‘Chhote Sarkar’ and ‘Dada’ locked in tense rivalry in Bihar’s Mokama

Comparisons are unfair, but in the Mokama Assembly constituency, located just 95 km from Patna, comparisons often become blurry as two of the most feared donors in the arid regions of Bihar compete with each other, the National Democratic Alliance and the National Democratic Alliance representing opposing blocs. Mahagatbandhan. “This is a clash of personalities rather than parties,” said Vinay Singh, a 38-year-old businessman from the constituency.

Follow Bihar Assembly elections LIVE

The heated rivalry came to the fore on October 30 when Jan Suraaj Party leader Dularchand Yadav, a close aide of 1990s dictator and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, was shot dead in a gun attack. taal (wetland). It is alleged that there are supporters of the Janata Dal (United) candidate. bahubali 58-year-old Anant Singh, popularly known as “Chhote Sarkar(The small government) is behind the murder. But Mr. Anant Singh himself blamed his rival Suraj Bhan Singh, another dictator known as “”.father”(his elder brother). His wife and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Veena Devi of Mahagatbandhan candidate for the seat.

dominant force

In the early hours of a beautiful winter morning, Suraj Bhan Singh was in a hurry to start his campaign journey and emerged from his room in a stately home to strike up a conversation with this reporter in a vest and pajamas. Mr. Singh wears numerous colorful amulets and divine beads with iridescent threads surrounding his neck and right wrist, but as his right feet are bandaged due to an operated wound, he limps and begins chatting with the assembled crowd, who first address him thus: “father“In a loving tone. He asked one of his escort men to offer tea and a kurta for him to wear immediately. Within a minute, he was ready to start his campaign drive towards Kondi, a village panchayat, in his yellow kurta and white pajama. In his spacious house behind a petrol pump in Sakarwar Tola in Mokama town, outside the campus, there is a large canopy where his supporters sip hot tea and rows of red plastic chairs are neatly placed. Inside the hall is an indoor elevator.” At home, a few people were having breakfast, a few luxury vehicles were parked outside the petrol pump building and on the road, a few promotional vans of candidate Veena Devi were moving like centipedes on the road, while a group of cattle were chewing fodder at the far end of the football ground like the house complex.

Also Read | Former Bihar MLA Anant Singh and 2 others arrested in Mokama in connection with Dular Chand Yadav death case

58-year-old Anant Singh and his family have been the dominant force in the Mokama constituency for the last 35 years since 1990, except 2000-2005 when Suraj Bhan Singh defeated Anant Singh’s elder brother Dilip Singh as an Independent candidate. Suraj Bhan Singh was once a protégé of Dilip Singh, who was a minister in Rabri Devi’s previous RJD regime and represented Mokama constituency twice in 1990 and 1995. But his youngest brother Anant Singh regained the Mokama Assembly seat in 2005 and has never been defeated since, jumping from one political party to another and even contested as an Independent candidate once. After winning the 2020 Assembly election on the RJD ticket, Mr Singh won the by-poll from the seat in 2022 when his wife Neelam Devi was disqualified from contesting the poll following conviction in an Arms Act case related to the seizure of an AK-47 rifle, a grenade and ammunition from her ancestral home in Ladma village in Barh constituency, about 20 km from Mokama. He was acquitted in the Patna High Court case in 2024 and returned to the polls with the candidacy of the ruling party JD(U). To counter the fire and muscle power of JD(U) candidate Anant Singh, the RJD fielded Veena Devi, wife of Suraj Bhan Singh, another strongman of the region. Suraj Bhan Singh, 60, was also barred from contesting the elections after he was convicted in a murder case in 2008.

Earlier, Suraj Bhan Singh had won the Lok Sabha election from Balia constituency of Begusarai district in 2004 and later contested from Munger Lok Sabha constituency in 2014 on Lok Janshakti Party ticket, in which he also won his wife Veena Devi. In 2019, Mr Singh’s younger brother Chandan Singh became the MP from Nawada LS constituency on the Lok Janshakti Party ticket. Following the death of LJP’s founding leader Ram Vilas Paswan, which resulted in the party splitting into two after the 2020 Assembly elections, Mr Singh chose to align with the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party, led by Mr Paswan’s younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras. But in 2024, Mr Singh made another political comeback and joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal, which nominated his wife Veena Devi. of Mahagathbandhan This year he is a candidate from the Mokama Assembly constituency.

When asked what are his wife’s chances of winning the poll against the four-time MLA. bahubali (strong men), Suraj Bhan Singh, sitting in front of a luxury vehicle, humbly said like a seasoned politician: “Everything is in the hands of the people of Mokama… but I am not afraid of anyone… there is no greater bahubali than the people of the constituency”.

So does he know why RJD has pitted his wife against him? Chhote Sarkar‘s candidacy? “Yes, I know that very well,” he joked with an expensive smile on his face. However, his aspiring wife Veena Devi is nowhere to be seen. Anant Singh was already on the campaign trail in a taal (wetland) district. However, a promotional van carrying a cut-out portrait of Anant Singh with a garland with folded hands, amid pictures of other NDA leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, was seen moving on the road at a snail’s pace urging people on the microphone to vote for him.

ADR data on criminal cases

“This is basically a competition between father And Chhote Sarkar…let’s see whose muscle power is heavier than the others,” said Manoranjan Singh, in his mid-forties, who was buying groceries outside the Mokama town police station, and added in a hushed tone: “This time the power in Mokama will flow from the bullet and not from the ballot paper. It will be a clash of two terrible men.” According to a report published by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), this time in the Bihar Assembly elections, 32 percent of the candidates have filed criminal cases against them, while 27 percent are facing serious criminal charges.

Located on the banks of river Ganga, Mokama constituency in Patna district is also known for its vast taal and diara (riverside) areas where farmers often put in extensive efforts to cultivate lentils and other seasonal crops. Agriculture and cattle breeding are the mainstay of Mokama’s economy. Earlier there were businesses like Bharat Wagon and Engineering Limited, Bata footwear manufacturing unit and India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) manufacturing unit and facilities, but all these are now dysfunctional.

Mokama has 2.89 lakh voters; the upper caste Bhumihar community (about 85,000 voters), to which both Mr. Anant Singh and Mr. Suraj Bhan Singh belong, followed by the Yadavs (about 40,000 voters). Voters of Kurmi caste, classified as Other Backward Class, and voters of Dhanuk, Paswan and Sahani castes (Extremely Backward Classes) constitute more than 95,000 voters.

Meanwhile, the autopsy report of Dularchand Yadav, released on Saturday, stated that he died of “cardiopulmonary failure with blunt injury to the chest and head”. Earlier, his supporters had alleged that Mr Anant Singh’s men drove their vehicles back and forth over him after realizing that he was not dead after being shot in the leg. It is said that at least three FIRs have been lodged in the incident. In the first FIR, the names of Mr. Anant Singh, his nephews Ranveer and Karamveer Singh and two others were disclosed. On Saturday, two police officers were suspended for alleged “negligence”.

Mokama will go to the polls on November 6 and the results will be announced on November 14.

It was published – 02 November 2025 08:54 IST