‘Lal salaam’ slogans greet Misa Bharati in Pataliputra villages

PUNPUN (

PATNA

): Clad in a cotton salwar kameez, RJD’s Patliputra candidate

Misa Bharati

, hit the campaign trail on Saturday even as the mercury hit the 42 degree Celsius mark.


Sporting the party flags of all

Mahagathbandhan

partners, Misa’s car leaves her mother Rabri devi’s 10 Circular Road residence around 11am. The first stop of the day is at Punpun, a satellite town in Patna district, where an interesting addition is made to her cavalcade. Over 100 bike-borne party workers of CPI(ML) join her and accompany her to every village on her itinerary, raising the slogan “Misa Bharti ko laal salaam”.

Winding through the village roads, with loudspeakers belting out a Bhojpuri number in praise of “bitiya Misa”, she stops briefly at a primary school in Punpun’s Samkudha area where the villagers, holding CPI(ML) flags, give her a warm welcome shouting slogans for her and her father, RJD chief Lalu Prasad.

As soon as she steps out of the car, the villagers break out chanting, “Jel ka fatak tutega, Lalu Prasad chhutega”, and with that people holding garlands of all sizes start making their way towards her.

Standing at a distance from the crowd, Sonu Kumar smiles when asked, if he supports Misa. “We did not get the promised 15 lakh in our accounts,” he says, with a cheekily smile.

Standing next to him, Pradip Yadav elaborates: “Note ban took away our jobs, GST destroyed our small businesses and they are busy dividing people on the lines of religion.”

Addressing the crowd, Misa echoes their sentiment: “Apna sarkaar banaiye, mann mutabik kaam karvaiye.” Then she goes on to ask the responsive crowd, “Did you get jobs? Did you get your basic necessities?” And people respond with a loud “No”.

Talking to TOI at her next stop, Sabalpur village, Misa lists out the objectives of her party saying, “Our main focus would be to ensure that the people have jobs. Secondly, in this constituency (Pataliputra) there is water scarcity, we would try to fix that first.” Empowering women was also on her agenda, she adds.

Asked if her father’s absence was affecting her, Misa admits: “It is difficult without him. Lalu ji is not just a person, he is also an ideology. People are missing him and are angry at the kind of behaviour meted out to him by the NDA government.”

Asked if the Grand Alliance would be able to make a mark at the Centre if it comes to forming a government, Misa hints at RJD’s support for Congress. “Our’s is a regional party and the only national party in the alliance is Congress, but whoever brings the numbers will choose its leader, who will become the next Prime Minister.”

As Misa winds her way through the villages, her main focus is always the womenfolk. Seeking their blessings, Misa asks them to press the ‘Lalten’ button, the party’s symbol and asks the women to bless her so that she can serve them.


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