Purnea When all the din and the glare is in Madhepura and Chapra, why care about a kirana shop in a tiny West Bengal town? But talk to the owner and he will tell you a Bihar story. For, chances are Arvind Kumar may not vote tomorrow.

For, last Sunday—as he has done for 18 months—he would have left home in Purnea, Bihar. And taken a 100-km busride to Raigunj, across the border in West Bengal’s North Dinajpur. Throughout the week, he runs his shop there—goes back home in Bihar for the weekend.

‘‘I don’t feel safe in my Bihar hometown. Not anymore. Extortion, threats are very common. In a year’s time, I hope to save enough to move my wife and children to Raigunj too.’’

This is what Purnea has done to people like Arvind Kumar. From shopkeepers to traders to mill owners, they have been quietly shipping their business across the border to Dalkhola or Raigunj in West Bengal. Because Purnea’s thugs, who have terrorised people for years, never let you make clean money.

It’s here in this Lok Sabha constituency that you get to see, hear all that has gone wrong with Bihar. Criminals as politicians, gangs extorting at will, ruined businesses, dying factories, terrified share-croppers all add up to make sense why the region and the state have fallen off the map.

When you ask people what they think of the elections, most give you a long stare before walking away. Politics confuses the ordinary man: the sitting MP Rajesh Ranjan aka Pappu Yadav, every policeman’s nightmare, is taking a fourth shot at Parliament, this time from behind bars.

His bail was cancelled by the Supreme Court in a case involving the murder of a political rival six years ago. Yet Pappu has been given a ticket by Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party, a partner in Laloo Prasad’s RJD-led alliance. So what are we as voters supposed to make of this? That’s the stock reply you get to hear.

But Pappu supporters dismiss all such talk. Pointing to a poster of their leader, they say ‘‘He has been jailed because he is so popular, they won’t let him work for Purnea’s good.’’

Bill Gammell doesn’t know it but he, the Cairn Energy boss, has already been dragged into Purnea politics. Whether it’s Pappu’s supporters or those backing main rival Pappu Singh of BJP, they’re betting on the UK energy major to transform their land.

When word filtered through that Cairn Energy was drawing plans to explore Bihar for oil and natural gas, the Purnea basin suddenly became a talking point.

Heavily laced with expletives, their talk on Cairn goes something like this: ‘‘We had been sitting on a bhandaar for years but they couldn’t figure that out. And now an angrez will find it for you... face hi change ho jayega (it will change the face of the region).’’

It makes no difference to them if you point out that the Purnea basin is not just about Purnea. Development, they argue, is long overdue. Pappu Yadav loyalists swear their leader has been wronged, his constituency denied its share. But were you to check with Arvind Kumar or others who crossed the border to Dalkhola or Raigunj, you will hear an entirely different story.