The Curious Clout of Ram Bai

RAM BAI’S SUPPORT WOULD BE CRUCIAL FOR THE BJP TO REMAIN IN POWER IF IT WINS LESS THAN NINE OF THE 27 SEATS IN BYPOLLS

- Rahul Noronha

She is from the badlands of Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh. Her family allegedly controls not only lucrative businesses but also official transfers and postings in the state. Government privileges are a given for her irrespective of the party in power. Meet Patharia MLA Ram Bai, whose unfettered clout in the previous Kamal Nath-led Congress government continues under the new BJP dispensation. What makes this Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader so crucial to any ruling formation in the state and why does every government give her the long rope?

One of the reasons for Ram Bai’s influence is the way numbers are stacked up in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly. In the 2018 assembly election, the Congress, with 114 MLAs, emerged as the single-largest party and formed the government with the support of ‘Others’—one MLA of the Samajwadi Party (SP), four Independents and the two BSP legislators, including Ram Bai.

Her support critical to the survival of the Nath government, Ram Bai, 40, soon began asserting herself. Videos surfaced of the lawmaker purportedly threatening officials with dire consequences if her ‘demands’ were not met. The Nath government allotted her a ‘B’ type bungalow, usually meant for ministers and senior bureaucrats. But Ram Bai’s real brush with infamy was yet to come.

On March 15, 2019, Devendra Chaurasia, a businessman and local politician from Hatta town in Damoh district, was murdered at his bitumen plant on the outskirts of Hatta. The Damoh zilla panchayat member had switched over from the BSP to the Congress three days before his death. Ram Bai’s husband Govind, her brother-in-law Chandu, nephew Golu and cousin Lokesh were among the seven booked for the murder. Ram Bai terms it a political conspiracy against her.