A contest full of stark contrasts

People talking at the top of their voices, the constant ringing of mobile phones... It is still quite early in the morning and you do not want to get out of bed yet.

But there is little you or the hotel management can do. Your next door neighbour is none less than the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) supremo Ram Vilas Paswan and his entourage....

It becomes understandable why the hotel offered you a hefty discount on room tariff without asking for it.

The management knew the perils of rooming on the same floor as Paswan. And since you cannot go back to sleep, the best thing you can do is to join them.

The corridor is choked with hundreds of people and you have to make an extra effort to even get out of your room.

It's a suite called Grand Prix that has been Paswan's home at Bihar's most expensive Maurya Hotel ever since electioneering got underway to elect the new Lok Sabha.

Paswan could well be in a race with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati to emerge as the biggest Dalit (lower caste) leader of the country.

They talk about the poor and downtrodden, but Paswan leads the life of a millionaire.

His constituency Hajipur is barely half an hour drive from Patna, his brother Pashupati Paswan, a Bihar minister, has his house in the city, but he prefers living in a five-star hotel. The fourth floor of the hotel turns into his durbar every morning.

Dressed in a branded T-shirt and track pants, he looks like a sportsman ready to go for a jog to the famous gigantic Gandhi Maidan (ground), bang opposite the hotel.

But this is his way of starting his day, being mobbed gives him the necessary kick before heading for campaigning.

"If they do not listen to Lalooji, do you think they will listen to me. If a Yadav does not listen to Laloo Prasad Yadav, chances are he won't even listen to the almighty," he can be heard saying to a person who wants him to visit his village since the Yadav voters there are keen on voting for his rival Chhedi Paswan at Hajipur.

Paswan remains unfazed by this threat and explains to Gulf News: "It is not possible to meet every voter in a Lok Sabha election.

I am a national leader and have to take care of the entire state and go to other states as well. And visiting one village not visiting other is, I know, fatal.

Voters of the village I don't go and visit will feel left out. So I have decided not to visit any village at all. Just address rallies as per my schedule."

Another group wants him to include their area in his schedule. He expresses his inability to do so, saying he has to go to eastern Uttar Pradesh tomorrow.

He calls for his brother Pashupati and instructs him to visit that area for "couple of hours", rejecting their request that he spends the whole day in their area.

"I have to go Uttar Pradesh by train. I cannot take my helicopter there since I have to be part of Priyanka Gandhi's roadshow," he explains.

Apparently, the request by the Congress party to campaign for them in Uttar Pradesh has upset his own schedule but there is little he can do about it. After all, it is the Congress party that befriended him and Laloo.

Laloo grabbed the opportunity by offering Paswan's LJP eight seats, just double of what he allocated the Congress party as part of his mammoth alliance in Bihar.

"See equations change. And it may take a while for voters to get used to a new set up," he tells the crowd, still referring to suggestions that Yadavs of Hajipur may not vote for him when the seat goes to poll on April 26.

With Paswan being extremely critical of Laloo until a couple of months ago, Dalits and Yadavs of Hajipur were always confrontational.

Their leaders may have joined hands out of compulsion, but on the ground level that change is yet to happen.

Most of those who have come to Paswan's morning durbar are from Hajipur, though some have come from other places as well. A youth tells him he has not been paid though he is running 10 vehicles for the LJP.

"I don't deal with finances. Talk to Pashupatiji," he tells him.

He disappears to the bedroom section of the suite for a while when he sees a waiter bringing breakfast for him.

About half a dozen armed security personnel stand at the door to prevent anyone from disturbing him while he eats.

He is back in the 'durbar' within five minutes.

Either he did not like the breakfast served or he must have simply wolfed it down. Time during elections is precious and Paswan anyway is a health freak and eats only organic food to maintain himself.

One of his security guards had to rush to close a door which opens in the balcony while Paswan was having his breakfast. He virtually pulls a woman inside saying they cannot take any risk as one may fall out from the balcony even accidentally.

The woman says she just wanted to breathe in the fresh air and had no plans of jumping out! She does not have to wait anymore. She has Paswan's undivided attention!

It is already 10 and the room and corridor are still packed with people. He tells them that it is time for him to change (into regulation khadi kurta-payjama) and leave for the day's campaigning as any further delay would mean less time to meet the people.

Being in the east, the sun sets in Bihar by 5:30 and helicopters cannot fly after that.

He goes back into the bedroom section to get ready for the day's business – seek votes for the Rashtriya Janata Dal-LJP-Congress alliance.

Although votes have been cast in 11 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats from Bihar and exit polls have created confusion as to which group is the edge, some are giving just three seats to the group Paswan is in.

"No way, we are going to sweep polls and will win more than 30 seats," he says before slamming the door. The leader is gone, but people are not yet ready to leave.

They are told that they have no business being here as elections are on and they should be in the field.

"It is not always that I get to enjoy atmosphere of a five-star hotel. Let me hang around for a while," says one visitor and occupies the chair Paswan was sitting on.

The former minister's security staff are left to force people out of the room. The durbar is definitely over.