Roughly 25 km from the city of Gopalganj in Bihar, turning proper from Hlaing Bazaar, it may be simple to overlook a signboard studying ‘Pulwaria’, the house village of RJD chief Lalu Prasad. The white letters on the blue board are light.
The steel highway resulting in Phulwaria additionally seems to be eroded. There aren’t any potholes on the roads within the village, however the drainage ditches surrounding the roads are overflowing.
Paras Nath Yadav, a 60-year-old villager sitting in entrance of his home, claims that each one the event of the village occurred through the Lal dispensation greater than 20 years in the past. “Since then, the village has been intentionally uncared for. From the first well being middle to the college, nothing is functioning correctly. Solely lately, because of the native RJD MLA, the village roads had been rebuilt,” Paras mentioned.
He remembers how Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar and Ram Vilas Paswan would usually meet within the village and have lunch at an adjoining home. “That was through the Janata Dal days. After the 2 parted methods, Nitish by no means got here to the village regardless of visiting Gopalganj many occasions,” he says.
Paras mentioned that through the Lal authorities, the administration instantly addressed villagers’ grievances, however now they should pay bribes to get issues achieved. “Yeh Afsarshahi ki sarkar hai (Japanese authorities is among the babus),” he laments. “Regardless of all of the criticism, the federal government beneath Lal has responded.”
Durgesh Yadav, a 38-year-old workplace employee, has completely different issues. He has cited stagnant revenue and rising costs as “main points” within the upcoming Bihar meeting polls.
“Our land holdings are getting smaller daily, and agriculture just isn’t producing sufficient revenue to help our youngsters’s training and different requirements of life. Neither public colleges nor public well being care is nice. So we’ve to pay out of our pockets to get higher providers. The federal government that involves energy should handle these points,” he says.
Darjesh had voted for Narendra Modi within the 2024 meeting elections, however was planning to vote for the RJD within the meeting elections.
“CM Nitish ji did an excellent job within the first 5 years (2005-2010). His largest achievement was regulation and order. No person needs to see these days once more. However then he forgot about growth. It has been 20 years and the state wants a change of management,” he mentioned, obliquely acknowledging the poor regulation and order of the Lalu period.
One other villager, Prakash Yadav (30), appears assured in regards to the RJD’s prospects this time round. “There are 2,600 votes within the village and all of them are voting for Tejashwi,” he says.
A number of residents throughout caste strains declared that they’d vote for the RJD. Phulwaria falls beneath Khatua meeting constituency in Gopalganj district, the place polling is scheduled to happen on November 11 within the second section.
Sonu Pandey, a younger villager from Bhumihar, slams the Nit-led NDA authorities. “He (Nitish) says something as of late. For the previous 15 years, he has given solely Rs 400 to senior residents. What can he do with that cash? He elevated it to Rs 1,100 solely after Tejashwi and Jan Suraaj raised the difficulty. Darbandi (prohibition) is just on paper. Liquor is offered in all places,” he claims.
“None of this issues. In actual fact, Lal is from our village, so we vote for him. It does not matter what occurs to his occasion. No matter he has achieved, good or dangerous, he has been rewarded and punished for it. He’s sitting within the opposition. However such an enormous chief is from our village. He has turn into our id.”
Sunil Thakur, a retailer proprietor at Nai Group (EBC), echoes Pramod’s views. However, he says, “There aren’t any jobs. No matter authorities is in place has to do one thing about it.”
He doesn’t consider that Tejash will be capable of fulfill his promise of 1 authorities job for every household. “Bihar’s inhabitants is just too massive. However Tejashwi ought to not less than be given an opportunity. If he does not do nicely, folks will change him. Nitish has been given too many possibilities. He’s drained now,” he says.
Gama Bhagat, an OBC farmer, has additionally declared his allegiance to the RJD, however doesn’t maintain a grudge in opposition to Nitish. “In spite of everything, the roads in these villages weren’t constructed solely by Mr. Lal. Growth additionally happened throughout Mr. Nitish’s time. However when villagers enter the fray, you lose sight of the great and the dangerous,” he says.
However such overt expressions of loyalty to the RJD disappear past village boundaries. Exterior, some mentioned they vote alongside caste strains or primarily based on a candidate’s monitor document. Hatua seat has a sizeable variety of Yadavs, Kushwahas, Muslims, Bhumihars, Banias and Dalits.
Chandeshwar Pande’s home from Bhumihar is simply 1 km away from Phulwaria. He mentioned that though Lal just isn’t an vital issue for him, he would vote for RJD as he has good relations with sitting MLA Rajesh Kumar Singh, who’s the RJD candidate. I might have voted for Mr. Modi in 2024.
In Line Bazaar, a number of Muslims expressed help for the RJD, whereas OBC Bania and Paswan teams mentioned they supported the NDA.
Pramod Sir, who owns a candy store, says he’ll always remember the times of Lalu, when folks weren’t allowed to go outdoors after darkish. “Supplies for highway constructing will come and be taken away and the roads won’t ever be constructed. Now we’ve roads, we’ve free electrical energy, we’ve water. The whole lot is nice about this authorities. Why change?” mentioned Sir from the Madesia (OBC) group.
Nonetheless, he wish to see the brand new industrial. “I hope Nitish goes to Delhi after NDA wins,” he added.
Within the 2020 polls, Rajesh had defeated JD(U)’s Ramsewak Singh by a margin of over 30,000 votes. This time too, JD(U) has pitted Ramsewak in opposition to Rajesh, each of whom belong to the Kushwaha neighborhood. Jan Suraaj fielded Sanjay Suman, an area college professor from the Paswan Dalit group.
