'The Gunda Of Kunda'

Raghuraj Singh alias Rajja Bhaiyya is called  noor-e-nazar (literally, 'light of the eyes’,figuratively, apple of the eyes) of the Beti riyasat. When Rajja Bhaiyya got elected to the UP assembly in 1993, not only did he make a new record forthe largest margin, but he was also then the youngest MLA in the 12th state assembly. Since then his victoryprocession had been going on unhindered. The margin of his wins had also been increasing.  Till chief minister Mayawatistepped in,jailed him under POTA,  and also accused him of plotting to murder her with Mafiahelp. 

Rajja Bhaiyya’s primary education was at Allahabad CMP College. His father Raja Uday Pratap Singh wasnot in favour of providing higher education to Raghuraj because he believed that ‘highly educated peopleare cowards.’ But due to the pressure from his mother’s family, Rajja Bhaiyya was brought to Lucknow. Hot-headed from student years, he was first booked in 1989 under section 147, 148, 149 and307, although his name had been whispered about in a murder case in Pratapgah way back in 1982.

On July 6, 1995,  it was the Dilerganj carnage which spread his notoriety beyond the boundaries of the district.It all started with 'rumours' of rape of a woman from a certain community, which retaliated by laying siege toDilerganj,dominated by the other community. In the firing that ensued, women and infants were among those killed. Mulayam SinghYadav, who is now fighting for Rajja Bhaiyya against his POTA arrest, had not let the assembly run for a week,in protest (In 1997 Rajja Bhaiyya came to therescue of BJP by helping split the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, for which he was rewarded with a ministerialberth in the mammoth ministry).

Today there are 35 cases against him, out of which 14 were filed after incurring Mayawati’s wrath, althoughhe had even earlier been charged under the Gangster Act and almost all the sections of IPC. The lake spread cross 35 bighas inBeti and Bhadari is the stuff of horrifying and mysterious legend and folklore among the people inPratapgarh and Kunda. If the stories  are to be believed, crocodiles were kept in the lake and anyoneopposing the feudals became a meal for the crocodiles. The government has now declared it as Ambedkar Sanctuary.

But people in the district make contradictory statements. On one hand they accuse Rajja Bhaiyya ofexploitation, on the other they say that cutting trees is the gravest crime in the riyasat. After all if hishobbies include rearing horses and dogs, flying  airplanes and helicopters, zipping around at high speedsin imported cares, they also include granting huge amounts as largesse to the poor for weddings.

Translated from Outlook Saptahik, dated February 17, 2003