BARAUNI-BEGUSARAI (BIHAR): The Zero Mile on National Highway 31 forks and twists towards the famous Railway Yard at Garhara, to the west from Barauni, and onwards to Mithila and Bihar’s north-east. West, exactly 18 km away, stands Begusarai, the oil refinery and fertiliser town. Traffic on this busy highway can be agonisingly congested. After all, Begusarai has the highest per capita petrol pumps in India (over 180 within 15 square km), and railway scrap and the petrol-diesel-kerosene business combined had made it the hub of the Bihar mafia, which specialised in high-profile murders, politically aided, in the 1980s and 1990s.
Begusarai has long been associated with Left politics and trade unions that flourished from the late George Fernandes’s railway union days. So much so that it is still known as the ‘Leningrad of Bihar’. It’s here that a ‘nationalist’ versus ‘grassroots’ political fight has broken out, with a ‘reluctant’ Union minister Giriraj Singh —recently shifted from his Nawada constituency — being nominated by the BJP to take on Kanhaiya Kumar, the former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president.
Begusarai has been traditionally dominated by the land- and cash-rich Bhumihar caste — at once enlightened and militant — and sitting in influential positions in all parties, even the Left. Kanhaiya, a CPI nominee, is taking on Giriraj’s strident nationalistic appeal building on the twin reference points of Narendra Modi taking on Pakistan and the development works of NDA and Nitish Kumar.
‘Son of the soil’ Kanhaiya, born to a poor marginal farmer, is cash-strapped. A crowdfunding campaign, bolstered by his JNU’ite mates, has put some money in his bag, but it’s his ‘manner of speech’ that is grabbing all attention. Kumar’s campaign is up on social media and has spawned clones all over and at Zero mile, which houses restaurants, thrifty dhabas and motor repair shops; even truck drivers and cleaners take time to watch his speech unspool on cheap mobiles.
Birendra Singh, 37, dealing in motor parts on the outskirts of Barauni, believes “Yeh ladka alag hai. (This boy is different).” Many nod in affirmation as they sip insipid tea. Others mention his local roots and his caste, Bhumihar. Yet others add that a Bhumihar should not have fought a Bhumihar (Giriraj).
For all candidates — a third one being RJD’s affable Tanvir Hussain, with a PhD from JNU and a teacher by profession who fought the Assembly polls in 2015 but lost — the RJD’s Muslim-Yadav vote bank is a plus. His candidature, ousting Kanhaiya from the alliance, is based on the calculation that between two of ‘one caste’ candidates, he might very well be the winner.“It’s easier said than done,” said Mohammad Irfan, a tyre repairer, who feels that while the Muslim community gave 15 years to Lalu Prasad, there could be some virtue in voting a Kanhaiya, for “he speaks our language”.
The political language of the young candidate is a mix of Barahaiya—once a notorious name for a place with the highest per capital arms in India, and Angika (a language of ancient Anga or present-day Bhagalpur), where the Mahabharata figure Karna is believed to have been born.
Giriraj and Tanvir are no pushovers, the CPI knows. And hence, the Red party, which has lost clout over the last two decades in Bihar, is stretched to reach out to elders and move door to door for Kanhaiya.
Giriraj’s camp has been reworking Kanhaiya’s background, telling constituents about his controversial statements as a student leader and a case in a court in Delhi. The post-Pulwama national surge is the ‘big point’ the BJP wants registered for a successful rerun of 2014.
Nirmal Kumar, an MBA from Symbiosis in Pune, said, “The big challenge for Kanhaiya is to save the split in the anti-BJP vote bank.” Sudha Devi, a housewife in Teghra, was emphatic: “Jyada bolney waley ka bolti band hoga” (People will put big talkers on mute this time).