Role of Voluntarism and Political Parties in Leadership emergence

CHAPTER – V

Voluntarism and Extra-OrganisationalFactors

Introduction:

The emergence and nature of political leadership

at grassroots level have been caused by some extra-

politico-legal factors in recent years. It seems

unique but it is real. There are three kinds of such

factors - voluntary action, social capital and latent

role of political parties' organizations at the

grassroots level. Though the social capital among the

common masses, particularly the weaker sections is a

result of voluntary action, yet it has gained ground

in rural Bihar. The concept of social capital

involves mutual trust, net-working and community

action for shared objectives among the weaker

sections. This makes an urgent imperative to notice

and underlined the ground realities of these factors

in order to understand the emergence and nature of

grassroots level political leadership in rural Bihar.

These factors have been visible during the recent

elections of Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) in

rural Bihar held in 2006 and 2011. Under theReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

influence of this assumption, the researcher intends

to underline these factors as effective instruments

in rural Bihar in present section of this research

report.

Voluntarism As an Effective Factor

A new trend of voluntary action has emerged in

rural India, particularly in rural Bihar that intends

to empower the poor and deprived sections of

electorate for political participation. As such the

role of NGOs in giving life to the grassroots

democracy in form of creating social capital among

the non-dominants and the neo-dominants generally

drawn from socio-economically deprived sections of

our society. A number of literatures pertaining to

role of voluntary action in political field have come

up during the last decade.1 There are certain studies

which have given the evidences of role of voluntary

actions for political sensitization during the

freedom struggle, though these studies do not name it

as voluntary action. The study of Vijay Agnew2 has

examined the role of women in Indian freedom struggle

and underlines the role of social reformers. If one

looks it, one can find that the involvement of women

Report on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

in freedom struggle was motored by the voluntary

action. The famous Champaran movement was, at initial

stages, also a voluntary action which took steps in

order to involve people especially women first in non

political activities and later got them involved in

satyagrah activities.3 Thus the role of NGOs cannot

be ignored. In this context our approach was mainly

qualitative for which we relied more on informal

talks with the people than the survey as it was felt

that limited questions could not bring us a worth.

Thus the discussion here will be based on informal

interviews.

Voluntary Action at Work

The major reason of continuity of traditional

pattern of leadership in Indian villages till

recently has been caused by the lack of political

awareness and sensitization for political roles and

rights among the weaker sections as well as lack of

political opportunities for them. The emergence of

new generation of grassroots political leadership can

only be possible, if people are vibrant, the people

of all categories, particularly weaker sections like

women, SCs, STs etc. The levels of political

awareness, socialization, participation and sharedReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

objectives among these weaker sections have been

inadequate since independence. Besides electoral

malpractices, violence, rigging and village level

factionalism do also inhibit them to participate

actively in the public affairs. With the introduction

of new panchayat raj system, it became essential to

make all the sections of our society, particularly

dalits and women, aware of their political rights

sensitized to participate and socialized to take part

in decision making through the renovated PRIs. All

these have created the scope for actions by the

voluntary organizations. These organizations did not

involve in political sphere rather concentrated to

development and compensating the deprivation and

inequality. But in the last decade of 20th century,

these voluntary organizations entered into the field

of spreading political awareness among the weaker

sections. Since then it has become a national

phenomenon. A study conducted by NCW4 across the

country in the selected states like Hariyana, Orissa,

Tamil Nadu, Uttrakhand, Chhatishgarh, Madhaya

Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh throws ample of

light on the level of political participation by

women at the grassroots democracy and the issuesReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

related to the components of social capital and roles

of voluntarism. The NCW study finds that quite a few

women had been familiar with Mahila Mandals and

possibly actively involved. This was particularly

true of Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Garhwal. Lot

of them had been involved with NGOs like SOHARD

(Alwar, Rajasthan) SRIJAN (Garhwal) and programmes of

Sanjeevini (Haryana).

Voluntarism at Work in Bihar

In this backdrop some voluntary non-

governmental organizations ventured to empower the

weaker sections of the electorate through their

organized efforts in Bihar, soon after the Bihar

Panchayat Raj Act 1993 was passed under 73rd

Constitutional Amendment Act. A group of almost three

hundred voluntary organizations joined hands and

created a forum named as Panchayati Raj Chunavpurva Jagrukta

Abhiyan Samiti which took the lead to launch the

panchayat related programmes in 1994. Established in

1989, Centre for Communication Resource Development

(CENCORED), ventured to enable local voluntary

development organization (LVDOs) to promote people

centered development through participation. It

encompasses imparting training, conducting researchesReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

and evaluation studies in order to support and

promote local VDOs working at village level. Sansarg

took up the panchayat raj related programmes and

activities, in the state of Bihar, just after the

passage of 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act 1993 in

order to promote and strengthen the grassroots level

democratic institutions of self-governance. Sansarg

has conducted over 100 programmes in which around

5,000 participants from over 350 VDOs took part and

out of which 2,736 were female and 2,264 were male.

Keeping in view illiterate and poor in rural areas,

deprived and afraid of oppression and ignorant

masses, Sansarg took up a huge programme to educate

them to share the political roles at grassroots

level.

It launched the panchayat related programme way

back in 1995 and covered five-pronged activities such

as: (i) people-centered communication based learning

programmes, (ii) coaxing people to learn, (iii)

enriching people with courage and confidence to share

and exercise their rights, (iv) intonating the

available instruments, and (v) impact assessment. In

performance of these activities, it has chalked out a

systematic line of actions and entrusted the hundredsReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

of local VDOs. All these five-pronged activities

undertaken by Sansarg in connection with panchayat

elections in Bihar have been examined by us in

context of creation of social capital, political

participation, enrichment of grassroots democracy and

political socialization of masses particularly, the

deprived ones. The soundness of grassroots democracy

and greater people’s participation entail political

awareness and political socialization. In our polity,

the process of political socialization is, although,

not in top gear but fast. The universally accepted

agents of political socialization are normally not at

work in Bihar society; however, certain typical

agents are most effective.5 The voluntary efforts in

making people politically aware and socialized can be

one of effective agents. Sansarg has entered into

this arena with a large number of similar LVDOs.

Organizational Structure

The CENCORD formed a forum of the like-minded

NGOs working at the grassroots level in various areas

of Bihar, named as Panchayati Raj Chunavpurva Jagrukta

Abhiyan Samiti. These VDOs and individuals were taken as

stakeholders as they were also interested to come

closer to the people through this programme. ThisReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

programme was taken as campaign not simply for

transferring the ideas, information and knowledge

about PRIs but also to grow as process to make people

feel togetherness. The focus was on building of

people’s critical consciousness, ideas, values and

attitude or making people rationally democratic. It

has demarcated the following objectives to be

achieved; (i) to promote maximum participation among

the masses for panchayat elections, (ii) to maximize

the participation of deprived (women and Dalits) as

voters and candidates, and (iii) to minimize violence

during the polling process. It developed a system of

two-way flow of communication and established

information centres at district, block, panchayat and

gramsabha levels equipped with trained volunteers in

order to impart training and liaison with government

functionaries. These centres were entrusted to the

VDOs working in the area. They imparted training by

organizing rallies, cultural shows, plays, meetings,

door-to-door canvassing and wall writings as well as

using audio-visual modes. These centres were planned

to function in three periodic frames—pre-election,

during election and after elections. The programmes

aimed at making people aware of panchayat raj system,Report on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

how to vote for the panchayat elections, prepare for

being a candidate in the PR elections, etc. Besides,

it intended to support the measures for conduct of

peaceful and fair elections. As such after taking up

the programme Sansarg first of all held meetings with

networking VDOs, workshops of volunteers, strategy

finalization with the VDOs, and training to

grassroots resource persons at all levels and review

of on-going programmes.

Focus Areas of Action

With all these centres, programmes and

objectives, Sansarg focused especially on women and

dalit sections of society as target groups. For this

purpose Kishori Panchayats, Paramshakti Programme (women’s

empowerment programme) and Mahila Samiti at gramsabha

level are formed. The Kishori Panchayats, literally means

a panchayat of young girls, are formed who would be

incubated into future women leadership. This

panchayat is consisted of adolescent girls at village

level. These girls are trained with an objective that

they, having such potentialities, would easily

educated elder women in their families and community

about the panchayat system and elections. These girls

are also treated as a mode of communication. To quoteReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

Sansarg, “the Kishori Panchayat was a setting,

designed and developed to have access beyond the

barricaded segments of the community without breaking

the barricades. If the information centre as an

instrument provided forward linkages to the

community, then the Kishori Panchayat provided the

backward linkages—backward in the sense of age

groups, in the sense deprived sections, in the sense

of gender discrimination, in the sense of income

group so that in the years to come when these

adolescent girls blossom into womanhood, they will

also be the active, participative, responsive and

responsible women of the society”6 These girls are

also made to participate in other communication modes

such as street plays, cultural programmes, etc. It is

interesting to note that there is no formal

organizational structure for this Kishori Panchayat.

Paramshakti programme (an abbreviation of – Panchayati

Raj Mahila Shaktikaran Programme is meant for women’s

empowerment as its name suggests. It aims at ensuring

participation of women, children and deprived

sections of the society, “in their becoming active

citizens, participating fully in the democratic

process and institutions for their socio-economicReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

growth and development, for achieving gender equity

and for living copingly with the geo-naturic

conditions.”7 In order to achieve these, the workshop

of concerned officials, ex-office bearers of

panchayats and social activists of the area, and folk

media are organized, 25-30 women volunteers at one

panchayat are selected and training to these women

are imparted from time to time. Three most active of

them are selected as volunteers for leadership

training for the purpose of furtherance of its

programmes.

Later after the first PR elections were

announced in 2001, the forum of the VOs took up

activities in the following way - it divided the

panchayat election related activities into two phases

– pre-nomination phase and post-nomination both at

state and grassroots level. The activities were as

below - The focus of the campaign, during pre-

nomination period, was on women and dalit candidates.

At the outset it was witnessed that the people

perceived panchayat elections as polls for the

positions of gram panchayat Mukhiya, Panchayat Samiti

Pramukh and Zila Parishad members only. Therefore, it

became imperative that awareness was generated amongReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

the masses regarding the roles of members of the

three tiers of panchayats. To meet these end regular

meetings were held with the target people and

cultural shows were held at regular intervals in the

villages. Wall writings and posters were also used

for awareness generation. Main messages disseminated

through these activities were:

The need to participate in the panchayat

elections as a voter and as a candidate and role of

PRIs

The need for women and dalits to come forward and

actively participate in the elections.

Importance of the posts of members of the three

tiers of panchayats, technicalities of contesting

elections right from filing of nominations till

announcement of results.

During the post-nomination phase attempts were

made to convince the people about the value of their

votes. Special emphasis was given during this phase

on women’s participation in the electoral processes.

Since the masses were required to cast four votes at

the same booth detailed information was given to them

about booths, polling procedures, colour of ballot

papers for various positions and folding of ballotReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

papers. Besides the people were also told qualities

of ideal candidates so they can elect right

representative. They were also told how they could

avoid enticements of candidates. Finally, they were

told the importance of nearest information Centre to

get any information related to the above aspects.

During the elections, the focus was on the formation

of shanty dals (peace committees) so as to ensure

peaceful elections in the state, which has become

notorious for violence. The shanty dals facilitated

peaceful electoral campaign by providing the

candidates guidelines of model code of conduct

formulated for the panchayat elections by the State

Election Commission. They made the people aware of

the roles and responsibilities of the polling agents.

They liased with the police and administration with a

view tom prevent violence. At state level during pre-

nomination phase several meetings were held with the

VAs to decide upon the kind of material to be

developed and its channels of distribution.

Accordingly, simplified versions of electoral rules

and code of conduct were prepared and distributed.

The State Resource Centre co-coordinated activities

at the district, block and gram panchayat level toReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

create platforms so that functionaries of different

levels could come together and share experiences.

Liaising arrangements were made to the functionaries

at various levels could liaise with the government

officials in their respective areas. During the post

nomination phase, the focus was on maximizing

participation of voters. With this in mind material

was developed for the voters. The material included

topics like: election procedures, importance of

votes, four votes for four posts, women’s

participation, ideal candidates and how to lessen

violence. During elections the State centre acted as

a monitoring and liaising agent for all the DCCs on

one hand and the State Election Commission on the

other. It played its role in conveying to the

commission to convey feedback from the district. The

focus in this stage was on minimizing violence during

election. That is another matter that the state

centre was not directly involved in this endeavour.

Impact of the Voluntary Action

These voluntary activities have immense impact

on sensitizing the weaker sections for both political

participation and political role taking. A large

number of villages and people were positivelyReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

benefited from the sansarg programmes. It has been

performing in six stages in 37 districts of Bihar.8

The representatives of the involved VDOs met to share

their experiences. Voluntary action has following

focus areas - political participation, women's

participation, dalits participation and putting

resistance to the casteism, violence and

administrative lapses during the elections of

Panchayt Raj Instituions.

It was found that the degree of political

participation in the areas of Sansarg operation has

been raised substantially. The participation of the

people after having trained by the volunteers were

found in the three areas - voting, motivating others

to vote and contesting elections of the PRIs. It was

a rough estimate that nearly 60 per cent of

volunteers in general were in the electoral fray (as

told by one Mr Ashutosh of Rohtas district).

So far as the women's participation is

concerned, the result was found very encouraging. It

was informed by the volunteers that nearly 70 per

cent of the women volunteers were in the electoral

fray in the districts of our study. As regards the

casting votes, women voters were found moreReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

enthusiastic than ever before. They were accompanied

by the educated female member of their families

instead of males. They were found self assertive in

both casting votes and motivating other women to cast

vote. Those who were in election fray, had also come

political adjustments with other contestants, viz.

withdrawal from Mukhiyaship for assuring ward

membership. Many of the trainer-volunteers

contestants were elected un-opposed in panchayat of

the studied areas. One women of Pasi caste in

Dahibhatta village of Masaudhi, Patna got intensive

training from the voluntary organisation (not Sansarg

rather PRIA) has developed self assertiveness. Though

she could not speak even in Hindi correctly but could

express the feelings in forceful manner by using

words of English she might have learnt during her

training in Rajasthan.

Experiences reflected that caste considerations

were similarly active in PR elections but the

equations were changed on the basis of quality of the

candidate as informed by Yasodamani of Dawath and

Paltu Shani of Madhubani. In these cases the caste-

men decided to support the other castes' candidate

with view to prevent the previous office bearers toReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

win PR elections. It indicates that if the people are

aware of benefits of PR system as well as elections,

they can go beyond the prevalent political ills or

can think for returning an able representative at

least to the local bodies. The vitiated mind of

electorate can be cured in context of electing a

representative. The Mallahas of Madhubani decided to

vote for a Bania candidate who all earlier elections

opposed Banias. In other words, the voluntarism is

effective in creation of social capital, particularly

in the area of expression political will and

exercising the political rights.

Minimizing electoral violence was one of the

objectives of Sansarg. The issue of violence caused

by factors likes psychological, allurements of the

office of Mukhiya, administrative lapses and

resistance to the dominants. The impact of the

violence situation, during the elections is multifold

- un-opposed elections, hatred and counter violence,

inhibiting participation and one positive impact is

that it facilitates the awareness of the rights. Some

women were elected un-opposed as their husband or

family members were dominant.


In case of participation of Scheduled Castes, it

was experienced that their participation in politics

has increased in PR elections. One representative of

VDO of Bhojpur said that all castes of SC community

were united to field candidates and voted united and

also to adjust seats for clear electoral prospects.

Some of them have also agreed to friendly fights. The

voters and candidates of these castes were found self

assertive. Any canvassing by a politician was

disliked and went against the candidates canvassed

for. In the report of the Sansarg Dawath block of

Rohtas and Patna district was found under its

operation. Many of the villagers were found

participated in the activities of the voluntary

organizations of this block. These voluntary efforts

were found much effective.

However, the extent of percolation of these

voluntary efforts was not found adequate. Deep in the

villages, such programmes were not known to most of

the villagers. Our study shows, though immense impact

of voluntary action on political awareness among the

weaker sections, it is not percolated down immensely

or widely to reach a large chunk of deprived

population. We ascertained the sources of politicalReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

education of the respondents. The following sources

were revealed - Villagers, Party Workers and Trained

Volunteers. It was found that 62.4 per cent of the

respondents were politically educated by the fellow

villagers, 15 per cent from party workers and trained

volunteers. The following survey results depicted in

Table No 5.1 may tell the truth. 61.4 per cent of the

respondents learnt about the political participation

from the villagers, 15.3 per cent from the workers of

local political party organisations and 5.8 per cent

from the trained volunteers of the voluntary

organizations not only CENCORD. If examined the

district wise variation, there cannot be found any

significant variation, however, Rohtas district is a

bit better in comparison to Patna and Madhubani

districts as whole. The village wise variation shows

that out of the five villages only four had witnessed

the impact of voluntary action. Of the villages the

Dahibhatta of Patna district had greater number of

respondents having been benefited by the voluntary

organisations amounting to 10 per cent of the total

respondents. The weaker section of the village have

been under operation of more than one voluntary

organizations which have provided intensive trainingReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

to some SC women. The situation reflects that, though

these voluntary organizations have greater impact on

creating social capital and sensitizing for political

actions among the weaker sections of the society,

these voluntary actions are very meager in number in

comparison to what it is required. As such the

quantum of directly benefited persons by voluntary

organizations is bleak and there is need of spreading

more voluntary efforts.

Table - 5.1

Sources of Political Education in Rural Areas

Sourcesof Political Edn

Rohtas District

Patna District MadhubaniTotal

V -1

V-2 TOT V-3 V-4 TOT V-5 - TOT

Villagers

25(78.2)

22(70.9)

47(74.7)

18(45.0)

11(35.4)

29(40.9)

26(72.2)

- 26(72.2)

102(60.0)

Party workers

3(9.4)

3(9.8)

6(9.5)

8(20.0)

10(32.3)

18(25.5)

2(5.6)

- 2(5.6)

26(15.3)

Trainedvolunteers

2(6.2)

2(6.4)

4(6.3)

4(10.0)

- 4(5.4)

2(5.6)

- 2(5.6)

10(5.8)

NO Idea2(6.2)

4(12.9)

6(9.5)

10(25.0)

10(32.3)

20(28.2)

6(16.6)

- 6(16.6)

32(18.9)

Total32(100)

31(100)

63(100)

40(100)

31(100)

71(100)

36(100)

- 36(100)

170(100)

Notes Figures in parentheses denote the percentage. Abbreviations:


V-1 Jamsona, V-2 Baraon Kala, V-3 Dahibhatta V-4 Lakhachak V-5

Jagatpur

Political Parties

As in many of the states like Rajasthan, Haryana

and Maharastra and West Bengal Bihar has never

experienced the involvement of political parties in

the panchayat elections. However, the role of lower

level functionaries of political parties cannot be

ignored and the parties cannot isolate themselves

from the dynamics of village politics and power.

There is a kind of fusion of local power relations

and political parties at the grassroots level as both

these contribute to each other. Scholarship on

grassroots politics has largely identified the

dynamics of village power relations in context of

organized political institutions like political

parties and political leaders who wield power from

masses in rural areas, as such the role of political

parties in PRIs election is inevitable whether it is

manifested or latent.9

In contrast to the traditional monolithic power

structure of villages in which ‘dominant caste’

groups supplied leaders, the power structure now


appears to have assumed a form where there exists

incongruence between the social and economic state of

the leaders and their position in power hierarchy

(obviously political parties). The new panchayat raj

system has regenerated heat in democracy at

grassroots level. Thus any study on panchayat

political leadership cannot ignore the power

relations at village level and requires looking into

the ways in which the various types of leaders build

their power base, exercise their influence and gain

support for their actions inside and outside the

village. Political parties are the organized

political force to render power to the PR leaders

outside village.10 This makes political parties to get

involved covertly or overtly, manifesting or latent

in the panchayat politics and elections. On the one

hand the political parties naturally become

interested in getting their supported candidates

elected for the posts of Mukhiya, Pramukh and

Adhyaksha Zila Parishad in order to intonate them as

mobilizing force in forthcoming Assembly and

Parliamentary elections. The panchayat leaders become

inclined to enable themselves to render services and

help to their constituents in shape of handlingReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

bureaucratic procedures and in redressal of their

grievances through using the network of political

parties on the other. This transactional relationship

tends to boost morale as well as acquire legitimacy.

Many states like West Bengal, Maharastra, Rajasthan

and some south Indian states have been experiencing

direct role of political parties in panchayat

elections but in this part of our country formal role

of political parties has not been accepted; either by

the people or by the political parties themselves.

These entire have two basic issues - modes of

involvement of political parties and extra-

organizational roles of political parties in

emergence of grassroots level political leaders.

These two issues are discussed here.

Modes of Political Parties’ Involvement:

The village politics places great premium on

village power factions who seek central position in

village political life. Thus factions vie each other

to get into the control of leadership roles and

thereby panchayat bodies. This dispute centres on

purely local and immediate interest of the villagers

who are hardly concerned with national and

ideological issues.11 Formal institutions like PRIsReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

are viewed and used as the resource centres and the

main goal of leaders is to capture them. In this

situation the village leaders try to establish link

themselves with ruling parties in the state or with

the main opposition parties. In other words, if one

faction gets links with ruling party, the other

faction joins hands with the main opposition party.12

The experiences of West Bengal are the glaring

example. The factions opposing left parties join

hands with the congress party or Trinamul Congress.13

Linkages between Local Leaders and Political Parties

Generally the political parties in Bihar do not

have their functionary orgaanisations down at village

level; however, there are informal linkages between

the local leaders and leaders of political parties.

Some individual social worker, power seeker or elite

maintains connections with the leaders of political

parties in order to have influence over the rest of

the villagers. These connections are established on

various grounds, sometimes caste, kinship, community

or personal contacts etc. Such persons belong to

generally land owning class, educated unemployed

(village intelligentsia) businessmen or retired

government servant or caste leaders who have some axeReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

to grind and remain in touch with the party leaders.

One grocery dealer from Rohtas district (village

Baronkala) had developed connections with a leader of

ruling political party (Minister). He used to supply

(free of cost) five-quintals of rice on almost every

occasion like social functions and political

gatherings organized by the Minister. All these, he

did, only to have close relationship with him.

Another example of Jamsona village (a studied

village) is as follows - One unsuccessful panchayat

election candidate (belonging to a land owning OBC

caste) after completing his education up to

Intermediate level was seeking a job in Bihar

Electricity Board but for some reason he could not

succeed. He had spent nearly six years in agitations

and pairvi14 in vain. At last he left the hope and

settled in village for cultivation. But by that time

he had established connections with leaders of

political parties, which he maintains till date. He

plays intermediary roles between government

functionaries and the villagers.15 He is now known as

‘Netaji’ in the village.

In case of elections to the posts of Pramukhs

and Adhyakasha Zila Parishad, the role of politicalReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

parties and their leaders becomes significant in

Bihar and our studied areas. After the panchayat

elections were over, the political parties became

active in getting their supported candidates elected

as Pramukh, up-Pramukh, Zila Parishad Adhyaksha etc.

The MLAs of concerned constituencies provided

resources, persuasions and physical force to the

elected members of Panchayat Samiti and Zila

Parishads. MLAs provide their personal persuasions

among elected members of Zila Parishad from their

respective constituency and also vehicles for their

choiced candidate. So was the case of Pramukh in

Masaurhi Panchayat Samiti Patna. Such type of

political party involvement can also be found in

other states viz. Congress, Shiv Sena, BJP practiced

such activities in Maharastra who participated in

Zila Parishad elections.

Generally, in Bihar, the state political party

leaders avoid intervening during Panchayat elections

in view of losing support from any fraction of the

village. They do not go to canvass among the

electorate for the candidates for the posts of

Mukhiyas, Panchayat Samiti members and Zila Parishad

members, however, rendered moral support to his partyReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

workers at the grassroots. The state level

organizations of political parties decided not to

intervene in the panchayat elections.16 The state

political party leaders did not want to earn wrath of

any faction in the villages as they had to take

support from all the factions in the villages during

general elections for the Assembly and Lok Sabha. It

was against their political prospects to favour any

of the candidates as they are drawn from the same

constituents of the state politicians. Besides, they

took excuse of observance of code of conduct issued

by the State Election Commission. It so happened that

more than one candidate from the same party contested

each other making difficult for the leader to support

any of them. The leaders provided verbal support to

the contestants coming to them and refused to provide

support. They stopped visiting their constituencies

during the entire election process.17

The political party leaders attached to caste-

associations do also indulge in panchayat polls. In

other words, they used the caste-platform to

intervene in panchayat elections. In a meeting of

Rushtriye Vaishya Mahasabha presided over by MLC of

JD(U) party who urged its members (people belongingReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

to vaishya community as OBC II) to “strengthen the

bargaining power of the caste by ensuring that it

members emerge victorious an ensuing panchayat

polls.” Another two senior M.L.As Mr. Bijendra

Choudhary and Mr. Shankar Prasad Tekriwal of the same

party (J.D.U) were the leading participants in this

spree.18 In other words, the party functionaries of

Janata Dal United used the caste forum to woo the

voters for the panchayat candidates. This indicates

that the JDU was trying to intervene in panchayat

polls in disguise.

Manifested Linkages

The extremist outfits like Maoist Communist

Coordination (MCC) and Party Unity though are banned

political parties but are active in entire range of

Ganga basin from Patna and Gaya in south middle to

Rohtas in the extreme west parts of Bihar. Their

interest in local bodies has to do with panchayat

polls. Although the panchayat polls were on non-party

basis but these ‘party wallas’ were contesting the

elections in large number in Patna district. Many of

the active members of the MCC and Party Unity merged

and named CPI (Maoist). They contested for mostly

those offices that would provide them authority. AReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

CPI (Maoist) member said, “We are interested in post

of Mukhiya, Chairman and Members of the District

Board.”19 On the other hand, a large number of workers

of CPI (ML), once an extremist outfit but now a

political party, were also in the fray. It does mean

that leftist extremist political parties are more

interested in panchayat polls as evident from the

fact that these have deep roots in panchayats in West

Bengal and Kerala. In Bihar in the naxalite effected

areas, these parties have manifested their presence

in the panchayat polls. Although there is no official

data available, yet it is clear from the experiences

in the studied districts of Patna and Rohtas that

these parties have chosen to ground their foot at

grassroots level democracy as they are unable to

capture adequate share in the macro-politics. They

use violent modes like threatening non-party

candidates and the community not supporting them.20

The party workers of major parties did also entered

the fray but not as party’s official candidates.

Situation in Studied Areas

In this context it was attempted to know the

level of party association of the grassroots level

political leaders. As such another set of people, whoReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

contested panchayat elections, were interviewed.

Altogether 32 such persons were interviewed who

contested elections for any level of PRIs. The

following data in Table No 5.2 depicts that 65.6 per

cent of the respondents were not associated with

political parties, 21.9 percent of them were

associated with political parties and 12.5 percent of

total respondents were volunteers associated with any

voluntary organization. District wise variation has

no significant difference; however, Patna and

Madhubani districts witnessed more involvement of

party workers in grassroots leadership in comparison

to Rohtas as evident from the fact that 25 per cent

of the respondents each of Madhubani and Patna

districts were associated with the political parties.

In short the data depicts that level of involvement

of political parties in the grassroots level

political leadership (panchayat leadership) has been

less and most of the new generation of political

leadership are drawn from the general citizenry,

however, one cannot deny the role of lower level

functionaries of political parties and voluntary

organisations. Simply involvement in party

activities or working for political parties cannot beReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

taken as involvement of political party. It requires

examination of those contestents who held any

position in political party.Table No 5.2

Political Status of Grassroots Leaders

Sl. No.

Categories of Candidate

Number of Respondents by districtsRohtas Patna Madhuban

iTotal

1 Volunteer

2(16.7)

2(16.7)

- 4(12.5)

2 General Citizen

8(66.6)

7(58.3)

6(75.0)

21(65.6)

3 Party Worker

2(16.7)

3(25.0)

2(25.0)

7(21.9)

Total 12 (100)

12 (100)

8 (100)

32(100)

Notes Figures in parentheses denote the percentage.

As such it was attempted to ascertain the holding

office in political party organisation or any social

organisation. The survey results reflected in the

following Table No 5.3 reveals the status of

contestants in the organisation of their respective

association. 25 per cent of the total respondents

were associated with non political or social

organisations (including the voluntary organisations)

and the district wise variation has no different

situation. 9.4 per cent of the total respondents had

any position in the party organisation. But in theReport on UGC Sponsored Minor Research Project by Dr R K Verma- 2012

district of Patna it was very high (16.7 per cent) in

comparison to Rohtas and total.Table No 5.3

Status of Grassroots Leadership (Holding Position in Organisations of Associations)

Sl.No.

Categoriesof Candidate

Number of Respondents by districtsRohtas Patna Madhuba

niTotal

1 None 8(66.7)

7(58.3)

6(75.0)

21(65.6)

2 Post in Party orgn

1(8.3)

2(16.7)

3(9.4)

3 Post in Social org

3(25.0)

3(25.0)

2(25.0)

8(25.0)

4 Total 12 (100)

12 (100)

8 (100)

32(100)

Notes Figures in parentheses denote the percentage.

In the present study it was attempted to

know from the common people about their

views on involvement of the political

parties at grassroots level. The survey

results reflects that a very meager number

of the respondents were of opinion that

these contestants were formally associated

with the political parties in a meager

number. The following data in Table No 5.4

reflects the scenario. The data shows that

14.7 per cent of the total respondents

were associated with political parties and


the rest were not associated. The

following data reveals that Madhubani and

Patna district had greater degree of

association with political parties in

comparison to Rohtas district. 25 per cent

of Madhubani respondents 15.7 per cent of

Patna respondents and 7.9 per cent of

Rohtas respondents were found associated

with political parties. The entire data

shows that people acquiring leadership in

the villages or in panchayat bodies were

not much interested in joining the

political parties. Merely fourteen per

cent of such people in rural areas opting

for political roles at the grassroots

level were found associated with the

political parties.

Table no. 5.4

Panchayat Leaders' Association with Political Parties

Association Status

Rohtas District

Patna District MadhubaniTotal

V - 1

V-2 TOT V-3 V-4 TOT V-5 - TOT

Associated with

3(9.3)

2(6.4)

5(7.9)

5(12.4)

6(20.0)

11(15.7)

9(25.3)

- 9(25.3)

25(14.7)


partyNot Associated

29(90.7)

25(80.8)

54(85.8)

35(87.6)

25(80.0)

60(84.3)

27(74.7)

- 27(74.7)

141(82.9)

Others*

4*(12.8)

4(6.3)

- - - - - - 4(2.4)

Total32(100)

31(100)

63(100)

40(100)

31(100)

71(100)

36(100)

- 36(100)

170(100)

Notes Figures in parentheses denote the percentage. Abbreviations: V-1 Jamsona, V-2 Baraon Kala, V-3 Dahibhatta V-4 Lakhachak V-5

Jagatpur

* The category of others includes those who are associated with party activities on insistence of some body else but not formally associated. In this category those two who were connected with extremist outfits are included.

It was found interesting to note the roles played

on date of polling by those who were associated with

the political parties in order to mark their pattern

of working the following Table No 5.5 depicts that

65.6 per cent did not take any special effort on the

day of polling while those who were associated with

any organization political or otherwise had taken

steps like deputing workers at polling booth and

instigating others to vote.Table No 5.5


Actions Taken on the Day of Polling

Sl.No.

Categoriesof Opinion

Number of Respondents by districtsRohtas Patna Bhagalp

urTotal

1 Nothing 8(66.7)

7(58.3)

6(66.7)

21(65.6)

2 Deputed Workers at booth

1(8.3)

2(16.7)

- 3(9.4)

3 Pursued voters to cast votes

3(25.0)

3(25.0)

2(25.0)

8(25.0)

5 Total 12(100)

12(100)

8(100)

32(100)

Notes : Figures in parentheses depict the percentage


Notes and References


1 See the Section on role of Political parties in panchayats(chapter VII) in Moitree Bhattacharya, Panchayat in WestBengal: Democratic Decentralization or Democratic Centralism,Manak Publications, New Delhi,2002 pp. 161-190.

2 Vijay Agnew, Elite Women in Indian Politics,

3 Sobha Kumari Gupta, Voluntarism, Social Capital and Women PoliticalEmpowerment at Grassroots Level, Mahaveer and Sons Publishers Distributors, New Delhi, 2010

4 National Commission for Women, Women in Panchayat, NCW, New Delhi, 2004

5 R. K. Verma, Basis of Rural Political Leadership: A study ofPeople’s Perception and Social Structure, Amar Prakashan,Delhi, 1991.

6 Sansarg, Interim Report of PEVAC Programme, CENCORED office,

Patna, n.d.

7 Sansarg, Panchayat Raj Programme and Activites of CENCORED;Five Years of Growth and Development, CENCORED Office, Patna,2000.

8 (i) Chaupal, a monthly bulletin of CENCORD (ii) Panchayat Pati: Chunav Visheshank, Patna, February, 20019 See the section on Party Politics and Leadership in A.K.Majumdar and Bhanwar Singh, Panchayat Politics and CommunityDevelopment, Rawat Publications, New Delhi 1996.

10 The Bhartiya Janata Party, entering the Panchayat fray,strengthened its base in Burdhman district over the panchayatelections since 1993 onwards evident from the fact that itpitted candidates on 3 Grampanchayats seats of 22 in 1993 and6 of 19 seats in 1998. The major issue taken by BJP was thecause of Bemoladeslis Hindus (a localized issue). See MoitreeBhattacharya, Panchayat in West Bengal: DemocraticDecentralization or Democratic Centralism, Manak Publications,New Delhi,2002 pp. 161-190.

11 See S N Choudhary, Dalit and Tribal Leadership in Panchayats, Concept Publications, New Delhi, 2004

12 See (i) the section on Party Politics and Leadership in A.K.Majumdar and Bhanwar Singh, Panchayat Politics and CommunityDevelopment, Rawat Publications, New Delhi 1996. And (ii) theSection on role of Political parties in panchayats (chapterVII) in Moitree Bhattacharya, op cit

13 Ibid14 Pairvi is a local term referred to making the political leadersor government officials to use their position in one’s favour,generally the follower or constituent in getting a work in hisfavour. For nature and modes of pairvi see. R.K. Verma, Basis ofRural Political Leadership, Amar Prakashan, Delhi, 1991 andalso Dimensions of State Politics : A Study of Bihar PoliticalSystem, JRIPS & PR, Patna 2001.

15 The entire story was narrated by himself (Braj BihariChoudhary) to the author during the field visits.

16 This is based on the author’s informal interview with thenminister is state Government Dr. R.C. Purbey in 2010

17 Ibid

18 See news item, “Plea to cast vote”, Times of India, Patna May

15, 2006, p.4.

19 News item, “Naxalites Also in the Poll Fray” Times of India,

May 18, 2006, p.4.

20 Ibid

Role of Voluntarism and Political Parties in Leadership emergence

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