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ARTICLE AD BOX
They form an 8,000-strong network of last-mile leaders in the state and are central to village politics. That they just can’t go up the political ladder reflects how power lies not with the people but far, far away.
One summer evening this year, we walked to the house of the mukhiya – the elected head of the Gram Panchayat – in a village in
Bihar
. The approach road was half-built and slippery, pitch dark stretches broken only by the glow of our phone torches.
The mukhiya had a small meeting space in his front yard, plastic chairs scattered beneath a low ceiling, deserted at that hour.
We – researchers visiting from Patna – met him in his modest living room, gathered around his cot as he spoke in the dim white light.
He was young, scruffy, with the easy assurance of someone who had come up through mazdoor activism. His words carried humour, irony, and an unmistakable intelligence.
Around him sat a handful of young men – his loyal coterie – who laughed at his jokes and nodded as he spoke about everything under his charge: anganwadis and roads, drains and streetlights, self-help groups and schemes.
English (US) ·