In UP, landlord146;s Dalit labourer is also his rubber-stamp pradhan

The man on the extreme right is Rudan, a Dalit. He works on Dwivedi8217;s fields, lives in a mudhouse which does not even have a charpoy. For over nine years, Rudan has been the pradhan of this village.

He does not say anything when his master is around, he just scribbles his name wherever Dwivedi asks him to sign. In the land of Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Dalit empowerment, Rudan has been working as a 8216;8216;bonded8217;8217; pradhan.

How did he become the pradhan? Dwivedi has the answer. 8216;8216;My grandfather Ganga Prasad Dwivedi was pradhan for 32 years and my father Ram Nath Dwivedi took over when my grandfather died. I was also the elected pradhan until 1994, when the government declared my village panchayat a reserved area,8217;8217; says Dwivedi.

In 1994, Dwivedi was forced to put Rudan as the candidate from this reserved village panchayat. Rudan won8212;and won again in 1999. 8216;8216;My days have gone, now Rudan is the pradhan,8217;8217; says Dwivedi.

When The Indian Express asks Rudan if he is under pressure from anyone, Dwivedi snaps: 8216;8216;He is under no pressure.8217;8217; Rudan just nods.

Asked if one could speak to Rudan alone, Dwivedi sends 20 of his men along with him. 8216;8216;Our Rudan is a simple man and does not speak much,8217;8217; says Dwivedi. On July 11, 2003, Parmeshwar, a villager, had submitted an affidavit to Hardoi district administration, saying Harikaran Nath Dwivedi is the 8216;8216;illegal8217;8217; pradhan of Sikroriha, while Rudan is the 8216;8216;constitutional8217;8217; pradhan.

On his complaint, District Probation Officer Manoj Kumar Maurya, who conducted an inquiry, concluded that 8216;8216;Rudan is forced to work under the influence of others.8217;8217;

Magsaysay Award winner and social worker Sandeep Pandey, too discovered the story of the 8216;bonded8217; pradhan.8216;8216;We found that Sikroriha panchyat gobbled up Rs 1.50 lakh meant for development work. We discovered that all ration cards of the village are with Dwivedi. A brick path made nine years ago has been shown re-constructed thrice,8217;8217; Pandey says.

8216;8216;The irony is if the police or the administration takes any action on our report, Rudan will be behind bars, because constitutionally he is the pradhan.8217;8217;.

Pandey has found a solution: 8216;8216;We have managed to force Dwivedi to formally hand over the village headmanship to Rudan. On August 7, the panchayat will hold its meeting to formalise the change of power.8217;8217; Dwivedi endorses: 8216;8216;We will do whatever Sandeepji says.8217;8217;

But Rudan will continue to work on Dwivedi8217;s fields and live in his shadow.