Colonising the lepers votes

 

 

The lepers beg all through the day and return to their shelters at night… where the politicians sneak in, to beg for votes. And in and around Bareily in Uttar Pradesh, these shelters have become institutionalised, with a regular set of stakeholders, which include, interestingly, the common men of the city who are constantly looking for a crowd of unfortunate people to feed on occasions when there is a birth or death in the family.

Sounds rather skewed? It is simple, really, if you take one step at a time. There are lepers, who can only beg for their food, but where do they stay at night? And then, there are politicians, professional vote beggars, but where do they find captive vote banks?

So the political parties have set up many ashrams in and around Bareily for the lepers. They house the lepers who become a captive vote bank, because they have no option.

These colonies are a devious device, because the politicos know well that they would for sure face the wrath of the lepers if they suddenly come asking for votes, after having neglected them throughout the time between two trials at the hustings.

And the stakes are not small, for put together, there are about 5,000 voters in these more than two dozen lepers’ communes. And setting up these colonies obviates the possibility of such an angry encounter with them.

But the politicians only give the shelters. Who feeds the beggars when the daily alms do not suffice for the family? Well, Bareily is teeming with families and invariably, more than one of them sees a birth or a death every day, and they need a crowd of beggars to feed… for the worldly benefits of the new born or the other-worldly peace of the departed soul. So the lepers’ colonies also become a sort of ‘captive blessings bank’ for the common citizens! But the politicians only give the shelters. Who feeds the beggars when the daily alms do not suffice for the family? Well, Bareily is teeming with families and invariably, more than one of them sees a birth or a death every day, and they need a crowd of beggars to feed… for the worldly benefits of the new born or the other-worldly peace of the departed soul. So the lepers’ colonies also become a sort of ‘captive blessings bank’ for the common citizens!

Because meeting lepers is seen as a taboo, the politicians cannot meet them openly, let alone in public during the day time. Hence these ashrams, but then, these too could not be allowed inside the main city. Thus, along banks of the Ramganga River, these housing colonies have been set up.

The largest of these ashrams – set up on land given at throwaway prices - is just outside Bareily on the banks of the river, and is run by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the frontal organisation of the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which is the life force of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It houses about a hundred families, and in terms of voters, including those of the second generation and uninfected by the scourge, there are about 500.

If you take a round of the colony, you will find that no less than three structures have been inaugurated by the ex-mayor of Bareily, BJP stalwart Dr Iqbal Singh. To witness: the plaques on the community centre, the main gateway and a temple clearly mention his name as the one who had inaugurated them. These plaques betray the story: the buildings came up just ahead of the 14th Lok Sabha polls in 2003.

However, the BJP would hear nothing of that. Says Gulshan, the party’s leader of the opposition in the Bareily Zilla Parishad: “This has got nothing to do with the polls. We did this for the benefit of these unfortunate people, because we have never seen these lepers as a vote bank at all.” When The Sunday Indian asked why then are the placards announcing the various programmes of BJP’s alone hanging inside the colony, or why is it that all the BJP programmes are held in this ashram alone and not in the others, the party leaders quickly dispel those aspersions.

Gulshan is even quicker to allege, in fact, that all such things actually happen in the colony run by the Christian missionaries, which is a veritable vote auction centre, if he were to be believed.

“Not just that, we have information that the missionaries lure the lepers and convert them to Christianity,” Gulshan adds for good measure, mouthing the standard spectre of conversion that is the BJP’s eternal euphemism. But Sunita, an activist resident of the missionary-run colony, denies this and says that the living conditions in her camp is the best among the whole lot. “We not only treat the lepers but educate the second generation, who are free from leprosy, and help them prepare for a better future outside the colony. And these allegations of conversion are being fuelled by the same elements that spread the rumour a few years ago about Lord Ganesha drinking milk.” The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between some lies, as is revealed by Beniram, who is the elected head at the VHP-run colony. “Whether it is elections for the local bodies or those for the state Assembly or Lok Sabha, the Sangh and BJP leaders invariably tell us which are the candidates we must vote for. " When TSI asked him if the residents vote as told, Beniram said, “This colony has been set up by them and we come under the force of obligation. I cannot say if contestants win or lose due to our votes, but if they win, the invariably throw a gala dinner for us.”

Beniram adds more concrete details to his story: “After the last election, the MP from here, Santosh Gangwar threw for us a historic dinner, such was the food, and after he became the minister for petroleum, he gave us a gas connection which we use for cooking our community meals.” Gangwar, expectedly, denied these statements, and told TSI that the ashram is run as a social service and the gas connection has been given with the same attitude.

Nileema, a volunteer working with the NGO “Pravartika”, explains: “The most serious problem for lepers, traditionally, has been housing, and hence, there develops a special chemistry between them and whoever gives them a permanent shelter. Many of the super rich from Bareily have donated readily for setting up such ashrams. And even the administration easily gives away land at dirt cheap prices for them.”

Bareily Rotarian Prem Shankar says that over the past five or six years, the numbers of such ashrams have rapidly grown. Some have been developed by people or organisations attached to political parties, and he implies without stating that the lepers unhesitatingly unleash a thunderous tongue lashing on people they dislike.

Ramdev, the head of the Shankaracharya Camp, in fact, admits as much: “We talk to people according to the way they treat us. And we put the politicians in their places when they come begging for votes before the elections.”

Laments Sunita Airon, mayor of Bareily: “Because these unfortunate folks live off the largesse given by others, it is natural that they suffer the burden of gratitude, but if that is exploited for political motives, it would be hugely unfair.” But then, that is the way cookies crumble. And that is the level to which our politicians have stooped, for power is too sexy, and the ugly faces and bandaged limbs of lepers no deterrent.