Bihar: Modi Star Campaigner, But Nitish Pins Hopes on ‘Bahubali’ on Parole to Garner Votes for NDA

Patna: Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar are star campaigners of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar, but ruling combine appears to be relying on convicted gangster-turned-politician Anant Singh, who was released recently on a 15-day parole to fetch votes.

Anant Singh is busy in ongoing campaign and wooing voters for the incumbent Janata Dal-United (JD-U) MP Lalan Singh from Munger parliamentary constituency, who seeking re-election. He is facing a tough battle on the ground, and it is alleged that Anant Singh’s parole was facilitated by the NDA to help Lalan Singh retain the seat.

Anant Singh’s importance for the ruling NDA in the ongoing election campaign is visible in the way Kumar and Lalan Singh have been repeatedly praising him in one after another election meeting.

The poll battle in Munger, considered a stronghold of Lalan Singh due to the sizeable population of his caste, Bhumihar, a powerful landed upper caste and traditional support base of JD-U among another sizeable population of OBC's Kurmi-Koeri and Dalits, has changed this time with the presence of opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate Anita Kumari, who belongs to Other Backward Classes or OBC community.

In Munger, OBCs are known for their rivalry with Bhumihars due to the dominance of the latter and years of exploitation.

RJD's Kumari may be a novice, contesting elections for the first time, but she is giving a tough fight to Lalan Singh. She is widely seen as a strong face, as her real strength lies in her husband Ashok Mahto, a convicted gangster. Mahto, known to enjoy an image of a champion of OBCs in Munger and neighbouring districts for his fight against forward castes (Bhumihar) in the 1990s and early 2000s, has been working hard to ensure her victory.

Mahto is a Kurmi, an agrarian OBC caste and Anita belongs to Dhanuk, another OBC caste. There is a fear in the JD-U camp that a split in party’s traditional vote bank of Kurmi-Koeri-Dhanuk could damage Lalan Singh’s prospects.

Keeping this new twist in mind and its likely impact, the ruling NDA has decided to use Anant Singh in a bid to consolidate voters in favour of Lalan Singh.

Anant Singh, locally known as bahubali (strongman) for his muscle power, is a former MLA, who reportedly has a strong support base in Munger, in his home turf of Mokama, an Assembly seat, and other neighbouring pockets. Anant Singh, locally known as Chote Sarkar, is widely regarded as a capable of influencing voters through folded hands as well as by using ‘other means’.

He was languishing in jail for nearly five years but was released on parole, days ahead of the polls in Munger, raising many eyebrows.

Anant Singh, soon after his release on parole on Sunday, held a road show in support of Lalan Singh, who is also former JD-U president and is considered close confidant of Kumar. Anant Singh has made it clear why he is out on parole when he claimed that Lalan Singh would win this election by a margin of 5 to 4 lakh votes.

Interestingly, PM Modi had addressed an election meeting in Munger and had appealed for votes for Lalan Singh, while Nitish Kumar is also repeatedly campaigning in the constituency. But, the entry of Anant Singh in the election campaign is seen as exposing the “weakness of NDA”.

Ironically, Anant Singh, who has a record 52 cases, including murder, kidnapping, extortion, loot and other serious crimes, was released on parole on the ground that he needed to resolve his ancestral land dispute. Instead, he is seen openly campaigning in the elections and is reportedly trying to consolidate Bhumihar votes for Lalan Singh.

The ’bahubali’ was sentenced to 10-year imprisonment in a case related to recovery of arms and ammunition, including an AK-47 assault rifle, from his house in 2019, under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act or UAPA. After that, he directly blamed Lalan Singh for conspiring against him and attacked Kumar for falsely framing him in the case.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Anant Singh's wife Neelam Devi, contested as a Congress candidate against Lalan Singh in Munger and was defeated.

Anant Singh won the Mokama seat from jail in the 2020 Assembly polls as an RJD candidate. In 2022, when he was convicted and disqualufied as MLA and debarred to contest polls, his wife contested and won the bypolls as an RJD candidate.

But after Kumar rejoined hands with the BJP-led NDA on January 28, 2024 and formed the government, Anant's wife, an RJD MLA, also changed sides and voted for Kumar in the trust vote in February.

In the caste-ridden politics in Bihar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad has fielded an OBC candidate, Anita Kumari, to challenge the dominance of Bhumihars in Munger. She is the newly wed wife of Mahto, who was released in November 2023 after 17 years in jail.

Mahto, takes pride in being called a bahubali, belongs to the Kurmi, an agrarian OBC caste, and was the main accused in the Apsadh massacre in which 12 people belonging to landed upper caste were killed in Nawada district, and in the killing of five-time Congress MLA and twice MP Rajo Singh (2005), in the Nawada jailbreak (2001). A web series, Khakee, on Netflix is reportedly based on Ashok's life and portrays the nexus of crime, caste and power.

Lalu Prasad picked Anita in a bid to play the backward caste card, which seems to be working.

Going by the reports in Hindi dailes, Munger is witnessing a political battle between the forward and backward  communities for jaati or caste supremacy.

For JD-U, another criminal-turned-politician Anand Mohan Singh, is playing more or less a similar role in Sheohar parlimentary constituency, where his wife Lovely Anand is contesting as a party candidate.

Former MP Anand Mohan was released in April 2023 after 16 years in jail. His release was possible after Nitish Kumar's government amended the prison rules.

Anand Mohan Singh was convicted and sentenced to life for lynching district magistrate G Krishnaiah in the mid-90s in Bihar.