Updated: November 7, 2020 2:31:57 pm
In Bairgacchi, home of Bhola Paswan Shastri. (Express photo: Dipankar Ghose)
They say his name with respect and regret.
In 1968, for the first time in Bihar, a Dalit became chief minister, although his term lasted only three months.
Bhola Paswan Shastri returned to the post of Chief Minister, twice: for 13 days in 1969 and 7 months in 1971 when political turmoil gripped the state.
Despite the brief terms, the village of Shastri, Bairgacchi, remembers him as a loving son, a prime minister for three terms, and a symbol of lost honesty.
People here tell stories of a man who refused to accumulate personal wealth, of a house that remained a shack long after the end of his third term, a man who continued to sleep on the ground. And in that, there is a tinge of regret.
Sitting outside Shastri’s home, Sagar Paswan recalls: “He was so honest that he did nothing himself, nor did he give his own village any undue favors. If it had been like the politicians of today, it would have had a palace and it is possible that we would have had a functional drain. “
Signs bearing his name are everywhere. A plaque to the right of the road says “Bhola Paswan Shastri Gram”. Next to his ancestral home, there is a community building built in his honor by Dhamdaha MLA Leshi Singh.
Read also | Bihar Elections: AIMIM, VIP Destinations at stake today; so are the hopes of Mahagathbandhan
And yet the bylanes have open drains, there is very little work available, and the village residents, affected by the impact of Covid and the closure, await jobs.
Shastri had no children, but in July this year, local television channels reported on the pitiful condition of her extended family, forced to live on government rations. Political parties rushed in, with the RJD and others offering financial help.
On Friday, the family was not in town, as they had traveled to Purnea for work. Those in the village said that they all had an identical story.
Read also | In Seemanchal, Owaisi popular but still lead RJD, Congress
“Since his time, nothing has happened in the town. Yes, some roads were built, but there are no works. Each family in Bairgacchi sends their own out of Bihar to work. During the shutdown, no one had income, ”Sagar Paswan said.
Saibal Paswan, all 22 years old, returned in May from Delhi, where he worked as a laborer in an iron beam unit in Chhattarpur. He was lucky: he got home on a bus, paid for by his employers. But he has no money to return.
“I left when I was 12 years old, I spent a lot of time in Punjab and then I moved to Delhi. Each family has to send the children. Most depend on earned income, but they were sold out during closing. Since then, we have only survived on the government ration. I want to go back, but the bus ticket will cost Rs 2,000, which I don’t have, ”he said.
While discussing the impact of the closure outside the community hall built in Shastri’s honor, a group of men speak of the current generation of political leaders and their disconnect from the poor.
Read also | Bihar elections: also voting today, in the shadow of NRC, a nomadic settlement
“Then there were no resources to do anything. Shastri was born into a poor home, her father working in the Darbhanga royal family home. At that time, they did not want people of our caste to study, but he did and went to Kashi Vishwavidyalaya. He never forgot the poor and was always with them. Now all these politicians, once they become leaders, they forget about us and the effect their decisions have on us, ”said Akash Kumar, 24, referring to the shutdown.
He worked as a laborer in a shoe factory in Kerala before the closure, but cannot get 6,000 rupees for return passage.
The town is part of the Dhamdaha constituency, where JDU candidate Leshi Singh is seeking a third consecutive term, competing against Dilip Kumar Yadav of RJD and Yogendra Kumar of LJP.
Manish Kumar Paswan, who at 72 occasionally works the brick kilns in Purnea for 300 rupees a day, says the majority of the vote in 2015 went to the JDU, which later fought alongside the RJD. “This is a big town and it has people from both Hindu and Muslim communities. They both voted for Nitish Kumar last time. But what has it done for us in the last five years? Very few people have land here. We all expected him to give us three decimal places of the land that his government promised, but that has not happened. Naukri nahi hai, sthiti bahut kharaab ho gayi hai. Padhe-likhe bacche ghar baithe hain (There is no work, the situation is very bad. Educated young people are idle at home) ”, he said.
While the consensus is that the larger Muslim community is moving towards the RJD, the Paswan community speaks of “badlaav” (change) and has a lot of affection for the late Ram Vilas Paswan and his son Chirag.
In the hands of Manish Kumar is a one-page letter distributed by the LJP cadre, apparently written by Ram Vilas Paswan before his death last month, about the work he had always done and about his son “fighting for the pride of Bihari ”.
“After Shastri, if there was a leader who spoke for our community, it was Ram Vilas. He remained humble even after moving to Delhi. Now that he has passed away and the burden has fallen on his son, shouldn’t we support him? he said.
At Bairgacchi, the sentiment seems to have turned into a little bow. There is anti-incumbency against the Chief Minister, anger fueled by economic distress and the shutdown, and an option to vote against the ruling party.
Manish Kumar also speaks fondly of Lalu Prasad, saying that he never forgot his roots, and even had a stable in his residence even when he was Chief Minister.
“Lalu theek tha, gareeb ke liye sochta tha (Lalu was fine, he was thinking of the poor)… Tejashwi is a young man and he may do well. But there is fear for what that may bring. We realize that voting for Chirag may mean that the RJD wins, but then we can kill two birds with one stone. We are voting for our leader and voting for change. Waise bhi, koi bhi aaye, baat wahin hai. Koi Bhola Shastri ki tarah nahi hai ab (It doesn’t matter who comes. Nobody is like Bhola Shastri), ”he said.
.
