When residents of Jayapur, the adopted village of Narendra Modi, chased away Aurangzeb's army

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his maiden trip to his parliamentary constituency Varanasi, after becoming the Prime Minister, adopted Jayapur Village under the M PAdarsh Gram Yojna.Like most villages in India, this village is also undeveloped. It lacks basic facilities like drinking water and sanitation besides facing problems like poverty and backwardness. PM Modi was quick to blame the rulers of the past 60 years for the village's potholed roads, prevalence of female foeticide and other issues.Every body was curious to know why out of all the villages did Modi choose this one? Well, he answered that during his speech in Jayapur.Rejecting all stories appearing in the media regarding the reason for adopting this village, Modi clarified that he adopted Jayapur because this was the first village he heard about after the BJP announced his candidature from the Varanasi seat for the Lok Sabha elections. In that context, he recalled the tragic incident when five people were electrocuted after a high voltage wire fell there. Since then, he has found himself emotionally attached to the village.But Jayapur's legend does not begin with the nation's beloved Prime Minister adopting it.The village of Jayapur has fought its own battles and has a history (though not widely known) of brave men who fought against the Mughals to save their land.Over 400 hundreds years ago, during the Mughal era, Jayapur marked its place in history.Mughal emperor Aurangzeb was once on a spree to demolish temples. Unlike his predecessors, Aurangzeb was an orthodox Muslim who reinterpreted Islamic laws and destroyed temples. History remembers him as a pious but cold ruler.While his army searched far and wide for temples to be destroyed, they saw an ancient temple of Lord Hanuman in this village. This temple was a unique one. Interestingly, the main deity Hanuman was black in color. The temple still exists and is known as ‘kale Hanuman ka temple'.This was a precious treasure for the village folk. Aurangzeb's army threatened them but they would not give up their temple. The village folk not only put up a brave fight before the Mughal soldiers, they even forced them to beat the retreat.According to the residents of the village, it was because of this victory that this village was named ‘Jayapur'.After years, this village has once again got the attention that it first recieved hundreds of years ago.Interestingly, notwithstanding historical significance the village also has political importance.Jayapur is mostly dominated by the ‘Patels'. It is situated in Shivpuri block, which was once the pocket borough of Lt Sonelal Patel, founder of Apna Dal, which joined hands with BJP during Lok Sabha election.While the Prime Minister cites emotional connection and reason behind selecting the village, the fact that it has strong connections with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cannot be missed. For the last 35 years, the RSS is organising a shakha (a training exercise for nation building) in the village without fail. The first shakha was started by Shiv Narayan and now, RSS leader Arvind is carrying forward the tradition.In fact, the RSS had adopted Jayapur in 2006.Modi's selection also coincides with the fact that over 200 people from this village have moved out for employment opportunity to Vadodara, Narendra Modi's constituency that he relinquished for Varanasi.As the Prime Minister selected this village, hundreds of people in Vadodara celebrated. Not BJP or Modi supporters, but villagers of Jayapur, who now have renewed hope that their village will develop just as Modi's Gujarat.The task ahead for the Prime Minister is not an easy one. With all eyes now on Jayapur, the village of approximately 4000 residents suffers from backwardness.Education facility is negligible with no primary school and a secondary school that is almost 8 km away from the village.The village has zero percent concrete walls, with 70% mud floors. 30.4% percent people use hand pumps to draw water and only 23% usable water is within premises.24.8% households have toilets and 73. 90% practice open defecation. 23.80% household cook with firework and 9.4% use LPG. 56.3% households have phone facility and only 4.3% people possess laptops with internet. Prime Minister Modi has given renewed strength and vision to the people of Jayapur.Reaching out to the villagers of Jayapur, Modi said he was not adopting the village, but the village was adopting him.He also said that the villagers must find out about their history to develop a sense of belonging. This legend of Jayapur could certainly be a reason not just for them but for all of us to know more about the land that we live on.