Sitab Diara defies boundaries. The village with 50 settlements or tolas is spread across Ara and Chhapra districts in Bihar and spills over to Balia in Uttar Pradesh. Its fitting then that this should be home to Jayaprakash Narayan or JP,a leader who defied Indira Gandhi and called for Total Revolution. But the people of Sitab Diara and Lala Tola,the settlement where JP was born and lived,are tired of such symbolism. Sitab Diara,with a population of over 1.5 lakh,is situated at the confluence of Ghaghra and Ganga rivers and is 125 km from Patna. But its geographical setting makes it depend more on the adjoining markets in Uttar Pradesh. Most villagers depend on agriculture,crop sharing and daily labour. Many of the youth in the village have migrated to Delhi,Mumbai,Ludhiana and Surat for jobs. The settlement of Lala Tola got its name because of the once-strong presence of kayasthas or Lalas who belong to the community of scribes. The only Lala the village now knows of is the late JP,who is affectionately referred to as Lalaji. Last week,on October 11,it was from Lala Tola that BJP leader LK Advani launched his Chetna Yatra. As Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and other JD(U) and BJP leaders lined up for the launch of the yatra,some of the older villagers said they hadnt seen a bigger political gathering at Lala Tola in recent times. Fresh from the yatra launch,the tola still looks festive with its festoons and flags but villagers say they know these wont lastthe buntings will be taken off,the pandals dismantled and life in Lala Tola wouldnt look any different. There are changes,though,like the electricity poles and wires in Lala Tola. For the first time ever,the village got its electricityon the day of the yatra launch. Though the supply is erratic and villagers get electricity only for about four hours at night,they hope it will stay. We no longer have to pay Rs 5 for charging our mobile phones, says Krishna Yadav,a villager. At JPs brick-and-tile house,a CFL lamp is the object of curiosity. A solar lamp at the entrance and a new fence for the house are the other highlights. On the walls,dank with the plaster peeling off,are photographsa garlanded one of JP,one of JPs wife Prabhabati Devi offering food to Mahatma Gandhi; in another,a young JP poses with his wife. Inside,the floor is kuchha and a bedstead,a table,a chair and a khadi half-jacket are the only reminders of the leader who once took the country by storm and whose call for Total Revolution inspired a whole crop of leaders like Lalu Prasad,Nitish Kumar and Sushil Modi. But villagers say they havent benefited from JPs legacy. Lalu Prasad,who calls himself JPs biggest disciple,has never visited Sitab Diara; Nitish Kumar has come here twice. Politicians mostly come only during elections,villagers say,and there are few officials to turn to when they need to complain about government schemes such as mid-day meal or PDS. Chhapra BJP MLA and minister Janardan Singh Sigriwal is not in for big praise either. So JPs name hasnt got the village any attention,they say,except for symbolic launches and political celebrations. A villager who didnt want to be named said,Lalu Prasads Phulwaria village and Nitish Kumars Kalyan Bigha are almost model villages. Why cannot these two great disciples spare a thought for JPs village? We feel betrayed. Sribhagwan Mallah,caretaker at JPs house for 20 years,says his family has to make do with the Rs 2,000 that he gets as salary from the Jayprabha Trust. I am from the kevat (boatman) community. Though most boatmen lost their jobs after the Manjhi bridge (connecting Chhapra to Sitab Diara) came up,I still dream of owning a boat and plying it somewhere in the Ganga for some additional income, says Mallah,who lives in JPs house with his family. The house is crumbling,he says. The rooftiles leak during the rains and he has to shift the tiles around or simply keep a bucket under the leaky roof. The village school,where JP studied till class three,has seven teachers. Here students sit on plastic gunny bags on the floor. Whats heartening is that the school,with about 500 students,records 70-80 per cent attendance and all the village girls go to school. For high school,children have to walk for over two km to another settlement,Gariba Tola,in Sitab Diara. College means having to move to Chhapra,27 km away. Villagers complain that school teachers do not distribute mid-day meals regularly,but the teachers say they cant do much when grain stocks do not arrive on time. Officials at the village primary healthcare centre say they supply basic medicines and cough syrup,but villagers say they end up going to Chhapra. The health centre only has bhunesar goli (a local name for painkiller). For anything more serious,we go to Chhapra, says Ram Ayodhya Mallah,another villager. Some villagers complained of upper caste domination,but said they never complained because that would have meant going all the way to Chhapra. That also means spending a full days earning of Rs 50 and worse,facing revenge when we get back. Keeping quiet is a better option, says a villager on condition of anonymity.
