Next-gen politicians battle it out for Samastipur

“Pranam Chacha, apan beti ko vote dena (greetings uncle, please vote for your daughter),” said 25-year-old Delhi School of Economics (DSE) graduate Shambhavi Choudhary, who was trying to connect with the people of Samastipur, a town 80 km from Patna, which votes on May 13.

The huge crowd, mostly women, was trying to engage with one of the youngest candidates in this Lok Sabha election.

A third-generation politician and daughter of Ashok Choudhary, Bihar’s rural works minister, Shambhavi is contesting from the Samastipur reserved constituency on a ticket of Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).

“Dynastic politics sees it as natural for somebody to do something that their parents have been doing. It's a very natural thing that you usually grow up in that environment and start aspiring for this thing. Not just in politics, you would see the same thing in the case of children of doctors, engineers or businessmen,” said Shambhavi while talking to Business Standard in Samastipur.

She added that the talk of nepotism in Bollywood and politics is because we are in public life.

“And, people have the right to pass judgements on us. So that's why this gets highlighted. I am a well-educated person who deserves to be in politics. We are looking forward to such people as a woman who's educated, who comes from a political family, who is a Dalit, and who is from Bihar,” she added.

A former Samastipur MP, JD-U minister Maheshwar Hazari’s son Sunny Hazari (33), is the Congress candidate.

A National Institute of Technology (NIT) Patna graduate, Sunny is well known through his father in his constituency.

Business Standard tried to reach out to Sunny and Maheshwar for a week, but neither was available.

One of Sunny’s aides said, “He is extremely busy campaigning.”

However, compared to Ashok, Maheshwar has a stronger hold in the constituency.

Professor DM Diwakar, former director of AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna, told Business Standard that, “Dynastic politics has become a tool of convenience for political parties. The BJP does not hesitate to accept it when it comes to its own alliance or party candidates. The same goes for the others.”

“This acceptance of dynastic politics is new. There is a need to understand the difference between monarchy and dynastic politics. In dynastic politics, too, there is a need for support from the people. Only by work will you get the vote and support from the people,” Manoj Kumar Jha, member of the Rajya Sabha from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) told Business Standard.

On May 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the name of Shambhavi in his rally, saying, “From Samastipur, our daughter Sambhavi Choudhary ji, the youngest candidate in the whole country, is contesting the election this time. Please give your blessings to her. She should win the election.”

Since 2014, the Paswan family has held the Samastipur seat.

In 2014, the younger brother of Ram Vilas Paswan, Ram Chandra Paswan, won twice. After Ram Chandra Paswan’s death, his son Prince Raj won from this seat.

“We will vote for Modi ji’s initiative. Though, the new face Shambhavi is also appealing to us. However, it will be interesting to see how she will work. Or whether after winning the election, will she flee from this constituency to Delhi,” asked Veena Devi, who also resides in Samastipur.

Alok Paswan (name changed), 35, a resident of Kusheshwar Asthan, Samastipur constituency, said, “Sunny is not that visible on the ground. But Shambhavi is coming to meet us. However, we respect Maheshwar ji’s work a lot. The seat has definitely become interesting after this,” he said.

Shambhavi said that in Bihar, people still talk in terms of caste. So, political parties play the caste game.

“It's very important to know the people you are designing policies for. If you don't have the correct data, you can never design correct policies,” she said.

In October 2023, the then Nitish Kumar government in Bihar released findings of a caste survey, which revealed that Other Backward Class (OBC) and Extremely Backward Class (EBC) constituted 63 per cent of the state’s total population of over 130 million.

The Unreserved or General category constituted 15.52 per cent, while Scheduled Castes accounted for 19.65 per cent. The survey found that 81.99 per cent of Bihar’s total population was Hindu, followed by 17.7 per cent Muslims.