Popular mood against Maoist poll boycott call

AZADNAGAR (ARWAL): In this village deep inside the Maoist territory in Jehanabad parliamentary constituency a defiant mood gripped the gathering at the village orchard as a Panchayat Samiti member announced that everyone would defy the Reds' poll boycott call.
"Hum logon ke pas aur hai hi kya, agar hum vote bhi nahin de sakte to ye maut ke saman hoga (We don't have much.If we don't even vote, it will be like death)," said an old man, quietly. The statement was greeted with approval by several people.
Even as the Maoists have been flexing their muscles in this area, dotted with shrubs and rows and rows of palm trees, it is evident that the poll boycott call has now few takers. There seems to be considerable resentment over Red diktat being used to throttle the electoral process. In tolas after tolas stretching from Azadnagar to those located on the borders of Aurangabad district in the south, Maoists have left poll boycott message on the walls. In turn, the police have also intensified their operations to foil the Maoists' design.
In a land where peasants have to sweat it out to raise two crops a year, a sense of deep dissatisfaction prevails. With the fast-approaching elections, heated and lively debates are taking place in the tiny hamlets in the interiors of Arwal district.
At village Andhrachak, there is a wall poster asking people to throw out any politician coming to seek votes. "What is the use of electing an MP who does nothing but sits in Delhi for five years," the poster asks. But hardly three furlong away on Sahar Telpa-Deokund road, a group of women reaping wheat crops said, "We will vote, what is wrong with it?", giving an indication that the people at large are not happy with the poll boycott call.
Given the overall mood, people seem to be planning to vote en bloc on the D-Day. They don't need any sermons on the importance of vote by the police officials either. They seem to be well aware of the value of the ballot. Jehanabad constituency will go to polls on April 17.