Allahabad - The legendary Parliamentary Constituency

As the long, arduous and staggered Elections in India winds down, one of the Constituencies going to polls is Allahabad. Located in East - Central UP, it is an integral part of the Hindi heartland, also known as Cowbelt - located at the sacred Sangam (confluence) of rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati. India's national language Hindi which is spoken extensively in North and parts of Central India, is known to be spoken in its purest form in and around Allahabad - the cradle of SUDDH (purest form of) Hindi.

The city is associated with many legendary political and nationalist figures - from freedom fighter Chandra Sekhar Azad who shot himself in the City's Alfred Park rather than surrender to the British, to the Prime Ministers of India Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and V P Singh. It is said the road through India's Prime Minister's office runs through UP and Allahabad has always plays a prominent role in determining it.

The constituency was well nurtured by the mercurial UP politician H. N. Bahuguna who had the courage to defy Indira Gandhi while he was the Chief minister of the state. During Emergency Indira wanted Bahuguna to facilitate her mercurial son Sanjay's road show in the state. The wily but a self respecting politician he was, Bahuguna refused to be subservient to the favorite son of Indira and lost his CM's chair.

Bahuguna was replaced as CM by the ever obsequious N D Tiwari who had no shame or qualms about taking Sanjay Gandhi around the state, standing in a bending posture with nodded head and clasped hands behind the Scion of the Gandhi family. Tiwari represented the old school of Congress Sycophancy, whose secret source of survival was doing GHULAMI (slavery) picture perfect to the Nehru - Gandhi clan. The following Hindi couplet was ascribed to him.

"INDIRA KI HOON MAIN PUJARI,
SANJAY KI HOON MAIN ABHARI,
NA MEIN NAR, NAA MEIN NAARI
MAIN HOON N D TIWARI".
Roughly translated into English.
"Worshiper of Indira I am
Indebted to Sanjay I am,
Neither male nor female is my fame
N D Tiwari is my name".

In the year 1984 barely couple of months after Indira Gandhi's assassination India went to polls. Allahabad was in news again - being the constituency where a  high profile fight was taking place between the opposition candidate Bahuguna who represented the establishment and the Superstar Bollywood actor Amitabh, a native from the Sangam city.

Bahuguna who had a strong electoral base in this historic constituency was confident of his victory. He led trade unions in the area and cultivated grassroot connections, so took his victory for granted over his rival whom he termed as a BHAAND (Actor) Mr. Natwarlal parachuted from Bombay with little connection to the city of his origin. 

But things started turning around in favor of the charismatic actor - partly due the star's celebrity attraction, and not to mention a strong sympathy wave for Congress on the aftermath of Indira's tragic death on the hands of her own bodyguards.

Barely a week before the D-day a huge procession of Amitabh Bachchan  was passing in front of Bahuguna's house. It was likes of which Allahabad had never seen before. The old man ordered to shut down the gates of his house, his doors and windows - strictly instructing his family members not to go outside. 

As the procession reached his home, two young girls from his house slipped out to get a DEKKO (Look) at their favorite Superstar in person who was then One Man Bollywood industry. A forlorn Bahuguna who noticed this threw a tantrum by kicking his Sofa - if I can't control my own folks, I am going to lose this. 

The wily politican foresaw it coming. Amitabh comfortably defeated the grand old man of UP politics. It was not in Bahuguna's destiny to fight the next Elections as he died couple of years later.

It was also not in the destiny of the star to complete his term either. As the MP of Allahabad his own stars didn't support him. His falling electoral fortunes was accentuated by the Bofors Scandal due to his closeness to Rajeev Gandhi. It forced him to resign midway in the year 1987. 

Amitabh was replaced by V P Singh whose star was on the rise for as he challenged Rajiv Gandhi, earning him the image of a messiah. V P Singh went on to become the Prime Minister of India - the 3rd person associated with the city to occupy the highest office of the land.

Lot of water has flown since through the Prayag Sangam. Though Allahabad hasn't seen any star studded contest since 1980s, it still is a very important constituency right in the middle of the cowbelt which wraps around and stitches together the vast electoral lands of the Gangetic plains - which is going to determine the next government of India.