In a battle of equals between a newcomer and a veteran, it is the former who has the upper hand due to the Modi factor.
Darbhanga: The place which is famous for the legendary Darbhanga Raja, who was perhaps in his time—during the times of the British—India’s richest landlord, is witnessing an interesting fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Gopaljee Thakur and Abdul Bari Siddiqui, the Grand Alliance candidate.
While the 49-year-old Thakur, who had won the 2010 Assembly election from Benipur, one of the 6 Assembly seats of the Darbhanga Parliamentary constituency, is contesting the general elections for the first time, Siddiqui, 58, a seven-term MLA and a known Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) veteran and a confidant of Lalu Prasad Yadav, who also served as the finance minister of Bihar, had contested from the neighbouring Madhubani twice in the past but lost.
The importance of this region of Mithilanchal and the symbolic message that it holds for the entire state can be gauged from the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself did a rally here on 25 April, just four days before the election date. Modi in his speech focused on nationalism and terrorism, the two topics that have evidently struck a chord with voters across the state.
In a battle of equals between a newcomer and a veteran, it is the former who appears to have the upper hand due to the Modi factor.
Locals say that both Thakur, who has risen from the ground and climbed all the small steps that should be taken before contesting the MP (Member of Parliament) polls, and Siddiqui, are down-to-earth, honest, sincere and accessible and there is nothing different between them apart from the only fact that Thakur is getting the support of the Modi undercurrent which is not evident to the naked eye, but can be gauged while speaking to the locals.
In the last election, BJP’s Kirti Azad had won the election by merely 35,000 votes against the RJD stalwart Ali Ashraf Fatmi, who, this time, has turned rebel over refusal by Tejashwi Yadav to give him a ticket over unknown issues. With Fatmi being denied a ticket, his supporters, according to locals, are denting the prospects of Siddiqui, something which was also accepted by team members of Siddiqui.
On the other hand, BJP functionaries say that the removal of Azad from the party, who is now contesting as a Congress candidate from Dhanbad, Jharkhand, has come as a boon.
Pankaj Jha, who is a senior functionary of the IT cell of BJP, said: “There was no way we would have let him get the ticket this time. He has done no work and treated Darbhanga like a nanihaal (grandmother’s home, implying that he took for granted the affection that the people of Darbhanga gave him). Look at the city, there is no proper sewage system, there are so many tourism opportunities, but nothing has been done. Thakur will win handsomely as he is a new face and promises a great future for the constituency.”
According to local BJP leaders, in this Hindu belt, even the Muslims were going to vote for the BJP.
Pradeep Kumar Thakur, the district president of BJP, said that they are trying for Muslim votes as they have got a favourable response from them.
“You can accompany our president of the minority cell who is doing tremendous ground work in Muslim areas and is getting a very favourable response”, he told this reporter as he showed pictures of BJP leaders canvassing among Muslim voters in their residence.
According to him, Modi was the only issue in this election. “The feeling of self assertion that emerged after the Balakot air strike is pulling voters towards Modi. Even the Yadavs are voting for us because of the work done by Modi in terms of highway and electricity,” he said.
However, Ashok Kumar Poddar, who is an associate professor at CM Science College and the election agent of Siddiqui, said that Siddiqui was going to win the elections handsomely. “There has been no development in Darbhanga, infrastructure wise. Lack of job opportunity in the region has forced thousands of people to move to other states. In his long career, Siddiqui has never discriminated between Hindus and Muslims and has won in segments like Benipur which have substantial Brahmin votes,” he said.
Interestingly, both the supporters of RJD and NDA believe that their votes will transcend caste and religion barriers unlike in neighbouring Begusarai, where the BJP is certain that they will not get Muslim votes, probably because of the anti-Muslim statements that Giriraj Singh makes.
Since it is Siddiqui who is contesting the elections, the RJD, too, is giving its best and running a very systematic and planned campaign. “Reports of differences between the Grand Alliance partners are all false. Everything is being done systematically and we are coordinating with our alliance partners at every level. You can come with us and witness this for yourself,” said Rajeev Kumar Jha, national spokesperson of the youth wing of RJD while chalking out his campaigning details at the party office in Darbhanga.