Bagodar waits

In the Naxalite-infested belt of Jharkhand where red terror has stunted development, murdered CPI-ML MLA Mahendra Singh8217;s Assembly cons...

In the Naxalite-infested belt of Jharkhand where red terror has stunted development, murdered CPI-ML MLA Mahendra Singh8217;s Assembly constituency, Bagodar, stands out.

The constituency boasts of 14 schools, nine health centres and eight Gram Kendras 8212; all set up with the money from Singh8217;s MLA Area Development Fund MLADF. Singh, who was the party8217;s only MLA in the 81-member House, was shot dead on January 16 8212; just 20 days ahead of the February 3 polls.

Last year, Singh had even donated his double-storey house, where he lived with wife Shanti Devi and son Vinod, to the villagers of Khambra. At a stone8217;s throw away, is a school with 400 students and a dozen teachers, where classes are held regularly. And round-the-clock medical care is available in a nearby health centre.

8216;8216;He kept his MLADF transactions transparent. We kept his cheque book. We spent his every paisa,8217;8217; says Brijkisohre Ram, a villager.

The manager of Gram Bhawan, Kameshwar Singh, says this was another house built for the villagers with an outlay of Rs 1.25 lakh from Singh8217;s MLADF in 2000.

Ram, Kameshwar and Bhupen Gupta from Bagodar say Singh, who represented Bagodar in the Assembly for three terms since 1990, had utilised his MLADF to build as many as 14 schools, nine health centres and eight Gram Kendras in 36 villages.

Singh had ensured that each of these schools, bhawans and centres was run by a committee of office bearers, elected by the Gram Sabha 8212; a governing body 8212; a feature uncommon in Jharkhand where Panchayat elections have not been held since 1978. The funds allocated to these bodies were checked by a chartered accountant appointed by the committee.

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8216;8216;Unlike many Maoists and Marxists who just talk, he was a democrat to the core. His deeds will remain a source of inspiration,8217;8217; says Singh8217;s rival Jagdambika Mahato of the JMM.

Incidentally, police are still groping in the dark about Singh8217;s killers. They are yet to find his father8217;s murders too. 8216;8216;Even Jagdish babu Singh8217;s father was murdered as Mahendraji had resisted some vested interests,8217;8217; says Mahato.

Interestingly, the son Khambra is so proud of had returned to it only in 1987, after joining the Indian People8217;s Front, a parent body of the CPI-ML. He had fled home after dropping out of school in Class IX.

8216;8216;Although he built the party base in this Naxalite belt, he earned many foes, as he not only mobilised people against the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the BJP but also fought against landlords and the Naxalites,8217;8217; says Kamlesh.

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Now, Singh8217;s son, Vijay Singh, has been propped as the party8217;s candidate against JMM8217;s Nagendra Mahato. But CPI-ML workers do not have much faith in this MA in Economics from Banares Hindu University.

8216;8216;When Mahendraji talked, every body listened. This is not so with Vinod. He may win riding on the sympathy wave currently sweeping Bagodar,8217;8217; says the owner of a local dhaba, Ram Awdhesk Manjhi.