450 years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'adopted village' Jayapur stopped Aurangzeb's army

VARANASI: It was the second victory after a gap of nearly 450 years for the 3,500-odd villagers when it was announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would adopt and develop their Jayapura village in his constituency Varanasi. While the first victory dates back to the Mughal era and finds mention in History books, the second one is hitting the headlines a day Modi lands here and formally adopts the village.

According to BHU's political science department's HoD, Prof KK Mishra, in 17th century, when Mughal emperor Aurangzeb was said to be on temple-demolition spree, his soldiers caught attention of an old temple of Lord Hanuman in the village. It was a unique as the main deity Lord Hanuman was black in colour. It is for this reason that the temple is still known as "Kale Hanuman ka temple".

However, not ready to give up, the villagers not only put up a brave fight before the Mughal soldiers, they even forced them to beat the retreat, Prof Misra says. In 2003, an army personnel Ajay Kumar Singh from the village attained martyrdom while fighting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

Historical significance notwithstanding, the village also has political importance. Dominated mostly by Patels, it is situated in Shivpuri block, which has been the pocket borough of Late Sonelal Patel, the founder of Apna Dal, which joined hands with BJP during Lok Sabha election.

Observers believe that since Jayapura is surrounded by four big villages, all Patel-dominated, the cascading effect of the development in Modi's adopted village will certainly be visible in those villages. "So, its time for Apna Dal, which is mired in controversy following a tussle between Sonelal's wife and daughter, to rethink its strategy before its core voters are weaned away.

Villagers work as masons in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka while sugarcane crop konwn as Jayapuria sugarcane is produced all round the year unlike in other areas where it is a seasonal crop. The village supplies sugarcane to juice sellers of not only Varanasi but also districts of east Bihar.