Miffed with Modi, voters may punish Paswan’s kin

A few kilometres away from Ramashish Chowk in Hajipur, a motley group of youths is engaged in a fierce discussion how around 25,000 employees have been rendered jobless with the grounding of Jet Airways. While some are blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the mess in aviation sector, others argue that one should not blame the PM for any wrong-doing in the private sector.

From job loss and unemployment in the present regime, the discussion then boils down to how Ram Vilas Paswan, the Lok Sabha member from Hajipur, gave jobs to the unemployed youths when he was Railway Minister in Deve Gowda-headed United Front Government.

“Sab Modi ji ka dosh hai. Paswan ko aisa faltu mantralaya diye hain, ki woh chah kar bhi kuch nahin kar sakte hain. (Modi is to be blamed for the entire mess. He has allocated Paswan such a useless ministry (Food Ministry) that even if wishes so, he can’t oblige unemployed people from his constituency,” says 25-year-old Suresh Rai, whose brother has lost his job after closure of a private telecom company.

Unlike 2014 parliamentary elections, there is no Modi wave in the interiors of Hajipur reserved constituency. Lack of jobs and growing unemployment are major issues here. The anger against Modi is palpable among the unemployed who have decided to punish Paswan’s kin just to teach Modi a lesson. “Modi ko sabak sikhana hai, Paswan ke bhai ko harana hai,” says Sanjay Yadav, an unemployed graduate.

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By and large, people are not unhappy with Paswan. But now that Paswan has decided to bid good-bye to his Lok Sabha constituency and has fielded his younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras from Hajipur, voters are not too impressed. “Paras could not win the last three Assembly elections from his home turf Alauli (in Khagaria). How could he win a Lok Sabha poll from Hajipur? Just in the name of Paswan? Seems an uphill task,” argues Prem Kumar Chandravanshi.

However, women in the area are happy with Nitish Kumar following prohibition in Bihar. But not all the men. “Have you heard about ‘home delivery’? 100 rupaiya ka daru, 500 rupaiya mein mil raha hai,” Chandravanshi says about the five-fold increase in liquor price in dry Bihar.

The RJD has, meanwhile, fielded former minister Shiv Chandra Ram from this prestigious seat which goes to polls on May 6.