Hajipur, the district headquarters of Vaishali was so named after a King of Bengal, Haji Ilyas Shah (1345 to 1358 A.D) who founded it. He had built a fort in Hajipur, with a mosque inside it called Jami Masjid. It is ready for fifth phase of Lok Sabha election.
Hajipur Lok Sabha seat is a reserved seat for Schedule caste which has virtually become synonymous with Ram Vilas Paswan. The man, who has won the seat eight times since 1977, has also recorded the highest victory margin in the Lok Sabha polls with a record margin of over 4.2 lakh votes.
Since 1977, Paswan has lost from Hajipur twice to former Bihar chief minister (late) Ram Sunder Das, in 1989 and 2009, and once to Ram Ratan Ram of the Congress in 1984 but in 2014 he defeated Sanjeev Prasad Toni of the Congress.
This time total 11 candidates are in fray but main battle is between Shiv Chandra Ram of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Pashupati Kumar Paras (brother of Ram Vilas Paswan) of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).
Hajipur is a rural constituency with an approximate literacy rate of 67.17%. In 2014, there were 1649547 voters of which 895047 were male and 754452 were female and 48 voters of the third gender. Hajipur has an estimated Scheduled Caste population of 20.9% and a Scheduled Tribe population of 0.06%.
Arithmetic battle between Mahagathbandhan and NDA
Politics and relevance of LJP solely revolves around Dalit population in Bihar remains divided among 22 sub-castes but in Hajipur, Paswan’s persona effect is in play on which his brother Pashupati Paras is heavily banking upon.
Besides, prospects of NDA lie in the performance of Modi-Nitish-Paswan combination with the support of Dalits, upper castes, extremely backward classes and a section of Muslims to make a dent in Mahagathbandhan’s arithmetic ploy.
A good fight is expected by RJD as there are six assembly segments in Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency, on three assembly seats RJD holds power namely Raja Pakar, Mahua, Raghopur whereas Hajipur, Lalganj, Mahnar seats are with BJP, LJP and JDU respectively.
Mahua and Raghopur – are with the two sons of RJD boss Lalu Prasad – Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejaswhi Prasad Yadav while Shiv Chander Ram (RJD Lok Sabha candidate) is sitting MLA from Raja Pakar assembly seat. This result came into effect after 2015 assembly victory of the Mahagathbandhan when Nitish Kumar was hand in hand with Lalu Yadav. Raghopur was earlier represented twice by former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi.
Three assembly segments are likely to be strongholds of the RJD which would keep its vote bank intact but will certainly try to coerce three assembly seats that are in control of NDA allies. Along with this a section of Paswan’s vote bank is not happy with Ram Vilas keeping himself out of the contest instead fielded up his brother who doesn’t enjoy a reputation among the masses as his rude behavior is well-known trait that may not reap results in favour.
Pashupati Paras on the one hand is riding on his brother’s charisma while Shiv Chander Ram has successfully shaped the contest between a local (Shiv Chander Ram) and an outsider (Pashupati Kumar Paras).
Ram Vilas Paswan’s adopted village, a failed model
Hajipur famous for ‘Banana’ also contributes to Eastern Central Railway with a zonal office and the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in the Hajipur industrial area.
But villagers of Adarsh gram- ‘Akbar Malahi’ stand neck dip in a water crisis. Akbar Malahi village which was adopted by Ram Vilas Paswan in 2015 under the scheme Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY) which aimed to enable social and economic development of the poorest and weakest in society.
A Krishi Sahayta Kendra (Help Centre for Farmers), a Yuva Kendra (Youth Centre), well-equipped hospital, school, etc. were to come up but no stint of development was visible on ground.
Raju Das, former LJP leader and resident of Akbar Malahi village while talking to Newsd said- Akbar Malahi village was to become ‘Adarsh Gram’ as announced by our MP Ram Vilas Paswan in 2015 but it was just a promise which had nothing to do with reality. Against this bluff I had detached myself from the politics of LJP.
Water scarcity is unimaginably big where several non-functional handpumps exist due to extremely low ground water level. Last year, Drought was declared in 275 blocks across 24 districts.
There is wind of change in Hajipur with absence of LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan which has put his pride on stake meanwhile the RJD is putting in all effort to turn table of past result.
