BALIA: The educated in this constituency in eastern UP take pride in calling the place “Republic of Ballia”, thanks to their own set of norms, which reigns supreme here with any interference meeting with strong resistance from adherents.
Home to the revered “Bhrigu Asharm”, associated with Bhrigu Rishi,
Ballia
was also witness to freedom fighter Chittu Pandey ousting the British magistrate and proclaiming the area as being “free” during the Quit India movement.
More recently though, Ballia’s porous border gained notoriety after liquor was banned in the neighbouring state of Bihar. After travelling for anything between 15 minutes to an hour one could come to Ballia — which borders the
Bihar districts of Buxar and Chhapra — swig a few pegs and return home gleefully. That prompted CM
Nitish Kumar to make the prohibition law stricter with even being drunk now a crime in Bihar.
But Ballia, also the district to which Delhi’s rape victim Nirbhaya belonged, has lagged way behind in terms development though it was here that PM
Narendra Modi had launched his ambitious “Ujjwala’ scheme in 2016, offering free LPG connection to BPL families. Ballia has been witness to all sorts of migration for quality education and jobs. Farming has also become a costly affair for want of labour and declining yields.
Roads have improved and so has the power supply, but voters say better connectivity and local job opportunities are needed. Not a single industry has come to the district and most highways are still under construction. Poor road quality and train connectivity are issues the voter here wants addressed.
Freedom fighter Chittu Pandey statue in the heart of Ballia townThe Lok Sabha constituency, represented by former PM
Chandra Shekhar for eight terms, is yet again a hot seat with BJP fielding its Kisan cell chief Virendra Singh Mast after replacing the sitting MP Bharat Singh.
There are rumblings within SP as well as it has dropped Chandra Shekhar’s son
Neeraj Shekhar
— who won the seat twice in the past — to field former MLA Sanatan Pandey. The announcement was made just a day before nominations closed and has left Neeraj in the lurch. This is the first time since 1977 LS polls that none from the Shekhar family is in the fray here.
The choice of Pandey is apparently to attract the large number of Brahmin voters here. Ballia is dominated by upper castes like Rajput, Brahmin and a chunk of Yadav and Bania voters. BJP is hoping to ride a Modi ‘wave’ yet again although Mast, despite being a resident of the district, is a new face.
Factionalism is another issue BJP has to deal with as Mast’s candidature has hurt party leaders like Daya Shankar Singh, Ketaki Singh and Nagendra Pandey. They had lobbied hard to replace Bharat Singh for the BJP ticket and might not put their weight behind Mast.