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Bihar assembly election 2020: Cry for democracy in Maoist-dominated Jamui district
Sadanand Koda, a farmer by profession, had defied the orders of the extreme Left Maoists to boycott the elections. And he paid the price.
Tears crawl down the cheeks of Sadanand Koda, 66, when he recalls the last Bihar assembly elections in 2015. Koda had defied a Maoist call for poll boycott and his life became a nightmare after the elections. Those memories have stopped him from casting his vote in this election, which is Bihar’s first phase.
Koda had campaigned for the JD(U) in his Gurmaha hilly areas in the Maoist-dominated Jamui district. Having 1,293 voters and about 14 tolas, his village is twenty-one kilometres north from Jamui district headquarters. One of the poorest districts of Bihar, Jamui is 160 kilometres from the state capital.
Koda, a farmer by profession, had defied the orders of the extreme Left Maoists to boycott the elections. And he paid the price.
As soon as the polling was over and the police and paramilitary forces left the area, Maoist belonging to the outlawed Maoist Communist Centre reached his home. Koda had sensed the danger. So he, along with his family, went hiding in a neighbour’s house.
When the ultras found nobody in the house, they locked it from outside. His four-room house in the middle of dense forest is made of mud and mud tiles known as khapra in the local lingo. Koda and his family secretly stayed in neighbour’s house for 26 days.
“Only I know how I spent those 26 days. It was like dying every day and every moment,” shared Koda in a choked voice, standing close to the village’s government primary school, which was a polling booth.
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On the 27th day, the Maoist posted a letter on the door of his house summoning Koda and his family members to the MCC leadership to explain why he defied their call.
Following fear, he sent his 22-year-old son Baikunth. He was called near a mountain close to his house. When he reached there, some Maoist blindfolded him and took him across the mountain. After reaching there, he saw an assembly of nearly 1,000 people. It was a Jan Adalat or People’s Court.
“I pleaded to forgive me. I was not alone. Several others like me had been summoned from different villages. One activist read out the charges against us, which was that we defied their orders,” said Baikunth.
Then every ‘offender’ was punished according to the extent to which the order had been defied. Some were beaten with sticks, Baikunth said. He was asked to hold his ears and do 50 sit-ups. Those memories are still fresh with Baikunth. “My life is dear to me. I don’t want to vote,” he says.
Shailender Kumar Koda, 29, is a 12th pass. He is an agent with an insurance company. He disagrees with the ultra-Left ideology. “We are living in fear. We want to get rid of this situation. The government is not doing anything to protect us from the extremists.”
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He said the ultras want to impose dictatorship in the region, which should be opposed. “What they say is right but what they do is wrong. The movement has been reduced to robbery,” Shailendra said. He continued, “What is the alternative they provide? Nothing.”
Nearly everybody agrees with him. According to 40-year-old farmer Ram Kumar Sada, the development works have been hampered. Now no legislator is interested in the development of the area because they know no one will vote. “The village has been pushed back to the medieval ages,” he said.
“They (extremists) do not allow the government to build roads because they demand heavy taxes from contractors.”
There is no electricity or water supply in these villages. Most houses are made of mud. Women still have to travel several kilometres to fetch drinking water. There are primary schools in almost all villages but in dilapidated conditions.
Gurmaha forest, falling under Barhet block, is known to be a Maoist hideout. The thick forests allow the Reds to operate with impunity and also escape to Jharkhand along the forested and hilly tracts.
Block head Urmila Devi alleged that the development works in the region hampered due to absence of government officials. They left their offices after 2 and 3 pm every day.
Barhet’s block development officer (BDO) Ajesh Kumar said that a meeting with an active social activist from each village in the block, along with concerned officers, will be held within a week to address the issues.
