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Mahender Singh's `sacrifice' is the poll plank here

By Sandeep Dikshit

BAGODAR (KODARMA), FEB 1. The most-emotionally surcharged election in Jharkhand is taking place here; about 50 km away from Hazaribagh between forests and gently rolling hills that appear and disappear with the mist.

Early last month, Mahender Singh, the CPI (ML) Liberation's lone MLA and the dominant voice of the Left in the Jharkhand Assembly, was told to identify himself at a public gathering and shot dead. The criminals even hacked at his lifeless body to make doubly sure that their assignment had been completed, burnt down a motorcycle so that there was no pursuit and drove away.

This was the third killing of a communist MLA in Bihar-Jharkhand over the past three decades, beginning with the murder of Manzoor Ahmed of the CPI in the early 70s followed by the silencing of the CPI (M) legislator, Ajit Sarkar, in the mid-90s. Unlike the killing of the CPI and the CPI (M) MLAs, Mahender Singh's death is a make-or-break opportunity for the CPI (ML) Liberation. The CPI and the CPI (M) have several areas of influence but in Jharkhand, Kodarma is the CPI (ML) Liberation's bastion. The party is currently on an emotional crest as Mahender Singh's son, Vinod, gave up a career in documentary filming to return to his roots to attempt to win the seat for the fourth time for the CPI (ML) Liberation. "We should not lose. His death has pitch-forked us in the contest in several adjoining constituencies," says a senior party leader sitting in the party office overlooking the busy G.T. Road.

And the battle against Mahender Singh's killers would not end with the election results, he promises. "They will be punished by the party and the people. I can't tell you how and where. That will be decided after the elections. What is clear is that the BJP is shielding those behind the murder."

Unlikely ally

The CPI (ML) Liberation has an unlikely ally in the CPI (Maoist) which has formed a special squad to track down the murderers, probably because the shooting took place in its stronghold and the police's first reaction was to blame it. The two parties have clashed often in the past in areas where their penumbra of influence overlapped. "Our ties with them are clear. Our paths are different. If the naxalites have formed a squad what can we say,'' says the CPI (ML) Liberation leader. Stunned by the daylight killing, the mainstream Left too is standing by the CPI (ML) Liberation in its electoral battle even though it has not returned the favour by supporting CPI and CPI (M) candidates who appear to be the frontrunners in other constituencies. In the 2000 Assembly elections, a CPI member had contested as an independent from Bagodar and cornered over 8,000 votes. This time, the CPI State Secretary and the only Left MP from north India, Bhubaneshwar Mehta, has warned his comrades against any such misadventure. The CPI (M) has also directed its supporters to vote for the CPI (ML) Liberation. Leaders from both parties are always present in meetings to protest the political killing.

Different sentiment

But in Bagodar, there is a different sentiment as well. "See," says a farmer, "they could not even protect their biggest leader. Will they be able to look after us?" The fear here is that if the CPI (ML) Liberation fails to pick up many seats, its organisation structure could start folding up. That does not appear to be the case going by the heavy turnout at Vinod's election campaign. Hundreds of women turn up to take a look at Mahender Singh's son. Many weep, recalling the agitation he led against an official who habitually molested women at the nearby Dama village. The party's political opponents discount suggestions of the emotional outrage resulting from the MLA's death spilling over to other constituencies but the CPI (ML) Liberation's main election plank clearly is Mahender Singh's "sacrifice."

The question here is whether the party will emerge from its chosen path of political isolation by winning three to four seats or get marginalised if its gambit of capitalising on Mahender Singh's death fails.

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