“Rome Pope ka, Madhepura Gope ka (Rome is of the Pope, Madhepura belongs to the Gope (Yadavs),” Lalu Prasad’s saying coined 30 years ago has withstood the test of time.

Gope or Yadav candidates have clinched the seat in all the sixteen elections and bypolls since the Madhepura Lok Sabha constituency came into existence in 1967.

The trendsetter was the famous Yadav, B.P. Mandal, the scion of the erstwhile Murho estate.

Though he sat in the Bihar chief minister’s chair for a month in 1968, he is better known for serving as the chairman of the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission, popularly known as the Mandal Commission. It paved the way for reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in government jobs and academic institutions.

Bihar's Sorrow, the Kosi.

Notable MPs from Madhepura after Mandal were Sharad Yadav (four times), Lalu Prasad (twice) and Rajesh Ranjan aka Pappu Yadav (twice). The seat has been with the RJD and chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JDU since 1998, being won alternatively by each.

This election, too, the battle lines are drawn in the name of the Gopes. Of the nine candidates in the fray, the main contest is between the JDU leader and incumbent MP, Dinesh Chandra Yadav, and RJD’s Kumar Chandradeep. Dinesh had defeated the old warhorse late Sharad Yadav in 2019.

Whoever wins this time, the Gope truism will live on — the scales can tilt any side but always in favour of the Yadavs.

On what he thinks about the slogan Lalu had coined, Mohan Prasad, a government employee and a resident of Gauripur panchayat in Madhepura, points out that of the total 13.7 lakh voters in the constituency, around 5 lakh are Yadavs.

Nirmala Devi sells trinkets and puja items at Singheshwar Sthan Temple in Madhepura.

“Whichever party wins, it will be the victory of the Yadavs,” he says, promptly adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lalu Prasad dominate the equations here equally this time. “Though Lalu was the man behind the electric locomotive factory, the university and the engineering college here,” Mohan adds.

“On the other hand, ₹6,000 per annum given to farmers under the (PM-Kisan) Samman Nidhi, directly in their bank accounts without any middlemen, has made them happier. The women are happy because of the free LPG connections (Ujjwala Yojana) and subsidised gas cylinders. Even if they do not use it round the year or use it only during
the rainy season when fuel wood or cattle dung cakes are scarce, they see them as an ‘asset’ given by Modi,” Mohan says.

However, there is also anger among the people.

At Singheshwar Sthan, famous for its Shiva Temple, people talk about Nitish losing grip over governance, leading to rampant corruption in government offices, with officials demanding bribes for almost every piece of work. They also point at electricity not reaching farms to help in irrigation.

“I want to complain to Modiji about corruption because it’s making our lives miserable. Officials seek bribes even for caste and domicile certificates,” says Anil Mallik of Singheshwar Sthan.

Brick kilns destroying precious agriculture land in the rural areas of Madhepura.

Nirmala Devi, who sells trinkets and prayer offerings near the temple, however, says she would only vote for Modi because she doesn’t know anyone else. “Modi ko denge, phool ko denge. (I will vote for Modi and the lotus),” she says, unaware that the NDA candidate belongs to the JDU with the arrow as its election symbol.

Spread across three Assembly segments each in Madhepura (Alamganj, Bihariganj, Madhepura) and Saharsa (Sonbarsa, Saharsa, Mahishi) districts, the Madhepura Lok Sabha constituency stands on the flat plains of the Kosi river, making it vulnerable to the annual floods.

Madhepura is predominantly agricultural, where villagers also rear cows, buffaloes and goats. Fish is abundantly available.

But one thing remains a constant — migration of youth.

“My friends and I work in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and elsewhere. There are no industries or jobs here. We want them (the leaders) to provide jobs,” says Shashi Kumar, 28, of Maranma Chowk at Patharghat in Saharsa. Shashi works at a rice mill in Ludhiana, Punjab.

A few kilometres away, at Rahim Tola village, farmer Mohammad Qasim says he would only vote for development so that his children get better education and find a job here.

• Madhepura votes on May 7