His day starts at the crack of dawn. After a quick breakfast, he is off to his kshetra, going to every door, meeting people, saluting them, sometimes shaking hands with the younger lot, sitting on their charpoys, having chai with them, taking note of their problems and even getting himself clicked with the family. It is election time in Uttar Pradesh, but this is no ordinary mortal canvassing for votes. He is the Nawab of Rampur, Kasim Ali Khan, aka Navaid Mian, who is contesting the Suar Tanda assembly seat in Rampur on a Congress ticket ? one of the many descendents of rulers who are out to see if their royal lineage can be useful in politics.
But life has come full circle. Because while he may be a king, Navaid Mian’s erstwhile ?subjects? realise they are now the king makers.
So trying hard to convince them that he is the ?right? choice to look after their welfare, and that only the Congress can help solve the problems of the state, is a daily challenge for Navaid Mian, son of former MP from Rampur, Begum Noor Bano. More so, as it has been less than a week that he is back in the Congress fold. He won the last Assembly elections on an SP ticket, but resigned almost immediately to join the BSP after the Mayawati government came to power. He later won the byelection in August 2007 from the same seat on a BSP ticket. ?Mayawati?s government has done nothing for the development of the people, and everyone in that party is very greedy. Congress is the party that will usher in a change in your life. It is the party of development,? he tells the people, imploring them to trust him once again and help him return to power with a thumping majority.
But Maharani of Amethi, Amita Singh, is more confident in her role as politician. Contesting from the Amethi Assembly constituency on a Congress ticket, she is out the whole day, mingling with the people on whom rests her political future. Dancing to the tunes of a dhol on the occasion of a marriage or attending a condolence meet on someone?s demise, participating at a Ram katha or congratulating someone on the birth of a boy, having tea in a kulhad or eating dal-roti at a humble home?Amita Singh is as adept at all these as she was at playing national-level badminton in her hey days.
Princely states abound in UP. While some royals have played safe and pledged their loyalties to the Congress, there are others who have enrolled with the BJP, while some have joined the SP and BSP. Few others have also found the courage to confront the bigger parties and contest as independent candidates.
There are some like the raja of Rampura estate in Bundelhand, Keshavendra Singh, who have never tasted electoral politics before this election. Raised in the tea estates of Kerala, where his father worked as a manager, far away from the maddening dust of politics that was a part of his own father?s life, Keshavendra Singh is back in his ?kingdom?. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, he is getting ready to hit the dusty trails in Madhopur on an SP ticket. People of the area are eying him with a mixture of awe, respect and caution, but realise at the same time that they hold the key to his political future.
Even strongmen like the Raja of Bhadri estate in Kunda, Pratapgarh, Raghuraj Pratap Singh know the worth of their ?subjects?. Having been jailed and facing many criminal charges, he is contesting the Assembly elections for the fifth time from Kunda as an independent candidate, and trying hard to woo the masses.
Democracy may have diluted the existence of the feudal royalty, but these erstwhile rulers, including those of Mankapur and Karnailganj estates in Gonda, Samthar estate in Jhansi, Tiloi estate in Rae Bareli, Karchchna estate, in Allahabad, Siswa estate in Maharajganj, are now using it to revive their glory and power.