George faces tough rival
From Gobind Thukral
Tribune News Service

NALANDA: It is a strange mix of caste politics here where Mr George Fernandes, Defence Minister, and CPI stalwart Gaya Singh are fighting it out to enter the 13th Lok Sabha. Development is an issue which people discuss cutting across caste and class lines. But when it comes to voting, it is the caste that is the decisive factor. Since the constituency has over one lakh Muslim voters, religion plays its own role.

Take the case of Bihar Sharif, the dirty district headquarters of Nalanda. In this assembly segment 65,000 Muslim voters will decide the fate of two ardent "secularists". Evidently there is no communal tension, but underneath, the religion card is being played with the moot question as to who is more secular.

This is not all. Pollsters say this seat is dominated by Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes with almost 80 per cent voters coming from these segments. But the final verdict is with the high castes (swarn jatis), left campaigners assert.

Voters from lower classes are disunited. There are castes and sub-castes. Also Bihar is land of leaders with one caste leader pitched against other. Confusion gets confounded, making calculations tough.

Mr Fernandes can sing about Kargil elsewhere, but here his job is tough and arduous. He faces a veteran CPI leader (now in the Rajya Sabha), Mr Gaya Singh who had won the Nalanda seat when the Congress under Indira Gandhi swept the poll in 1980 and also when Rajiv Gandhi won almost the entire Bihar in 1984. In 1998 Mr Fernandes defeated the CPI, not Mr Gaya Singh. The CPI had then fielded another candidate. Mr Fernandes now has to depend more on his anti-Emergency role when he won while in jail from Muzzafarpur, than his image as Defence Minister. Helicopter-borne, he moves from one place to another, trying to woo voters. The CPI stalwart’s campaign is more down to earth.

The CPI has its own presence in Nalanda district where it has been fighting for the cause of the peasantry and the landless for decades. The Congress is supporting the CPI and Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav has not put up any candidate. So Mr Gaya Singh has on his side the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal."We have friendly contests elsewhere with the CPI. But here we are totally supporting Mr Gaya Singh. He is a very fine leader and it is important for us to defeat communal forces whose part and parcel Mr Fernandes is", Mr Laloo Prasad tells voters.

Kargil and other "misdeeds" of Mr Fernandes are spoken of in detail at rallies where crowds listen with rapt attention. Also the BJP leaders come under attack on the telecom and sugar "scandals". The CPI campaigners say they are sure of sending Mr Fernandes to "some other place."

Nalanda has roughly 12 lakh voters spread over six assembly segments. Out of these six segments, Islampur is held by the CPI. Bihar Sharif and Hilsa are with the RJD. The Congress has the Asthama seat. The BJP has just one seat of Rajgir and Nalanda which is held by the Samata Party now part of the Janata Dal (United). "For us his defeat would not be just winning the seat of Nalanda for the CPI, but we would be defeating a reactionary and an opportunist. He is a war-monger and must lose right here", an angry Mr Gaya Singh tells the voters.

George sahib and Nitish sahib have done so much for the area that people will cut across caste and other lines and vote for Mr Fernandes", claims Mehta Gian Parkash at Bihar Sharif. Close by in Badh there is a plan to set up a 2000 mw thermal plant. A factory to produce ammunition is also planned. A 1600 km long national highway and other projects are also mentioned. Mr Fernandes is depending heavily on Mr Nitish Kumar former Railway Minister, who is contesting from Badh as his caste of Kurmis dominates this Lok Sabha constituency.

"What is being focused is that Mr Fernandes is sure to be a minister and may even play a bigger role... may be the next Prime Minister", say some of his more ambitious supporters.