Bihar: Dashrath Manjhi-The Mountain Man's village goes to polls tomorrow

Patna, Oct 15: After a peaceful first phase of elections, Bihar is all set to hold the second phase of assembly polls on Friday, Oct 16.

Six districts will go to polls tomorrow: Arwal, Aurangabad, Gaya, Jehanabad, Kaimur and Rohtas. Dashrath Manjhi- The Mountain Man's village Gehlaur under Atri constituency in Gaya district also goes to poll tomorrow.

Dashrath Manjhi's legacy gave enough fodder for politics at the time of elections, but there is no little improvement in the village.

The small village of Gehlaur, also known as 'Dashrath Nagar' has merely 33 houses of people belonging to Musahar caste and it is still deprived of basic facilities like water and electricity. It is plagued by lack of water for irrigation purpose.

Bhagirath Manjhi, Manjhi's son told a news channel that he has 1.5 acre of land but he cannot grow crops there due to shortage of water. He also lamed about drinking water facilities.

Another villager, Karu Manjhi was quoted saying as, "We used to get at least the basic things, like hand pumps, school and roads because of Baba till he was alive. We are now living like an orphan. No one is there to look after us after Baba."

Worst, there is no school in the village after Class V. So many students are forced to quit their education midway at the age of 14, because of lack of any other option.

One of the student said that there is a high school six kms away, but there is no transportation facility to reach there. [Jitan Ram Manjhi, who has lot at stake, tells voters to "first vote, then booze"]

On the former Bihar chief minister Dashrath Manjhi, Bhagirath said, "He did come to our village. I asked him to provide us concrete houses, but he advised us to continue living in mud houses."

There are hardly any youngsters in the poverty-stricken village, as they have to migrate to cities in search of petty jobs. The village habitats elderly people at large.

In the recently released movie based on Dashrath Manjhi's struggling and challenging life, it was depicted that how a common man conquered a huge mountain with a hammer and a chisel.

After Manjhi's death at the age of 73 in 2007, the road that he had carved out off mountain, was named after him, in his memory.

People who visit nearby Wazirganj or Atri, stops near the broken mountain to click selfies and Gehlaur has turned into a tourist spot after the movie was released, a news report said.

To woo voters, Jan Adhikar Party chief Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav recently unveiled a four-foot high statue of Dashrath Manjhi in Gehlaur.

Few days, Bhagirath was invited to attend Congress Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's rally in Wazirganj.

But most often, politicians in Gehlaur appear like frogs during rains.

OneIndia News