Stray Cattle the Only Black Sheep of Bah: BJP Candidate Queen Pakshalika Faces Not-So-Royal Challenge in UP : #RashtraNews
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Children run around the narrow lanes of Karakul village in Pinahat in Bah, shouting her name as Rani Pakshalika Singh arrives for a campaign late on Saturday evening. Locals touch her feet for blessings; the women flock to her.
The queen’s family has won from Bah for decades now. Her husband, Raja Mahendra Arindaman Singh, was six-time MLA from here, and before that, it was her father-in-law, Maharaja Ripudaman Singh.
Pakshalika, the BJP MLA, however has a concern at hand this time – the stray cattle destroying the crop of farmers. One can spot cattle all over the roads in Bah, 50 km from Agra.
“People think the BJP has done a very good job in law and order, and development. The one problem we face is a lot of cattle destroying crop overnight which is still a big problem. The BJP government has tried very hard and we are building a lot of gaushalas; and I am going to try and increase the number so that we can get a lot more cattle into these gaushalas instead of them roaming the fields,” Rani Pakshalika told News18 in an interview.
Hers is an interesting case study as the BJP chose her as a debutant candidate in 2017 after the then sitting MLA from the Samajwadi Party, Raja Mahendra Arindaman Singh, shifted to the BJP.
So why did the BJP choose the queen rather than the king? “I won’t say that was much for a choice. He had done it for 30 years (as MLA) and having shifted to the SP for five years, a change of face was done. The BJP believes anti-incumbency comes with the candidate and not so much with the party. We all felt 30 years is a long time and a change of face would help,” she said.
The BJP has two women MLAs out of nine seats in Agra district and has given tickets to three women here this time. “I’m glad that the BJP thinks women are important. The women speak freely with me. There is still hesitancy in speaking to a man, so it helps me tremendously. In my constituency, I have broken that feeling that you cannot speak to me,” Rani Pakshalika said when asked if her royalty is an inhibitor in her people connect.
“We know practically everyone by name and by house, and that helps politically. We are part of the royalty. Today India is one, there is no royalty. But equally I am proud of my family’s heritage. I find that media plays up royalty much more, which is sad as even if you have done lots of work, that work takes a backseat to you being royal,” she said, when asked about prefixes given to her by the people like the ‘Queen of Bihad’. The Bah constituency is next to Chambal area of Madhya Pradesh.
In Bah, the main challenge to the queen seems to be coming from a former loyalist of the family in BSP candidate Nitin Verma. The BSP had once won the seat in 2007. The seat has lot of Thakur and Brahmin voters who back the royal family.
“I don’t take any challenger lightly. In our favour is the fact that historically, we are from here and our relationship with the people of Bah is not one of an MLA and a voter, but we are a family and for generations we have all been together,” she said.
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( News Source :Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Rashtra News staff and is published from a www.news18.com feed.)
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