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Journalism of Courage
Driving the rocky 14 km from Mau-gardari to Manikpur town takes one tiring hour. That’s actually good progress when you consider that for the villagers of Mau-gardari, a return trip takes two full days. The reason is not the almost non-existent road, but the fear of being waylaid by Shivkumar Patel, popularly known as Dadua, the Gabbar Singh of Chitrakoot’s villages.
They have been following this route since February 2, 1999, when five families received a demand of Rs 50,000 each from Dadua. They had been singled out for being “better off” than others. But they dared to stand up to the dacoit—even when Dadua threatened labourers from coming to work on their fields and nobody dared to sell a tractor to the families.
Still undeterred they got the local administration’s help in acquiring arms licences. Munnilal Misra, member of one of the five families, went further; he arranged to buy a tractor, and when Dadua failed to react, graduated to being a police informer.
The retribution came seven years later on August 11 last year. Munnilal and his 26-year-old son Harishchandra were returning with a drum of diesel on their tractor through the jungle road, when bullets rained on them. Their tractor was doused in the diesel and set afire. Then the father-son duo were hurled into the inferno.
For poll-bound Chitrakoot, the Munnilal killing is a chilling reminder of what could happen if voters in scores of villages disobeyed the farmaan issued recently. They have been told: Vote for the bicycle (Samajwadi Party symbol).
The eerie silence in Sakraunha village, from where the edict was issued, tells you there’s fear all around. “He is not home,” a woman at the pradhan’s house says, before a man hurriedly bolts the door. And water is a big problem in the area, but deputy pradhan Balbir Kushwaha says, “Khaas dikkat nahi hain paani ki (there’s no particular problem with water here)”. Some unrelated questions later, he gives himself away when you ask what he does when he comes face to face with Dadua. “I just say namaskar, he doesn’t harm you. He doesn’t harm anyone except those who try to mess with him,” he says.
Ask who he will vote for and he stares at the ceiling of his dingy 5 ft by 7 ft house. Does the vote depend on the farmaan? There’s a smile. Across Chitrakoot, they smile when you ask them about the farmaan. “Is baar cycle hai (this time, it’s the cycle),” confirms Kushwaha. Last year, it was haathi (BSP’s elephant)
BSP candidate Daddoo Prasad, winner from Manikpur in the last two elections, admits Dadua backed him earlier. The table has turned. But not for the fearful voters.
