As Chhath draws migrants, parties scramble for their votes

The otherwise deserted villages of Mithilanchal have suddenly become populous, filled with unfamiliar faces and accents that don’t sound native.

- Sanjeev K Jha

It's happening in villages such as Dekuli, Madanpur, Ughra, Usmamatha, Shankar Lohar and Pator dotting on the flanks of Darbhanga-Baheri road and Kakarghati, Tarsarai, Sakri, Nawada, Aradiya-Sangram and Phulparas on Darbhanga-Supaul road.

But don’t mistake the visitors for outsiders. They are the very sons and daughters of these villages, who were forced to migrate from Bihar in their teenage years in search of livelihood. Like migratory birds, they return home every year, spend a few days, then depart again.

Chhath is a special occasion that fills every Bihari with nostalgia and draws them home, no matter the cost or discomfort they must endure.

“Every year, Chhath brings with it a spontaneous and joyous reverse migration. We eagerly wait to reunite with our loved ones. These are the days when Indian rail becomes Bihar rail.

But the very day the festival concludes, a painful migration begins again. They return to the places they came from, and these villages and homes fall silent and deserted once more,” said Madan Kumar Jha Madhup, a Dekuli resident.

Madhup says that this time, courtesy the coming Bihar assembly elections, these otherwise “neglected” migrants are in-demand with different political parties. “Leaders have arranged vehicles—cars and buses—for them so that they can reach their villages... They have even organised dinner packets for them. Almost all the political parties are wooing them.”

This year, Chhath has come just before the Bihar assembly election where Nitish Kumar, the sitting CM and head of the NDA instateis seeking an extension for another five years.

People still see Kumar as the antidote to what the NDA refers to as the Jungle Raj of the RJD between 1990 and 2005. But the big question remains—when will Bihar have industries and opportunities like those in states such as Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, or Telangana?