, earning between Rs 400 and Rs 600 a day,” said Ashok Ram, noting that women also work in nearby fields, sowing crops or assisting in farm work to supplement family income, but “earn only Rs 100 a day”.
“If the government sends instalment of Rs 60,000 under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, half of it goes into bribes to avail it,” said another Dalit villager Rajesh Ram. “What can you build with the remaining Rs 30,000?”
He claims most houses don’t have toilets. “When people don’t even have a proper home or land, how can they think of building a toilet? A few have managed to construct it, but the rest of us have to defecate in the open,” he said. “It’s humiliating that even our women have to relieve themselves in the fields, but what can we do? Government schemes rarely reach Dalit homes, and our wages aren’t enough to build toilets ourselves.”
A woman resident, who did not want to be named, said, “A few hundred metres away, upper-caste families live in ward 9. Even the schemes meant for us are diverted there. We don’t have a single solar street light in our settlement.”
However, some other Dalit women, such as Janki Devi, Renu Devi and Sushila Devi, voice their support for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
“We may not have received Rs 10,000 aid yet (under Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana), but Nitish ji has done a lot for women. There are just some issues with drainage and water, once those are fixed, things will be fine,” said Janki.
Renu added, “Gas cylinders and free ration, all of that are being provided by Nitish and Modi.”
Uncertainty amid ‘anti-incumbency’
The Chapra seat in Saran district, scheduled for voting in the first phase on November 6, has been traditionally dominated by Yadavs and Rajputs, and also has a significant chunk of voters from the Vaishya and Muslim communities.
The erstwhile Chapra Lok Sabha seat (before 2008 delimitation) was represented by RJD chief Lalu Prasad four times between 1977 and 2009. However, the party’s influence here has been waning.
Since 2005, the Chapra Assembly constituency has been won by the BJP or its ally JD(U), barring the RJD’s bypoll win in 2014. The Saran Lok Sabha seat under which it falls has been held by the BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy since 2014. A five-term MP, Rudy has now defeated two of Lalu’s kin to win Saran: daughter and RJD candidate Rohini Acharya in 2024, and wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi in 2014.
In order to retain Chapra, the BJP has replaced its sitting MLA C N Gupta with a debutant. This may be wise as locals across Chapra expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of Gupta.
“We have not seen him since the 2020 polls,” said Rabuddin.
A two-term MLA, Gupta had defeated the RJD’s Randhir Kumar Singh in 2020 by just 6,771 votes. Chhoti Kumari, 35, who has replaced him, also belongs to the Vaishya community.
However, while this may be her debut election, she is not an unfamiliar face. And some locals criticise her for “not doing any development work” during her stint as the district council chairperson.
Several people of Kachnar village said they felt “abandoned” by the BJP. Pappu Ram, a resident of Revelganj, said, “We have seen the BJP for 10 years. Now, we need to give someone else a chance.”
Another local, Lallan Rai, said Bihar needed a younger leader to continue Nitish’s work, saying “Tejashwi has the same enthusiasm”. He was uncertain about Khesari’s candidature, though. “Running a government is not like making a film,” he said.
“People are coming to see him (Khesari) as an actor, not as a leader,” said a resident of Devariya village. “We want change, but will he really stay among the people? After winning, he might just go back to Mumbai.”
However, some other villagers argued that Khesari’s popularity could actually work to the constituency’s advantage. “He already has money and fame, so at least he won’t misuse public funds,” said Pintu Kumar.
In Chapra town, Ahmed Ali, a cloth merchant, voiced a similar desire for change. “There should be a change. Khesari ji has everything, and this time Bihar’s youth want young leaders. Tejashwi says what he means and does what he says. We have seen his 17-month tenure (as Deputy Chief Minister). We’ll give him a chance and if he doesn’t perform, we’ll remove him in five years.”
Another local shopkeeper, Rajnish Kumar, agreed that change was “overdue” but argued that voters have more options now. “Change is necessary, but it doesn’t mean everyone must vote for Tejashwi. Jan Suraaj is also a good option. Their candidates have a clean image, there are IAS and IPS officers among them. In Chapra, their candidate is Jai Prakash Singh, a former DGP who took voluntary retirement to work for the people. We need more educated people like him in politics.”