Digha, Bihar: No SUV convoys, no loud music and little fanfare. It doesn’t feel like a typical Bihar election campaign.
Instead, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation candidate Divya Gautam goes door to door in Patna district’s Digha constituency, meeting voters and making her pitch with quiet confidence.
While campaigning in Digha, Bihar’s largest constituency, which votes on 6 November, the 34-year-old Gautam tells ThePrint she is confident she can bring ‘badlaav’, or change.
An academic and theatre actor with MA degrees in Journalism and Mass Communication and Women’s Studies, Gautam says unemployment remains the biggest concern for Bihar’s youth and the central focus of her campaign.
The first-time candidate reiterates the promise of government jobs made by the Mahagathbandhan in its manifesto during a speech at a nukkad sabha, street corner meeting.
“Naukri ki jagah ye log youth ko reel banane ko kehte hai. Maine aapke bacho ko padhaya hai. Naukri humara adhikar hai aur Mahagathbandhan ki sarakar aapko ye de kar rahegi (They tell the youth to make reels instead of giving them jobs. I’ve taught your children myself—employment is our right, and the Mahagathbandhan government will ensure you get it),” says Gautam, draped in scarves in the colours of the CPI(ML)-Liberation, RJD and Congress, the Mahagathbandhan’s three major allies.
Gautam, currently pursuing her PhD, has also served as an assistant professor at Patna Women’s College.
Curious women lean out from balconies in Digha to listen to Gautam as the ‘Digha mai ek naara, teen taara-teen taara’ slogan (Digha has one slogan, three stars, three stars) echoes through the lanes.
“Laalten nahi dikh raha. Flag theekh se lagao saare (The lantern isn’t visible. Put up all the flags properly),” a worker calls out, referring to the RJD’s symbol, as Gautam continues her speech.
‘We want people to know me, my vision, my work’
Gautam is the late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s cousin, but she says she has consciously avoided using his name for political mileage.
“He is my cousin, and, of course, I take inspiration from him. When people around you and your family have not done any such work, seeing his dream and fulfilling it was a big thing. In 2020, these people went to the elections in the name of justice and tried to benefit from his death. But I am his sister and I won’t,” she told ThePrint.
“There are people who refer to me as his cousin, but it is just out of love and I understand that,” she added.
Gautam says the media has portrayed her as merely Rajput’s cousin, but she wants people to know her for her work.
“I will say that my work, my political life, my student activism, and my life so far are important for people because they are choosing their representatives, and not because of any relationship. We don’t want people to bring me here for this reason (cousin of Sushant Singh Rajput),” she said.
“We want people to know me, my vision, my work and my background. Of course, they are my brothers. If people love me, then it is a good thing,” she added.
Gautam accused a section of the media and the BJP of “conducting a public trial” around Rajput’s death and “using it for their electoral gains”.
The CPI(ML)-Liberation candidate said the BJP used the issue as much as it could and then discarded it.
“It is wrong. No political party should have done this. Now, the case is closed. They have done injustice to a person who is not in this world. They did not give you the right to say everything you did in this world,” said Gautam.
“What you did was wrong. They should apologise. The political parties that used it and closed it should apologise for what they did. You have done injustice to everyone,” said Gautam.
The BJP made Rajput’s death a poll issue months before the last state elections in 2020. A debate had started on the then Uddhav Thackeray Maharashtra government’s refusal to transfer Rajput’s death case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as questions were raised on the Mumbai police probe.
The Centre had already handed over the case to the CBI following recommendations by the Nitish Kumar government based on an FIR lodged by the actor’s father in Patna.
The CBI earlier this year filed closure reports into two cases to probe the circumstances around Rajput’s death and allegations of illegal confinement and embezzlement of his funds by his partner, actor Rhea Chakraborty. The agency didn’t find any evidence of abetment to suicide.
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History of activism
Political activism is not new for Gautam. In the 2012 Patna University Student Union elections, she represented the CPI(ML)-Liberation’s student wing, AISA, and posed a challenge to the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), while narrowly finishing second.
Gautam also participated in the Nirbhaya movement following the 2012 gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student in Delhi.
Hailing from Bihar’s Diara region, Gautam moved to Patna in 2000. “It was Sushant’s mother who inspired her to study,” said a close aide.
She has a Master’s degree in Gender Studies from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad (TISS). Though Gautam cracked the Bihar Public Service Commission exam and was appointed as a supply inspector, she decided to give up government service to enter politics instead.
“In a place where there is no industry, where there is no opportunity other than a government job, there obviously will be a craving for that. When there are no industries, there are no factories, there is no work, there is only one dream of the youth, to live a better life, which is through a government job. There is a lot of desire for a government job here, because there is no other option,” Gautam said.
“I filled the form in 2017 or 2018, and by the time the result came, it was 2021. And in 2021, I was working at Patna Women’s College. I realised as soon as you become a bureaucrat, you have to limit yourself. I decided to do such work so that I could be in the midst of people,” she explained on why she opted out of government service.
Gautam said more people, including women, should contest elections. “There is this mindset that politics is for big people, who have a lot of money, who are businessmen, big mafias, dons, etc. But when my party decided, I felt hope that this was not just hope for me. And the 21 seats in our party, all the people, all the politicians who have got tickets, their life, you see, they have come from a very humble background.”
Gautam faces the BJP candidate and sitting MLA, Sanjiv Chaurasia, who won the seat in 2020, defeating the CPI(ML)-Liberation’s Shashi Yadav by over 46,000 votes. This time, a triangular contest may take place with the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) fielding Ritesh Ranjan, also known as Bittu Singh.
The Kayastha community is one of the major communities of the Digha constituency. Apart from it, Rajputs, Brahmins and Bhumihars also constitute a big chunk. It also has OBC groups like Yadavs. Chaurasia belongs to the Vaishya community, while Guatam is a Rajput.
Apart from banking on “anti-incumbency” against Chaurasia, the CPI(ML)-Liberation candidate is confident of getting the support of the youth and women voters.
The people in the constituency want more development and have been raising civic issues, such as encroachment and lack of parking as major problems.
“It rained a few days back and there was waterlogging everywhere. This is something basic that needs to be fixed. Every election, political parties make tall promises and then forget,” said Rashi Singh, a resident of Digha.
Other residents, however, say they vote for a party and not a candidate. “Ultimately, how much can an MLA do? Unless the party is in power, they can’t really do much,” said Abhay Pratap, a resident of the constituency.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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