Living in shadow of post-poll violence
For the last one month, Madhepura was bubbling with frenzied political activity. With the elections over, an eerie silence now prevails here.
For the last one month, Madhepura was bubbling with frenzied political activity. With the elections over, an eerie silence now prevails here.
“The silence is deadly. We apprehend trouble especially due to presence of criminal groups from the adjoining districts,” said Mohammed Samsul, a teacher of Udakishungunj, while returning from poll duty.
His apprehension isn’t unfounded. The people of Madhepura had never seen such a large congregation of ministers and criminals on a single ‘platform’. At least nine ministers of the Rabri Devi cabinet had pitched their tents here to help their ‘raja’ in the run-up to the elections. Six of them, however, returned to Patna before the D-day. The presence of so many ministers and leaders did not go unnoticed. “They never came in hordes earlier and showed concern for us,” remarked B N Maharaj, a resident of Alamnagar.
MLCs Subhash Yadav and Azad Gandhi; MLAs Sadhu Yadav and Surendra Yadav, party leader Ram Kripal Yadav; and ministers Rajendra Prasad Yadav, Ravindra Charan Yadav and Ashok Kumar Singh had camped at Madhepura till the polling day. Other ministers of the Rabri Devi cabinet — Shyam Rajak, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Shakeel Ahmed Khan, Srinarayan Yadav, and Sitaram Singh — had also lent a helping hand to Laloo, but returned to Patna as soon as polling ended.
Apart from the politicians, the RJD had reportedly also taken the help of some criminal groups to ‘influence’ voters. More than anything else, this apparently hurt the sentiments of the peace-loving people of Madhepura. “The movement of criminal groups in the district was rather unusual. Members of the Shankar Singh gang moved around on horses for almost ten days. They even threatened the villagers to vote in favour of the ruling party,” said Bhupendra Mandal, a shop owner at Chausa.
Taking to Hindustan Times, district magistrate Chaitanya Prasad said he had not received any report apprehending post-poll violence. He, however, said minor incidents had been reported from some areas in the district. But it was controlled in quick time. “We have taken steps to prevent recurrence of such incidents,” he added.