Sultana Parveen/ Purnia
Heartwarming stories of Hindu-Muslim unity are pouring in from Bihar in the ongoing elections to Panchayats where villagers are preferring educated and ambitious leaders than consideration of religion and caste of the candidates. Here are two such stories from the Seemanchal region of the state:
Afsana Begum's Dream
Afsana Begum, a resident of Khanuha village of Kukraun Panchayat, could never reconcile to her past when due to circumstances, she couldn’t to go school after completing her class VIII. Picking threads of life from where she left the same, she is sure that she doesn’t want girls in her village to suffer the same pain.
This single reason motivated Afsana Begum to become a public representative that will help her in realizing her dream of seeing all girls of the village attending school.
The ongoing 2021 Panchayat elections are also being held in the Seemanchal region of Bihar, in which, in most villages, the beautiful picture of Hindu-Muslim unity is coming to the fore. In many villages with a Hindu majority population, often a Muslim candidate is elected unopposed as village head (sarpanch).
Also, this time, the preference is being given to educated candidates. In this trend, Afsana Begum can realize her dream position for a bigger cause. She has won the election with an overwhelming majority.This time from Kukraun West Panchayat of Dhamdaha Panchayat, people have chosen Asfana Begum as the head.
After her victory, Afsana says that she continues to feel her pain and regrets that she did not get a chance to study. If there was a system of education in her village, she would not have stopped at the eighth standard. That's why in her new leadership role, it’s her priority to not let the girls of her village suffer this pain.
Afsana Begum after her victory
In the coming days, arrangements are to be made to avail studies till Intermediate in her village with zeal. She says that both Hindu and Muslim voters are almost equal in her panchayat. The number of Muslim voters is slightly higher.
The women of the area supported her a lot. The pain of women of every community is that there is no system of education in the area. The daughters of the area are unable to study even if they want to. The women of the area are taught to educate their daughters.
“But how to educate daughters when there is no system to study,” Afsana Begum was quoted saying. She further says that the women of the village listen to the Prime Minister's dream, Beti Padhao Beti Bachao, but are unable to implement it. Therefore, as a chief, her first effort would be to create a system of education till intermediate in her own village Khanuha.
At present, there is only one school affiliated with class VIII and both boys and girls have to go eight kilometers away to study for their matriculation.
Jaffo Bhaiya's story:
Kheshpura is a panchayat in Purnia district of Bihar with about 6,000 voters. he number of voters of both Hindu and Muslim communities are almost equal. Even after that, the bond and brotherhood between the two communities is unparalleled to the extent that villagers have spurned all efforts to divide them in the name of votes.
Zaffar Alam after winning election
The villagers have choosen Zafar Alam who, to them, is Jaffo Bhaiya. He is loved and respected by everyone to great levels.
It happened in the year 2015 when Panchayat elections were being held in Bihar and a local, Bijo Yadav had decided to contest against Jaffo Bhaiya.
When the election results came, Bijo Yadav got only one vote.
Now the joke was that Bijo Yadav did not even get a single vote of members of his family; may be the only vote in his share was his own.
This unity is so organic and unadulterated and probably for many Indians a rare phenomenon.
Locals recall with mirth that even the wife of his rival did not cast her vote for Bijo Yadav since people have such faith in Jaffo bhaiya.
Zaffar Alam alias Jaffo Bhaiya after his election
This may be a stark case but Seemanchal, a backward region of Bihar, is generally dotted with similar instances of unity of Hindus and Muslims.
Zafar Alam alias Jaffo Bhaiya says that the tradition of unity jhas been intact for 70 years. Similar unity has remained in the area for the last 70 years.
Sanjay Yadav, a resident of the area, says that the concern of all villagers is development.
Jaffo Bhaiya and his family always stand by the village. “What do we have to do with caste,” asks Rajesh Yadav, Vipin Sah, Dinesh Mandal and Ranjit Mandal as they speak with this reporter. “We have lived together for many decades and will remain so in future also.”
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