Bihari vs Baahri debate with a twist: How Brahampura village ensures it does not become irrelevant in polls

Darbhanga (Bihar): This village in Ali Nagar Assembly Constituency in Darbhanga district provides its own spin to the Bihari vs Baahri debate, and it’s quite different from how political biggies such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Yadav perceive it. The residents of Brahampura village ensure that at least 75 percent of their votes are polled in every election. They call their relatives and friends living in bigger cities and inform them about the date of polling. If the latter give financial excuses for not being able to turn up, they arrange their tickets both ways. [caption id=“attachment_2487926” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A poster in Brahampura village about the elections. Tarque Anwar/Firstpost[/caption] Why do they do so? Najeedur Rahman, ex-mukhia (the village chief) has an answer to the question. “We bear the travelling expenses of our fellow villagers who live outside to ensure that we can mark our presence in the electoral democracy and have the legitimate right to hold our representatives in Vidhan Sabha (assembly) and Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) accountable for development work if not done,” he told Firstpost. Asked how they arrange such a big sum given a majority of the people from the village live in other states, he explained, “We have a committee of responsible villagers that has a contingency fund. The fund is used to help the poor to arrange the marriage of their daughters and assist financially weak but talented students to pursue their education without any obstacle. All members of the committee and residents of the locality contribute to this fund. During polls, we hold a meeting and allocate a certain sum, as per the need, for this purpose.” The village has a population of 3,000; around 1400 of them are voters. As the pucca houses suggest, most residents are financially well-off. Literacy rate is quite high here and it has over 100 government school teachers, over 35 MBAs and five medical doctors, including one girl. There is a 40-bed well-equipped hospital in Brahampura with ambulance service. It has two primary and one upper primary schools and a high school. Khurshid Alam, a science graduate who runs his own business in Delhi, is back in the village now to vote. “We are not outsiders. We go to other states in search of better opportunities just like people from even developed states do,” he said, adding “We never support one political party blindly. We favour candidates with proven track record and potential to work for the betterment of our constituency”. They have voted for Congress candidate Mahendra Jha Azad, then Janata Dal’s candidate Dasai Chowdhary and the Lok Janshakti Party’s Ramvilas Paswan in various elections. Before the delimitation in 2008, the village used to be in Rosera assembly and parliamentary constituencies. Even BJP’s Misri Lal Yadav, who has been pitted against Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Abdul Bari Siddiqui, enjoyed the support of 20 graduates of the village when he was contesting for MLC. Convincing voters here becomes important for all candidates in the race because the electorate here vote collectively for a single party. “We unite ourselves during elections and all of us vote for a single political party. Our votes never get divided. And therefore, whosoever wins the election has to work here. If we feel neglected, we take the revenge though our votes in the next elections,” said Mohammad Rabbani. The village broke all its previous records by recording 90 percent polling in the 2009 elections. This year, there is a bipolar contest between Siddiqui and Yadav. Darbhanga is going to polls in the last phase on 5 November.