Patna: In the rest of Bihar, voters normally discuss development, growth, education, job and health issues.
However, in Mokama, the debate centres around which of the two muscleman-turned-politicians - Anant Singh and Surajbhan Singh – hold more clout, who can outshine the other, who possesses more arms and ammunitions, who has more criminal cases lodged against him and eventually who is a bigger terror.
For those not well versed, Anant Singh is the JD(U) candidate from Mokama, while Surajbhan Singh has fielded his wife Veena Devi from Mokama as an RJD nominee, as Surajbhan has been debarred from contesting election following his conviction in a murder case.
Factfile
The five-term MLA from Mokama, Anant Singh, too was in jail till recently after he was imprisoned for 10 years following recovery of AK-47 from his house, which eventually led to his disqualification as MLA and debarred from contesting election. In the by-election, his wife Neelam Devi contested as the RJD candidate and won, but later switched over to Nitish’s JD (U) during the floor test in the House in January 2024.
Recently, the Patna High Court ordered the release of Anant Singh for lack of evidence against him. Exonerated, the don, whose writ runs in Mokama, pledged his loyalty towards Nitish, who, in turn, made him the JD (U) nominee from Mokama.
5--Term MLA
Anant had earlier won four times as a JD (U) MLA in February 2005, November 2005, November 2010 and November 2015. In 2020, he was denied a ticket after he started flexing his muscles in an unbridled manner. However, he contested as an Independent and won for the fifth consecutive time.
Two years later, following the recovery of sophisticated weapons from his residence, he was arrested and put behind bars.
To take such rival head-on, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav sought the help of Surajbhan Singh, who, like Anant, belongs to the upper caste Bhumihar community and was an MLA from here from 2000 to 2005 after defeating Anant Singh’s elder brother and former minister Dilip Singh.
Such was the clout of Surajbhan in Mokama that not one single railway tender (from Gorakhpur in UP to Mokama in Bihar) was decided without his consent till two decades back. In fact, he won from Mokama in 2000 Assembly polls by remaining behind bars when he defeated Anant’s elder brother.
But that was his last victory. Surjabhan shifted loyalty and joined Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). However, debarred from contesting the poll, Surajbhan fielded his wife Veena Devi from Munger Lok Sabha seat in 2014 who romped home and made her parliamentary debut.
The same Veena Devi, last week, along with her husband and brother-in-law Chandan Singh (also former MP from Nawada), resigned from the LJP (Paras faction) and joined the RJD pledging loyalty towards Lalu Prasad.
As Mokama is set for a fierce and possibly a bloody battle in the first phase of election on November 6, all eyes – be it the media or the Election Commission – will be on Mokama which, once upon a time, was an industrial hub where industrial units of Bata, McDowell and Bharat Wagon thrived.
With these industrial units closed in the last three decades, it’s now only the ‘gun powder’ which keeps Mokama in the news for all the wrong reasons.