The election campaign is in full bloom in Siwan and Chhapra. But the colour green, of the Rashtriya Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad, and Mohammad Shahabuddin, four-time party MP from Siwan now in jail, is missing. In the previous elections, Siwan had been painted just in green and huge cut-outs of Shahabuddin, known as Saheb, were everywhere.
Shahabuddin’s reign of terror is now folklore. The united colours and symbols of the parties have overshadowed the green. The campaign vehicles of other parties are plying on the road with their flags and the cut-outs of the contestants, which were earlier “banned”. In 2015, Siwan presents a different picture with no sign of Shahabuddin or his terror stories.
Similar is the scene in Chhapra (Saran district), known as “Laluland” because the leader represented the constituency in Parliament several times since 1977. His wife, Rabri Devi, though, lost there in the 2014 Lok Sabha election to Rajiv Pratap Rudy of the BJP. Chhapra, dominated by Yadavs and Rajputs, has been the flag-bearer of green in every election. But the colour seems to have faded in 2015. Siwan will go to the polls in the fourth phase on November 1 and Chhapra in the third phase on October 28.
“Today, nobody talks about Shahabuddin … Politicians may say he may be calling the shots from jail, but he doesn’t hold that terror for which Siwan was earlier infamous,” Arun Kumar of Mairwa block told The Hindu on Monday. Samrendra Sah and Vijay Kumar, both small-time traders at Panchrukhi, echo the view. “The old days have gone. Now, people go to the polling booths without fear.”
Siwan has a sizeable number of Muslims. Shahabuddin was considered the sole custodian of the community. But Muslims privately admit that he is no longer relevant as he was. “As everything, every terror tale has its time, and now it has gone, caged … We vote for secular candidates,” said Mohammad Sartaj, a plumber of Siwan.
In Chhapra, the flags of various parties flutter at every nook and corner. “Lalu ji is still our leader, but we’ll vote on candidates … If the candidate is not good from Lalu’s party, we’ll vote for the other contestant,” said Ramashraya Yadav of the Taraiya constituency. Is ‘Laluland’ losing its charm? “It’s not like that. He is very much in the contest, but the idea of political fiefdom has gone,” Janak Yadav, a government employee at Amnour, said.
