Bihar: Union Minister Giriraj Singh Faces Angry Protest by Villagers in Begusarai

Patna: Much to the embarrassment of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), some of its candidates, including Union Minister Giriraj Singh, have been facing angry protest by villagers during the ongoing Lok Sabha election campaign. This is widely being seen as growing anger against NDA candidates and a sign of anti-incumbency against the BJP-led Central government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Singh, the incumbent BJP MP from Begusarai parliamentary constituency, who is seeking re-election, was forced to change his campaign route following a protest by local villagers, who showed him black flags and shouted slogans ‘Wapas Jao’ ("Go Back) on Sunday in Dadupur village in Bachwada block.

Sensing the people’s anger, Singh and his team did not enter the village. "After he won the polls in 2019, Singh has never visited us and has neglected the riverine area, locally known as Diara. He failed to fulfil promises of development. The miserable condition of roads in the area is an example of his poor work. We protested to express our feelings to him when he was about to come to the village to seek votes" Bablu Singh, a villager said.

This is not an isolated incident, Singh has faced angry and unhappy people at several places during his campaign in rural Begusarai. Early this month, the BJP leader was showed black flags by local people, who loudly told him that they would not vote for him this time due to his “lack of interest” in development.

"Singh has been facing a difficult time in village after village in trying to reach out to people during his campaign. This is the reason he is not talking about development. He is totally silent on issues, such as rozgar, mehngai (jobs and price rise) ans is instead raising the issue of construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Hindu-Muslim polarisation, Love Jihad etc," Kameshwar Prasad, a small businessman in Begusarai, told NewsClick.

The Communist Party of India (CPI), which is a part of opposition Mahagathbandhan, has fielded former party MLA Awadhesh Rai from Begusarai. Rai, however, has been campaigning without facing any problem.

In the previous Lok Sabha polls, CPI had fielded Kanhaiya Kumar, former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president, who is now a vocal Congress leader. Kumar unsuccessfully contested from Begusarai.

Exactly five years ago, Kanhaiya, then a firebrand CPI youth leader, had attracted a lot of attention across the country when he contested against Singh, a champion of Hindutva politics.

Gopal Ji Thakur is another BJP candidate who is facing angry people questioning his failure to fulfil promises of development. Thakur, the incumbent MP from Darbhanga, is seeking re-election and was forced to end his speech and campaign mid-way in several villages in the past two weeks.

BJP's major ally, Janata Dal-United MP from Jaganabad, Chandeshwar Prasad Chandrawanshi, on Monday faced an angry protest by youths in a village in Kako area while campaigning. The youths were demanding his reply on failure of promises of employment or jobs by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last elections.

According to local Hindi dailies, hardly a day passes when Chandrawanshi does not face protests by people, accusing him of neglecting his constituency during past five years.

There are reports of similar protests against NDA candidates in at least a dozen parliamentary constituencies.

As election campaign picks up for the remaining six phases of the Lok Sabha elections after polls held on four out the 40 seats last week, NDA candidates are facing more and more ire of the people.

Top BJP leaders and its allies JD-U and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) might be claiming that they will all 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state, but the ground reality looks different. It seems a difficult task for the NDA to replicate its 2019 success in Bihar, when it secured 39 out of 40 parliamentary seats. The Congress won only one seat and the Rashtriya Janata Dal failed to win any seat, marking a significant setback for the party.

The BJP is contesting 17 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state and its allies, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD-U is contesting 16 seats, Chirag Paswan-led LJP(R) is fighting on five seats and one seat each has Hindustani Awam Morcha of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha of former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha.