Bihar poll special: Dons' wives in fray promise 'peace and prosperity' to voters
Bihar poll special: Dons' wives in fray promise 'peace and prosperity' to voters
PATNA: 60-year-old Nawada jailbreak convict Ashok Mahto recently went to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad seeking a Lok Sabha ticket for himself. But there was a problem. Lalu instantly calculated Mahto’s image wouldn’t allow him a victory. However, he suggested to Mahto that if he put up his wife for a fight, this could work.
“There is a second hitch. I am single,” Mahto told Lalu who then suggested him go for wedding if he wants a party ticket. That’s when the don went off on a frenzied hunt for a bride and after extensive searches, he finally settled on a 46-year-old Kumari Anita, chief pharmacist at the Northern Railway Central Hospital posted in New Delhi.
On March 19, the sexagenarian strongman tied nuptial knot with Anita during “kharmas” (inauspicious month in the Hindu calendar) at a secret location on the outskirt of Patna and the very next morning, the newly-wed couple straightway rushed to Lalu’s residence from the wedding venue. She was promptly rewarded with a RJD ticket for Munger seat.
She is not alone trying her luck in the poll arena in this election. Quite a few criminal-politicians have fielded their wives in the elections from various seats and are sweating it out under the fire-spitting sun to seek blessings from the voters. But what is very interesting, wives of dons are promising “peace and prosperity” to voters if they manage to win elections.
“Development is completely missing from my constituency. Even basic amenities are not available there. My priority will be to provide basic facilities such as potable water and toilets to the villagers and restore peace in my constituency,” Anita told the TOI, taking time off from her busy campaign schedule which keeps her busy from early morning till late night.
Munger which is said to have been founded by the Guptas (4th century CE) and contains a fort that houses the tomb of Muslim saint Shah Mushk Nafa, is now more kwon for illegal gun factories and smuggling of highly-sophisticated weapons. The development keeps Anita worried.
Always covering her head with saris like a typical Indian woman, Anita hops from one village to another to seek blessings of the villagers on the day when the mercury has touched 43 degree Celsius. “I have noticed you have no access to piped water, good roads and toilets but your one vote can make a difference,” she told the villagers in the Mokama areas the other day, and the villagers responded enthusiastically. “Main Munger ki beti hun aur aapki apni beti hi aapke saath nyay karegi (I am daughter of Munger and only your own daughter will do justice to you),” she says with folded hands.
In Sheohar, Lovely Anand, wife of gangster-turned-politician Anand Mohan, is making similar promises to voters. “Bihar is safe in the hands of Nitish Kumar and if the country is secure, it is because of Narendra Modi,” Lovely who is contesting elections on JD(U) ticket tells a small crowd of villagers at Hardiya village under Madhuban block. In the next six hours, she visits another 17 villages in her constituency and gives similar assurances. Wearing her trademark black goggles on her face, she promises the moon to the voters while interacting and hardly caring about the scorching sun.
Anand Mohan was handed down life imprisonment in connection with murder of IAS officer and then Gopalganj DM G Krishnaiah in 1994. He walked out of jail only last year after Nitish, then heading the Grand Alliance govt, made certain amendments in the existing Bihar prison manual.
“I am a former MP but it hurts me a lot when people address me as the wife of a murderer. This is an insult to the people of Sheohar and the people will reply to my opponents with votes,” Lovely who once represented Vaishal in the Lok Sabha told the TOI in an exclusive chat saying she would try to restart the three closed sugar mills in her constituency and connect Sheohar with railway line once winning elections. “Development is my main priority,” she claimed.
Bima Bharti, wife of another gangster Awadhesh Mandal who was convicted for intimidating a witness in a murder case, on the other hand, has jumped into poll fray from Purnia Lok Sabha seat on RJD ticket against another don-turned-politician Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav who is contesting as independent. “My 18-year-old son was murdered and I myself underwent torture from certain quarters, but I bore down upon all such things just to ensure you don’t face any problems. If elected, I will work for providing government jobs to the youths,” she tells the masses at her election rallies, adding, “Janata ko rojgar chahiye, berojgari nahin (people want jobs, not unemployment),” says Bharti who is accused of helping her hubby escape from police custody in Purnia in 2016.
The wife of yet another don-turned-politician late Mohammad Shahabuddin is contesting from Siwan Lok Sabha seat as an independent candidate. Hena Shahab was fielded thrice from this seat by the RJD in 2009, 2014 and 2019 but lost every time even though Shahabuddin represented this seat four times in the past in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004. Shahabuddin who was serving a life sentence for murder in Delhi’s Tihar jail died of Covid complications in 2021.
“Main seva ke liye aayi hun, seva karni chahti hun (I have joined politics for service and want to serve the masses),” she said. She is locked in a triangular contest with RJD’s Awadh Bihari Choudhary and JD(U)’s Vijayalaxmi Devi.
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