Bihar Sharif (Nalanda): Umesh Singh, a dhoti-kurta-clad man in his seventies, is elated that he can vote for the lal jhanda (red flag) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. He claims that in his thirties, he used to be a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI), to which he devoted half of his public life.
But as the party declined and socialist, identity-driven politics took deep roots in Bihar, he took refuge in social work, even as Nalanda, his home, transformed into chief minister Nitish Kumar’s “gadh” (stronghold).
“I never imagined that I could vote for the lal jhanda once again,” Singh said, adding that beyond caste dynamics, he was committed to the idea of the working classes and farmers coming together against “big industrialists”.
Singh’s communist past is barely known in his village, Dashrathpur, but as a landed Bhumihar in his village, his community members treat treat the septuagenarian with respect, even though he is not politically influential anymore.
Complex caste-based equations that have decided electoral outcomes in Nalanda rule the roost, and it will remain the same in 2024.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Although Singh can’t differentiate between his party, the CPI, the CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation and their strong ideological differences within Left politics, he is still enthused about voting for the lal jhanda.
Yet, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) candidate in Nalanda, Sandeep Saurav, is leaving no stone unturned to talk about rising inequality, alleged cronyism in the Narendra Modi government, back-breaking price rise and rampant unemployment, leading a dynamic campaign that has reasserted the political concerns of the Left but is also respectful of the predominant caste calculus in Nalanda.
At an Extremely Backward Class (EBC) Noniya basti in Nalanda, Saurav ends his speech with an appeal. “Hum gareebon ki party hai. Aur is baar isey jeetana hai [We are a party of the poor. And, you will have to make it win this time],” Saurav said, clenching his fists in the air to raise the slogan “Lal Salaam, Jai Bhim”.
Saurav, the CPI (ML) Liberation’s nominee, began from scratch in Nalanda a month ago, but grew in popularity over time across diverse caste groups.
“Padha likha hai. Bahar se degree lee hai. Suna hai kaam bhi acha kiya hai Paliganj mein. Ladne wala leader hai. Shayad hamare liye kuch karein [He is educated and received his degree from somewhere outside. I have heard that he has done good work in Paliganj (adjoining Patna). He is a fighter. He may do something for us],” a Dalit cycle-puncture mechanic in Bihar Sharif tells The Wire.
Saurav, a PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University who was a senior leader of the All India Students’ Association on campus, won fame when he unexpectedly won the Paliganj assembly seat in the 2020 polls in his very first contest.
During his four-year tenure in the assembly, he has raised long-standing issues around teachers’ appointments, vacancies in the government, high electricity bills in rural areas and better pay for contractual workers like ASHA workers.
He hasn’t been shy of being critical of the regime even when he was a part of the ruling alliance, when Nitish Kumar had partnered with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Left, and the Congress.
He successfully led movements for better social security pensions and making contractual teachers permanent. Nitish Kumar agreed to most of his demands, but, most importantly, regularised over four lakh contractual teachers in the state.
Saurav’s rising popularity, especially among the state’s youth, gave way for his party to nominate him in Nalanda, which had fallen in the CPI (ML) Liberation’s bag.
Saurav while canvassing in Dashrathpur. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta.
The party is contesting three seats – Karakat, Arrah and Nalanda. While two of the party’s very senior leaders are contesting in the former two, Saurav was chosen for Nalanda, where his party has a presence only in small pockets.
Nalanda, incidentally, is also one of the three biggest Lok Sabha seats in the state, comprising seven assembly seats.
Saurav’s independent record is the biggest draw even among EBCs, who have been loyal to Nitish Kumar. He has also been able to revive memories of Nalanda’s support to the CPI, whose candidate Vijay Kumar Yadav won the constituency thrice before 1996.
“Narendra Modi is not the most-exciting factor in the Lok Sabha polls anymore. As a result, the Mahagathbandhan has drawn support from all caste groups. Importantly, the Janata Dal (United) MP Kaushalendra Kumar has absolutely nothing to show in Nalanda that he may call his achievement,” Saurav says, while greeting bystanders in Dashrathpur’s Dalit basti.
Resentment against Kaushalendra, Nalanda’s three-time MP, is high even among his supporters.
“He hasn’t fulfilled even one of his promises,” said Aditya Kumar, a Kurmi in Rajgir, a part of the Nalanda Lok Sabha seat, but was still inclined towards the Modi-Shah duo.
A elderly member in Bhumihar-dominated Dashrathpur did not consider Kaushalendra Kumar as much as he did Modi for the Lok Sabha elections.
“Article 370 has brought peace to Kashmir and done away with many injustices in the valley. Now, a girl who married outside Kashmir has the power to legally inherit from her father,” he said, dismissing issues like unemployment and price rise as merely allegations by Saurav.
Saurav, in turn, has made a range of promises, like the inclusion of the maize crop – grown widely in Nalanda – in the MSP list; establishing block-level vegetable mandis to support vegetable cultivators, who are a very numerous in the region; better compensation to those who lost land to the government’s land acquisition plans; and increasing village-level participation in development works.
In one of his visits to a Kurmi and Bhumihar-dominated village Lakhachak, Saurav launched a scathing attack on Nitish Kumar quite animatedly. Placing his phone on the microphone, quite like the way Tejashwi Yadav has been while canvassing against Modi’s unfulfilled promises, Saurav played an audio recording in which Nitish Kumar is heard in the assembly aggressively denying his demand to make 200 units of electricity free in the state.
“We all know how our electricity bills have been so high in the last few months. Many have received aggregated bills running into the thousands. How are the poor supposed to pay? But when I asked Nitish ji to make 200 units free, he flatly refused. In this country, loans worth crores can be waived off for big businessmen, but electricity bills of the poor can’t be relaxed,” Saurav says, bringing out his handkerchief to wipe his face on a scorching summer day.
Sandeep Saurav playing the recording of Nitish Kumar. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
He continues: “Thirty-four percent of Bihar’s population, according to the state government’s recent caste survey, earn less than Rs 6,000 per month. The survey also showed that 66% of Bihar’s people are poor, living under the poverty line.
“But both Nitish ji and Modi ji believe in a ‘bypass model’ in which the poor will be forced to leave their villages to work in harsh conditions of cities. When will Modi ji confront such problems directly?” Saurav asks.
“Instead of showing its achievements in the last ten years, the Modi government has cracked down on India’s constitution and its democratic credentials by arresting opposition leaders, and by lapsing into Hindu-Muslim issues to polarise people. These elections are not only about electing a person, but about saving India’s democracy,” Saurav tells the audience, even as his subsequent attack on the Agnipath scheme, a recruitment drive for temporary soldiers in the forces initiated by the Modi government, drew a loud applause.
However, Saurav’s battle is anything but easy. Although his campaign has received a positive response, Kaushalendra Kumar is seen as a candidate who is very close to the chief minister. He won the seat with over 2.5 lakh votes in 2019, defeating his nearest opposition rival, Ashok Kumar Azad of the Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular).
Manjhi is in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in these elections, while Nalanda remains relatively new turf for the CPI (ML) Liberation.
“Every time Kaushalendra fights, Nitish ji and Shrawan Kumar, the JD(U)’s influential MLA, camp in Nalanda for days to influence voting,” says Dhirendra Singh, a shopkeeper in Bihar Sharif.
“Moreover, Sandeep Saurav may have done good work in Paliganj, but he is a relatively fresh face here,” he adds.
Sandeep Saurav campaigning. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
Although Nitish Kumar’s popularity is declining across the state, it may still be early to shake off his dominance in Nalanda.
But Saurav exudes confidence.
“I have visited the constituency quite exhaustively. People have made up their mind for badlaav (change). The Left tradition in Nalanda will be restored,” Saurav tells The Wire.
Nalanda, around 150 kilometres away from Bihar’s capital Patna, is dominated by OBC Kurmis and ‘upper caste’ Bhumihars, followed by Yadavs and Dalits.
When Nitish Kumar, a Kurmi, began consolidating EBCs and Mahadalits in Bihar in opposition to the domineering social coalition of Yadavs and Muslims under Lalu Prasad Yadav’s big tent, Nalanda came to be recognised as the centre of an alternative political narrative in the late nineties – that of a “samajik gathbandhan” (social alliance) steered by a large chunk of upper caste voters, non-Yadav OBC voters, Mahadalits and a small section of disgruntled Muslims.
As Nalanda votes on June 1, Nitish Kumar will be fighting to secure his stronghold like never before. Photo: Facebook/Nitish Kumar.
The formidable social coalition held Nitish Kumar and his ally, the BJP, in good stead for over two decades, but faces an equally daunting challenge by another social coalition in the making.
The RJD leads the pack of the opposition alliance with the Left parties, the Congress and a fledgling Mukesh Kumar Sahani’s Vikasheel Insaan Party. The INDIA bloc is hoping for a churn in the caste-based status quo because of the pertinence of the issues they are raising and the alliances they have made.
Having realised that its narrow sphere of political influence among Yadavs and Muslims kept it away from power, the Tejashwi Yadav-led RJD has accommodated leaders from diverse classes and caste groups, terming their “mahagathbandhan” (alliance) as one that represents everyone – from “A to Z”, not merely M-Y (an acronym for Muslim-Yadav).
Saurav may upset the regional electoral dynamics with his relatable canvassing and support from the social coalition that the Mahagathbandhan represents. The CPI (ML) Liberation benefits from its clean and valiant image among the poor, and has the ability to surprise observers, as it did by securing 12 of the 16 seats it contested in the 2020 assembly polls – a strike rate better than even its ally the Congress, which contested in 50 seats.
However, Kaushalendra’s influence and networks in villages, which he has honed for three terms, remains too crucial a factor to ignore.
As Nalanda votes on June 1, Nitish Kumar will be fighting to secure his stronghold like never before. But he has a new political rival who isn’t a pushover, one who is a rising star in Bihar’s political horizon.
