It’s hard to spot the flag of any party in Purnea. In a state that has just registered a record turnout in the first phase, the voters here seem nonchalant about the Assembly polls.
Irrespective of which party they declared their support for, many voters who spoke to The Telegraph seemed to consider the results almost as a fait accompli.
“There has been campaigning. The bajas (vehicles with loudspeakers blaring propaganda and film songs) move around,” grocer Prem Raj said.
His shop stands in a crumbling complex, named Vikas Market, in the heart of the town.
Asked about the irony of the name — “vikas” means development — he replied: “No, no, it’s like this only after the rains.... The facade of the market was spoiled after they built the new footpath (covered in filth now).”
He added: “Vikas has happened, but there is a tight contest. The BJP has been winning here and I think they will retain the seat.”
The BJP has held the Purnea seat, alternatively spelt as Purnia, since 2000.
Prem’s neighbour Raju Kumar, a tailor, spends half his time at tailoring units in Delhi.
“In Bihar, your employer thinks you are his slave. In Delhi, you are paid better, and you take your money and go home. There’s no need to kowtow before the owner,” he said.
To Prem, Raju and almost anyone else you ask, the first election issue that comes to their mind is employment — a broad topic that includes the low wages, migration for work, and underemployment.
“I can do the same work here that I do in Delhi if textile units are set up. But I prefer to work outside,” Raju said.
“Biharis will never pay a fair wage. It’s the mentality. A top-class cinema hall was set up here recently. In no time, its seats had been mutilated.”
At the village square in Parora, a woman, eager to be photographed but too shy to be named, was preparing bhakkhas — loosely packed, steamed cakes of rice powder and jaggery that are a popular winter snack in the areas around the trijunction of Bihar, Bengal and Nepal.
Squatting on the crowded road, she was selling them at ₹5 a piece — yet the customers were haggling for a discount.
“Jiska khaaye hain usi ko vote denge (I shall vote for the one who provided for me),” she replied when asked about the ₹10,000 grant from the state government to start a business.
She had been making and selling bhakkhas long before she received the dole, just before the polls. The cash has mostly been spent repaying debts, though she hopes to expand her business with the money she saves. She doesn’t have to pay interest, unlike the loans taken from a woman’s self-help group that charge up to 2 per cent a month.
Vikas for her is a shed above her bhakkha stove. Few voters are as decided as the bhakkha seller.
A tribal woman at the Santhal Tola hamlet in the Dhamdaha constituency of Purnea district did not wish to be named, either, fearing police harassment.
“They barge into our homes on suspicion that Santhals brew hooch (in this dry state), turn everything upside down and sometimes detain us until we name some or other bootlegger,” she said.
“I don’t brew hooch and there is no one to care for my sons if the police pick me up again for something you may print in the paper,” she said.
“These doles (like the grant the bhakkha seller got) have created a big problem. I have not got it but my neighbour has. She is my friend, but now we are enemies,” she continued.
“Why did she get it and I didn’t, I asked the officers at the anchal karyalaya (local administrative office). They keep saying that I will get it. But when?”
The tribal homes here are mud huts. Many say they applied for assistance to build pucca homes under the PM Awas Yojana a long time ago.
“Others keep saying that we tribal people get everything. But even the ration shop hasn’t functioned here for three months,” the woman said.
“My brothers have passed Class XII but can’t get a job. One of them would have got a job as a home guard if we could afford a ₹2-lakh bribe.”
Bhakkha vendor at Parora in Bihar's Purnea district. Photo by Pheroze L. Vincent
Some non-tribal residents of the area, high on hooch, tried to butt in but senior citizen Manendra Choudhary shooed them away.
“I have seen Bihar change. My old-age pension has gone up from ₹400 to ₹1,100. Government schemes are now online and we don’t have to go and beg for them,” he said.
“The real issue is the labour shortage. The daily wage here is ₹400 but the boys will rather go work in Delhi for double that amount. The government should help us get farm machinery,” he said.
An elderly Santhal woman, Talamai Marandi, countered Choudhary. “Why don’t you pay more wages? Our boys go to Delhi and get into fights and bad habits. If these landlords paid properly, our boys would have stayed here,” she said.
“When tigers have to leave the forest to look for water, then be sure that floods will follow. A change of government will be good.”
Her delightful turn of phrase in Santhali is translated into Hindi for this reporter by a few landlords not as satisfied as Choudhary.
“But how can we pay more wages? The entire paddy crop was lost to unseasonal rains,” one of them, Shyam Jha, said.
“I have neither got the insurance payout nor the support under PM Kisan because I refused to bribe the krishi salahkar (a middleman of the agriculture department). No one is punished for bribery because the politicians protect them.”
- Bihar votes next on November 11