Bihar witnessed 52.24% turn out, in the first phase of Assembly Election, seems that people have voted wholeheartedly despite the ongoing pandemic, which itself is a sign of vibrant democracy. Bihar elections are no litmus test either for BJP-JDU combine, or LJP or even Mahagatbandhan, because each party has failed Bihar in every possible way. Nitish, who like a trapeze artist jumped from Lalu’s swing to catch BJP rope in time, made a mockery of the mandate. BJP shamelessly accepted the bait and went on to govern as if they are elected to rule.
If you see the trend of the campaign, vast crowds are turning out to attend the public meetings addressed by RJD’s Tejaswi Yadav in a clear indication that the young leader has captured the imagination of Bihar electorate. People’s response to such rallies enables us to see which way the wind is blowing. His promise to create 10 lakh new jobs, seems to have galvanised the youth. In contrast, Nitish turned out to be faring poorly in every way. He made booze ban his main plank. Of late his government has been facing flak over its handling of pandemic, particularly in the wake of the return of the lakhs of migrant workers to the state and resultant rise in unemployment and rural distress. The widespread damage caused by floods has further added to the woes.
Narendra Modi Ji has conveniently skirted his failure to fulfil the promise of special state status, and special package for state and establishment of a central university in Bhagalpur made in the run-up to 2015 Assembly Elections. As such Bihar is at the bottom of the pyramid of economic indicators, while Nitish being the CM of the state for 15 years, so he cannot blame Congress as usual for their failures, at least in this case.
Lok Jan Shakti‘s Chirag Paswan’s open hostility towards Nitish, and his idolisation of Modi Ji highlight that some moves in the game of politics are at times beyond our comprehension, as Lalu, the patriarch of RJD is in Ranchi jail, while veteran Sharad Yadav has been suffering from ill-health, and a prominent Dalit leader Ramvilas Paswan died recently. Their heirs seem to have not just taken over the reins but have also taken over the narrative this time. The LJP which has a strong Dalit support base, reiterated support to Modiji, while fielding candidates against JDU, has lent its credence to the argument that it was part of saffron party’s long term strategy to edge out Nitish.
As such Bihar being a politically significant state and the election results are bound to have a significant impact on the course of national political scenario.we may have wait for the remaining schedule to be finished to come to some conclusion
