In 2009, Yashwant Sinha of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won from the Hazaribagh constituency in central Jharkhand, a significant victory after defeat to Bhuvneshwar Prasad Mehta of the Communist Party of India in 2004. This time, the BJP candidate is Mr. Sinha’s son Jayant Sinha, 50, an investment professional-turned- politician.
Among his rivals are Mr. Mehta, 74, and Congress MLA Saurabh Narayan Singh, grandson of the former king Kamakhya Narain Singh. Lok Nath Mahto, three-time MLA who left the BJP to join the All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU), led by Sudesh Mahto, a few weeks ago, is another.
Scout for electoral prospects in the constituency, and talk invariably veers round to a Mahto Samaj meeting attended by two lakh people last December. The community makes up a significant section of the electorate in this old coal-mining zone of Hazaribagh and Ramgarh districts. The candidate who attracts the combined vote of Koeri Mahtos, marginal farmers, and Kurmi Mahtos, rich farmer-migrants from Bihar, will win, political observers say.
Mr. Mehta is a Koeri. Mr. Mahto is also one but has the overt backing of AJSU MLA from Ramgarh Chandraprakash Chaudhary, a Kurmi. Mr. Mahto’s previous work in the BJP and links with the Other Backward Classes may undermine the party here, observers say. While Mr. Yashwant Sinha won with a third of the over 6.9 lakh votes polled in 2009, many party leaders and voters criticise his record as MP, saying he remained “inaccessible” or “absent.” “BJP workers sent 2,800 letters to the central leadership criticising him, but then he was replaced by his son,” a State-level party leader says.
In Hazaribagh town, only a few signs of his presence are found. The candidature of Mr. Jayant Sinha, alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and Harvard Business School, who worked with the investment firm Omidyar Network till December 2013, set off a mixed reaction in the party. Most voters say they have not seen, or heard of, him. At 11 a.m. the other day, Mr. Jayant Sinha, preceded by a vehicle with a loudspeaker, reaches Banadag village, 8 km from the town, dressed in white kurta and pyjama over sneakers. He speaks against caste, invokes the Gujarat model of development and frequently refers to his father’s tenure as MP. Speaking in Hindi, he slips up describing Mr. Yashwant Sinha as a “Dabbang MP” (muscleman MP) for bringing a Rs. 3,000-crore railway line to Hazaribagh.
“Gujarat has 24-hour power and good roads and ambulance services; I will ensure the same here. For BPL [below poverty line] pension beneficiaries, sisters, we promise an online database that will allow direct benefits transfer to bank accounts,” he promises adding that the latter was a project he worked on as part of Narendra Modi’s IT team in Gujarat.
At Badkagaon, 27 km away, Mr. Mehta, whom his supporters describe as a “Zameeni Neta” (grassroots-level leader), finalises details of a public meeting for Sunday over tea with CPI cadre. He gives a list of 27 villages nearby where farmland is marked for acquisition for coal-blocks, and talks to several villagers addressing them by their first name. “Our cadre and groundwork will bring him back,” says Chottu Thakur, CPI member.
