Lok Sabha elections 2019: Bottled-up emotions find expression, villagers get no solace in poll talk

Her tears tell a tale of sorrow and helplessness scripted by a hooch tragedy that hit Khadta and its adjoining villages in Malihabad on the outskirts of Lucknow over four years ago, snuffing out 50 lives.

Having lost her father Raju in the tragedy, the 13-year-old girl knows all too painfully how hard life can be. Still, she manages to say, “I want to become a doctor.”

Neither she nor her family feels the ongoing Lok Sabha election will make a difference to her life. Malihabad is part of the Mohanlalganj (reserved) Lok Sabha constituency that goes to the polls in the fifth phase on May 6.

Like her, livelihood is the biggest challenge for her mother and two younger sisters who are not aware of the Lok Sabha elections.

The hooch tragedy claimed a dozen lives in Khadta village of Malihabad alone. The victim’s families are now struggling to make ends meet. Most of these families have less than a bigha of land each.“(Assembly) elections were held a couple of years after the tragedy but our condition is worsening over the years,” Khushbu’s mother Rajrani said.

Villagers say the victim’s families were paid Rs 7lakh each as compensation. “A portion of that money is all that we have. I have three daughters to look after with no other support,” says Sudheshwari Devi, wife of Sidheh Prasad, another victim.

She explains, “A major part of the amount was used to pay off debt and meet daily expenses.”

As for the polls, Nanha Prasad, 62, of Khadta village says, “It will not make a difference. After the tragedy, politicians and officials had made tall promises. Now, they must have forgotten our pain.” Nanha Prasad had lost his son to the tragedy.

“Kuch ne ghar ka kaha, kuch ne kaha kaam denge. Bas humko sirf rahat raashi mili aur kuch nahin. Main ne apna beta khoya aur vo iklauta kamaane wala tha. (Some assured a house, others talked about job but we got nothing other than the compensation. My son was the family’s sole breadwinner,” he says.

Asked whether he has any demand, he says, “Dena hota to ab tak de dete. Lekin ab ummeed nahin hai, na chunaav se na chune huon se. (They would have given something by now if they wanted to. We have no hope from the election nor from the elected representatives).”

Nirmal Kumar was among those who died on January 11, 2015. His wife Reshma recalls in Hindi, “He had gone to a cricket tournament. We were informed midnight that he was taken to hospital but he did not return alive.” Her uncle Huri Lal says Reshma has a son and a daughter to look after. “She does not have land or a house in her name. She works in farms as a daily-wager and work is also not available throughout the month,” he adds.Asked whether she has any hopes from elections and the government, Reshma says, “It has been four years and elections were held earlier too. What did they give?”

Khadta panchayat pradhan (village head) Arjit Kumar says some families are surviving on compensation as they lost breadwinners to the tragedy. “They do not have regular work,” he adds.

DENIED COMPENSATION

The family of Kallu, 30, was not given compensation after he died having spent over a month in hospital following consumption of spurious liquor, his mother Meena Devi says. “Only those who died immediately were given the compensation. But he was my only son, the family’s lone earning hand,” she laments. She is not aware of election dates.