A member of the former advisory body National Advisory Council under the UPA regime, Jean Dreze, an Indian economist, campaigned for Sanjay Sahni, an electrician-turned-MNREGA activist who is contesting the assembly elections from Muzaffarpur district.  Dreze is famous for his works in India and his numerous books, some of which like the political economy of hunger and the uncertain glory, he had co-authored with Nobel Laureate, Prof. Amartya Sen.

Hailing from Ratnauli village in Bihar, activist Sanjay Sahni has been working towards ensuring employment to MNREGA workers. He is contesting as an independent and has been actively promoted before the second phase of polls to be held today by a team of students and volunteers led by Dreze.

Sahni trained himself to be an electrician after he was forced to drop out in class 7 and had moved to Delhi in search of work. Gradually, he got to hear about the problems in the MNREGA setup on the ground level. He also learnt about the Google and used it to dig out more about the condition of the MNREGA in Ratnauli, his village. Subsequently, he became a MNREGA activist, raising the issue of misuse of payment and enrolments in the scheme.

Sanjay Sahni decided to raise his voice against irregularities in MNRGEA after locals asked him why no one from their village has ever challenged candidates of political parties who never come to help them in times of need.

Sahni said, “Like many others, even I was a migrant worker in Delhi. I have studied only till class 7. When I came to my village after learning about MNREGA, I started to assist people in getting work under the scheme. Initially, 200 people got jobs. Now we are working in 400 villages to ensure people get employment under MNREGA.”

He further elaborated on his achievements, “During lockdown, I contacted 36,000 migrant workers who were stranded in Delhi and Punjab, and ensured help reached them. They are still in touch with me. In the last eight years, I have facilitated 1,15,000 women labourers to get employment under MNREGA, of which 36,000 are from my village.”

When local politicians got to know of him filing nomination, they arrived at his house. They told the villagers that Sanjay Sahni is a ‘farzi (fake)’ and began instigating people against him.  Around 10-15 villagers had even filed a complaint against him for “trying to dupe them”, showing that his transition from an electrician turned activist to an independent candidate has not been without his share of pain.

On one side, when many contenders contesting in the Bihar polls have criminal records against them, with many cases where the candidates have not filed their ITRs, on the other hand, there are hopes in the form of new entrants like Sanjay Sahni and others like Plurals party.

The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness.