Sitab Diara: The winds of change sweeping through Bihar have curiously left out a forgotten yet important part of the state, the tiny village of Sitab Diara, the birthplace of legendary socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, which has been chosen by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran LK Advani as the starting point of his anti-graft march.
Born October 11, 1902, Jayaprakash Narayan, popularly known as JP, is considered as the doyen of the socialist movement in India. But ironically, even as a number of his staunch followers have risen to prominence at both state and national level politics, Sitab Diara lies in a sorry state of neglect.
Located some 150 km from Patna in Saran district on Bihar's western fringe, bordering Uttar Pradesh, the village, with a population of nearly 15,000, lacks basic amenities like clean drinking water, healthcare, roads and even electricity.
The lack of development is even more glaring considering that just a few metres away, in Uttar Pradesh, a village named after him boasts of all amenities.
"Look at Jaya Prakash Nagar in Uttar Pradesh (adjoining Sitab Diara)...it is shining bright with all facilities like a school, health centre, electricity and drinking water, but our village is still where it was decades ago," local resident Shiv Narain Singh told IANS.
This even as JP's followers have been calling the shots in Bihar and Indian politics for the last three decades. Among them are Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, former chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, former central minister Ram Vilas Paswan, state opposition leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui and national president of Janata Dal-United Sharad Yadav.
Some of them had announced grand plans to change the face of their mentor's village, but nothing concrete has taken shape yet.
"These leaders use his name for marketing their politics," said another villager, Brajesh Singh.
Yet another Sitab Diara inhabitant, Alok Kumar, said villagers have been forced to drink arsenic-infected water.
"Some powerful people are even running a liquor manufacturing unit in the village, with the full knowledge of the local administration," he said.
A local resident said that after the announcement of Advani's yatra, a 30-km-long stretch connecting Sitab Diara to Chapra, district headquarters of Saran, is being revamped.
Comments
0 comment