For many of BiharÔÇÖs 110 million inhabitants, the main goal in life is to leave their homeland as soon as possible ÔÇö to study or find work, however menial.
Biharis toil on construction sites from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu and as far away as the Gulf. ÔÇ£Mostly people from here have to migrate to other states to get jobs,ÔÇØ sighs Parimal Paritosh, 20, who moved to Punjab to study engineering and has come home for the funeral rites of his grandmother on the banks of the River Ganges.
Yet this month politicians from Prime Minister Narendra Modi downwards have been flocking to the landlocked north Indian state ÔÇö a byword for poverty, despair and overcrowding ÔÇö to court its people. It is election time in Bihar, and it is a pivotal state.
BiharÔÇÖs population ÔÇö if it were a country it would be the worldÔÇÖs 12th-largest, just behind Mexico ÔÇö makes victory in the state election a crucial prize for Indian parties.
If Mr. ModiÔÇÖs Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party ousts the current chief minister Nitish Kumar when results are announced on November 8, it would eventually help the BJP wrest control of the national parliamentÔÇÖs upper house from the opposition, which has blocked key economic reforms such as a planned goods and services tax.
The BJP can count on its traditional support from the Hindu upper-caste minority. ÔÇ£I come from a forward caste and the only party that seems to support my ideology is the BJP,ÔÇØ says Mr Paritosh. But Mr. Modi hopes his charisma and the promise of jobs and development, which swept him to power in last yearÔÇÖs general election, will lure the middle and lower castes into the BJP fold as well.
In fact, Bihari voters complain, election promises of development and handouts for the poor have been overshadowed by frenzied ÔÇ£vote-bank politicsÔÇØ, with politicians trying to win over different caste groups and pro-BJP activists seeking Hindu votes by demonizing Muslims as beef-eating slaughterers of sacred cows.
ÔÇ£NobodyÔÇÖs talking about education, health, employment or real development,ÔÇØ says RK Sinha, head of the zoology department at Patna University. ÔÇ£EverybodyÔÇÖs talking rubbish ÔÇö caste and beef.ÔÇØ As for education, he echoes Mr Paritosh. ÔÇ£Almost 90-100 per cent who have the means, who can sell land or jewelry, they send their children out of Bihar.ÔÇØ
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