Election Discontent in Central Bihar: Farmers Speak Out

What is the purpose of this? Ek toh katni, ek se rauda upar se. Is Chunav ki pet dekhein batiyayein? Are you a pet or a boss? (Oh, so you're here for the elections as well? It's harvest season, and the sun is scorching. Should I talk about surveys or focus on putting food in our empty bellies? "Will any politician come and do it?)," Manisha Kumari asks in the terse Maithili-Hindi that the people of this central Bihar village speak.

Her contempt is justified.

Even the most polite person would have lost her cool while winnowing wheat on her little plot of land on a steamy April afternoon when temperatures soar to 42°C and heatwaves compound the pain.

Chhotu Paswan, Manisha's spouse, works as a laborer in Delhi. However, Manisha, 30, looks after her four kids and in-laws, who reside in a two-room thatched home in the Singhia block of the Samastipur Lok Sabha constituency's Brahmadutt village.

"Under the PM Awas Yojana, we did not receive any housing" (Gramin). They used to demand a bribe of ₹5,000, but now they say that after Narendra Modi wins, you will receive ₹jitega tab milega. Manisha, who is furious, says, "I couldn't build a toilet at home because they demanded cut money," as other women in the field nod in agreement.

Manisha refers to "they" as the panchayat secretary, the mukhiya in the area, block-level government officials, and the "middlemen" that they employ.

Manisha was getting into a rhythm when one of the other female farmers pushed her to stop.

Mukesh Paswan with his homemade truck, which he uses to transport products in order to make ends meet.
Mukesh Paswan with his homemade truck, which he uses to transport products in order to make ends meet.

When asked if she will cast a ballot, Manisha curtly says, "Pata nahin (don't know)."

Taps in the neighboring community of Harpur Pavra, controlled by the Phulhara panchayat, run dry as a result of a government initiative to supply drinking water to every home.

"The caliber of the job is evident. After a while, the drinking water program was discontinued. They had to have made a sizable profit. Our greatest option, nevertheless, is the handpumps. We receive delicious, pure water from 70 feet down," 45-year-old farmer Rashbihari Yadav explains.

Mukesh Paswan, a different villager who transports products in a modified cart with a motorcycle attached, says he will definitely cast a ballot since the "election is for the nation's good." He mentions "Modi" as his favorite candidate this year.

Samastipur, which is fertile and can produce three harvests a year—wheat, paddy, maize, sugarcane, chilli, and a variety of pulses—is dotted with several rivers.

Some of the farmers here were practicing modern farming and growing tobacco and sunflowers decades ago, so they were well ahead of their times. However, this suffered from a lack of promotion, a lack of backing from the government, and rapacious middlemen.

Most farmers were making the most of the rabi season when The Telegraph visited there. In a race against time, farmers were frantically threshing, winnowing, and storing the produced crop as the kalbaishakhi (nor'westers) season approached.

There's a noticeable lack of interest in the current surveys.

"Elections should not be held during the harvest season. There is now no man or woman who is free who is able to work. After harvesting, we must concentrate on marketing the produce. No one is able to focus on the elections. This is the cause of the poor voter participation in Bihar, according to progressive farmer Shyam Narayan Singh of Babupur village in the Warisnagar block.

The primary struggle for the seat, which is designated for Scheduled Castes, is expected to be between Congressman Sunny Hazari, 33, and NDA ally Shambhavi Choudhary, 25, of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).

Shambhavi appears to be winning the campaign and is well-liked by the ladies, but Sunny—a local man by all accounts—might gain ground before voting day.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.