Once notorious for crime, voters in this part of Bihar tilt towards NDA but corruption a sore point

Through the late 1980s and 90s, the Bagaha region in Bihar’s West Champaran district witnessed so many kidnappings, robberies, and murders that the government converted it into a police district to manage crime. Flanked on the north by the Valmiki Nagar Tiger Reserve stretching into Nepal and by Uttar Pradesh in the west, it allowed criminals to flit across inter-state and international borders. On top of that, a crippled Bihar Police under Lalu Prasad did not help matters.

With a significant tribal population living on the margins of the jungles stretching up to Motihari, the Bagaha region was also a hotbed of Maoist activity at the time because of the Maoist Communist Centre. The situation was brought under control only when the Nitish Kumar government took the reins of power.

“Nobody could venture out of their house after the sun had set. Now people return home past midnight. We cannot forget that. Though the incumbent MP (Sunil Kushwaha of the Janata Dal-United) has neither visited the region nor got any work done, nobody wants Lalu raj back,” says Bagaha resident Pradyumn Tiwari when asked about his electoral preference.

This vote-for-law-and-order sentiment, for which several voters credit Kumar, sustains in Champaran across several caste groups. But there is little patience for red tape and grassroots corruption. Both the Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha seat, of which Bagaha is a part, and the Paschim Champaran constituency vote in the sixth phase on May 25.

“Pehle daaku raat mein aate the, ab din mein kursi par baith ke dakaiti karte hain (Earlier, dacoits used to come at night, but now they are in power and rob us in daylight). No one can get any work done without bribes here,” says Kishandev Pandit, a Kumhar (OBC) farmer