THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, October 25: Namdharis whose headcount are around 200 here but are most visible in trade, commerce, and politics too.
One among the Namdharis Inder Singh remained high on the horizon of politics in the undivided Bihar and in Jharkhand too where he held the prestigious and most coveted post of the first Speaker of the Jharkhand assembly.
Namdharis here hold myriad businesses like running flour mills, ‘daalmote’ factories to hotels, malls, textiles, schools, inter college, medicines etc. They prefer Brahmins to work in their firms.
Junior Namdhari tries his luck, again
Now, Junior Namdhari is back in Palamu’s politics. He is trying his luck for the third time in Daltonganj assembly constituency since 2009. He has never been successful. He vanishes from the scene after his defeat. No one has seen this junior Namdhari hold a street show for a public cause. He lives in the political ivory tower of his father Inder Singh Namdhari whose following is getting eroded gradually. Senior Namdhari lives in the shadow of his glorious heydays.
The junior Namdhari Dilip Singh earlier tried hard twice to be in his father Inder Singh Namdhari’s political shoes but he failed. He looked like a big political misfit.
His father Inder Singh Namdhari had won the Daltonganj assembly seat in 2004 and vacated his seat for his son Dilip in 2009 but in vain. Junior Namdhari fought well but lost. People here didn’t want this junior here then.
Inder Singh Namdhari polled 45,000 votes in 2004
In 2004, Inder Singh Namdhari had polled 45,000 plus votes while his political heir Dilip polled 39,000 plus votes in 2009. The father remained a major victor.
In the 2009 assembly election, junior Namdhari polled more than 39,000 votes against his nearest rival K N Tripathy who defeated him by a little over 4,000 votes. It was a tough fight and credit for it went to junior Namdhari.
Dilip fought 2009 election on BJP ticket
Dilip had contested his maiden assembly election in 2009 on the BJP ticket. A strong section of the BJP had worked against this junior Namdhari then. This section of the BJP was too sore with Inder Singh Namdhari.
His vote share was 25.44 percent while Tripathy’s was 29.66 percent in the 2009 assembly election.
The junior Namdhari was denied a BJP ticket in 2014. He didn’t lose heart. He contested as an Independent. He polled a miserable 18,892 votes in 2014 suffering a massive landslide of his vote share from 25.44 percent in 2009 to 9.5 percent in 2014. A loss of 16 per cent of vote share was terrible for the father and son. Remember 2014. It was the coming of Narendra Modi and BJP’s Achhe Din. Fighting election as an Independent was a political jeopardy then in 2014.
Junior Namdhari was vanquished by his arch-rival Alok Kr Chourasiya in 2014 who became the Daltonganj MLA and since then Alok Kr Chourasiya has been serving his second term and fighting to retain his position as MLA for the third term in 2024. The junior Namdhari didn’t contest the 2019 election. It was not any political wisdom but his political disability in the wake of his massive defeat in 2014.
Namdhari’s show of strength
However, he is back in the election battle in 2024 as an Independent. He looks confident. He managed to hold a good show on the day he filed his nomination papers.
Political sources said the junior Namdhari’s plan to join the Congress was aborted by the Congress state leadership. A senior Congress leader of Palamu who is the outgoing minister too was dead against the entry of the junior Namdhari into the fold of the Congress.
Here it is opportune to mention that the state Congress leadership gladly inducted the son of late Madhu Singh Laal Suraj into the Congress about some months ago only but slammed the door to Inder Singh Namdhari’s son Dilip.
Now, Lal Suraj has been set up by the Congress for the Panki assembly constituency. The junior Namdhari must be introspecting as to why he was denied membership for the Congress.
