Penniless comrade takes on the mighty

Hussain and wife’s only asset, as per their declaration to the EC, is 10 gm of gold, while Veena and Akhilesh Singh have declared seven acres of land, 1.5 lakh cash and Rs 90,000 worth of gold. The family is in control of at least 125 acres of land even today, say CPI-ML leaders.

At the RJD campaign office, prosperity is visible — loudspeakers that sing ‘‘Bihar’s march of development in the last 15 years’’, kitchen that feeds hundreds of workers, and colour posters depicting Gujarat riots. ‘‘Veenaji is the daughter and daughter-in-law of Arwal and there is no contest,’’ says a worker, overseeing the campaign. Akhilesh Singh has been RJD pointsman for the upper caste Bhumihar votes; he had won Arwal by 2000 votes in 2000. After winning the Motihari Lok Sabha seat in 2004, he became a Minister at the Centre and got the RJD nomination for his wife in Arwal.

Hussain’s political baptism, meanwhile, has been an entirely different course. As a worker at Bokaro steel plant in 1984, he watched the anti-Sikh riots in the city. Then he saw a crowd of red flag-bearers coming to chase away the mob and protect the Sikhs. Hussain was impressed. He quit his job and gradually became a full-time party worker.

‘‘We ask not just for votes but some money too. People give us Rs 10-20. In some places, we collect rice as donation. A part of what is collected goes into party’s relief works for the tsunami-affected,’’ says the debutant.

The party has hired two vehicles — one for the candidate and another for the rest of the campaigners. Still, in Bihar elections where money and might are the major things, CPI-ML, an otherwise declining party, has held on to its pocket borough. The party had lost the 2000 elections by a narrow margin but hopes to win this time. ‘‘We are asking people to vote us for a strong opposition,’’ says the candidate. The party has a strong hold over the agricultural labourers, who, after years of protests, now get 3 kg of rice as a day’s wage.