E-Paper
Bah: Royal dominance in the ravines of Chambal
When votes are cast in Bah, on February 10, in the first phase of polling, the decades-old hold of Bhadawar royal family on this assembly seat will be tested yet again
When votes are cast in Bah, on February 10, in the first phase of polling, the decades-old hold of Bhadawar royal family on this assembly seat will be tested yet again. Bateshwar, the ancestral village of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, falls in this assembly constituency and through it also cross the rivers Chambal, Yamuna and Utangan.
Pakshalika Singh, the Rani of the Bhadawar royal family and also the sitting (BJP) MLA, is a candidate yet again.
The importance of this seat can be judged from the fact that Akhilesh Yadav returned to Agra on Sunday to campaign in Bah and promised to make Bah a separate district, besides setting up a university in the name of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at Bateshwar and upgrading the annual cattle fair there.
The interesting feature of the Bah assembly seat is the dominance of the Bhadawar royal family which began in the 50s with Maharaja Mahendra Ripudaman Singh contesting the elections first as an independent candidate and the hold continued till he died. His son and former minister Raja Aridaman Singh had been MLA six times from Bah and currently his wife, Rani Pakshalika Singh, is the sitting MLA in contest again.
“Those not from the Bhadawar royal family won from Bah only when this seat was reserved or when a member of the royal family did not contest. The dominant and committed Thakur voter has stood by the Bhadawar family and the members of the royal family are known to make good choices of parties to keep their record intact,” said former MLA from Bah and Congress leader Amar Chand Sharma. Sharma has contested nine times from Bah assembly seat and was a Congress candidate seven times and an SP and BSP candidate on an occasion each but won only once as a Congress candidate in 1985.
Incidentally, it was 1985, when no Bhadawar contested the polls. Amar Chand Sharma attributes his success to his popularity, although it was the election a year after the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
The Bhadawar family has won the Bah seat 11 times but only once, in 2007, was it defeated when BSP candidate Madhusudan Sharma defeated Raja Aridaman Singh with the support of Brahmins and scheduled castes, as the historic social engineering of BSP succeeded.
Madhusudan Sharma lost thereafter in 2012 and 2017 but is yet again in the contest as candidate of the SP-RLD combine while Manoj Dixit is candidate for the Congress and Nitin Verma from BSP as candidate from Bah.
There are a few polling booths in Bah where polling parties have to reach by boat. It has reputed Shiv temples in Bateshwar, besides renowned Jain temples at Shoripur. In his term as chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav organised a horse show during the popular annual fair of Bateshwar and held a bird festival in Jarar, in Bah.
The constituency dominated by Thakurs, Brahmins and Nishads, is on the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border and was once plagued by dacoit gangs crossing into UP and MP time and again to skip the police of both states.
The law and order situation has significantly improved and now tourism pundits advocate development of Bateshwar as home to rural and religious tourism. Bah and Bateshwar are connected by railway line in memory of Atal Behari Vajpayee but the caste factor comes into play once elections arrive.
The lack of industry, fewer job opportunities, failing medical infrastructure had been an issue and to address them, locals have been demanding to have Bah as a separate district.
Caste Combination:
Thakur – 80,000
Brahmin – 80,000
Nishad – 40,000
Jatav – 40,000
Name of the sitting MLA: Pakshalika Singh (BJP)
Name of the runners-up: Madhusudan Sharma (BSP)
