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Bihar’s dons are propping up their wives, sons and brothers to keep their political clout

From RJD to JD(U) and LJP to Congress, virtually every party in Bihar is giving tickets to dons’ family members for the Lok Sabha elections.

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Patna: When the Rashtriya Janata Dal announced its candidates for the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar Friday, its allies were left scratching their heads about the choice of Vibha Kumari from Nawada. It later came to light that she is the wife of Raj Ballabh Yadav, an MLA who was convicted for raping a minor girl and is currently in jail.

“There is nothing wrong with fielding his wife. Raj Ballabh Yadav’s appeal is in the higher court. Why should a wife be denied a ticket when she has not committed any offence?” remarked RJD state chief Ram Chandra Purbey.

The next day, the Janata Dal (United) announced Kavita Singh as its candidate from Siwan. She is the wife of Ajay Singh, an infamous gangster in the area who faces charges of murder, extortion and dacoity.

In 2015, there was speculation that Ajay Singh had asked for an assembly ticket, but the JD(U) leadership told him he couldn’t get one because of his criminal background. In fact, rumour has it that they advised him to get married, which he did in the pitri-paksha, an inauspicious time of the year according to Hindu traditions. Kavita was then given a ticket, and won.

The truth is that Bihar suffered more than most states due to the criminalisation of politics, and though that may be a thing of the past, criminals and dons have been able to retain their political clout by propping up their wives or kin.

Political parties, on their part, have accepted this as the norm, and incorporated it into their functioning. Devesh Kumar, state vice-president of the BJP, said: “It (criminalisation) cannot be entirely wiped out without a consensus being reached among all political parties that they will not touch even the families of such elements.”

But that consensus is nowhere on the horizon. Instead, the RJD is also set to field Hina Shahab, wife of Mohammad Shahabuddin, the dreaded don and ex-MP of Siwan, who has been convicted in seven cases of murder and kidnapping but still remains a member of the party’s national executive.


Also read: Lalu Prasad bends over backwards as Bihar alliance gets seat-sharing in place


Growing trend

In the 1990s, Bihar witnessed a number of political murders — from CPI(M) MLA Ajit Sarkar to RJD minister Brij Bihari and sitting MLA Devendra Dubey. Then there was also the murder of G. Krishnaiyyah, the district magistrate of Gopalganj, by a mob led by former MP Anand Mohan.

Things improved with the introduction of electronic voting machines, among other measures, as dons like Pappu Yadav and Prabhunath Singh could not indulge in booth capturing any more, and began losing.

Prabhunath Singh, who became an MP twice, is now in jail for murdering an MLA in the 1990s. But this time around, speculation is rife that the RJD is looking to field his son Randhir Singh as its candidate from Maharajganj, which was Prabhunath’s seat.

But it’s not just a phenomenon restricted to the RJD and the JD(U). Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party is fielding Chandan Kumar, the younger brother of former MP and don Surajbhan Singh, from Nawada. Surajbhan was convicted of murder, so his wife Veena Devi contested the last Lok Sabha polls from Munger and won. This time around, the JD(U) has bagged Munger under the NDA’s seat-sharing arrangement, and the LJP has got Nawada instead.

Another don-turned-politician who is likely to follow suit is Anant Singh, the ‘Chhotey Sarkar’ of the riverine belt of Mokama, of whom a Bihar Police intelligence report had said: “Not even a leaf moves without his consent in the area.”

Between 2005 and 2015, Anant Singh remained with the JD(U) and was the MLA from Mokama. But when the Mahagathbandhan was formed in 2015, Anant was jailed for his alleged involvement in a murder. Yet, he contested and won as an independent.

Now he has switched his loyalty to the Congress, and played a key role in the party’s 3 February rally at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan, mobilising 25,000 of his supporters to fill up the crowd. He has made it clear that he will contest from Munger, and the opposition alliance has left the seat for the Congress.

However, a senior Congress leader said that for the sake of respectability, the party may field his wife Neelam Devi, “so that it does not become an embarrassment”.


Also read: Kanhaiya Kumar’s political aspirations hit a kerb, Congress-RJD likely to dump him


 

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3 COMMENTS

  1. Hi a very very good news item for the Indian citizen , the basic motive is to get seat in assembly, parliament no matter who is the person , why blame political parties, the mindset of the society is very narrow ,a say in society is how is the government is how the people society are a good time for TRP don’t waste time on this issue make a swacch samarpit simplified samridh Sindhu

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