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Lessons BJP Should Learn From Bihar Debacle

By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava

08 November, 2015
Countercurrents.org

Bihar election results have come out. They prove that the divisive politics and polarization of voters on the religious ground cannot work as effective tool in the Indian politics. For these myopic visions the top BJP leaders are to be blamed who were convinced that cultural revivalism could help in the clustering of the voters in their favour. They failed to appreciate that 2014 parliamentary election victory was not the result of strategy devised by Amit Shah or PM Narendra Modi’s charisma . It was solely the response of the corruption tainted image of Congress- UPA and the aggressive appeasement policies of Congress. Mr. Modi was just a face of reforms in governance who benefitted from mistakes committed by Sonia Gandhi and his advisers. The emergence of BJP, in larger measures, was thus outcome of mistakes of others.

The biggest folly of leadership was, in spite of being aimed towards development works, not only the party but also the governance got involved into petty politics. The political communication and attacks on tolerant value system and negative statements by top leaders led to downfall of BJP in the eyes of people. After Delhi, the loss in Bihar suggests that all is not well with BJP. It needs to return to time tested values where equality to all in all spheres with a government’s assurance to protect to all in all circumstances is the only way out to survive in the Indian politics.

BJP also needs to analyze the downgraded political communication of its leaders which displaced local people from party. PM Modi still holds control over the masses but decline is very fast. In the recently held UP Panchayat elections, BJP was placed at third position. The Gram Panchayat pools will start since 28th of November in UP where its strength will be on test again. In 2017 UP legislative assembly elections will be held. These elections possess the predictive value for the 2019 parliamentary election but the way BJP has adopted the electoral policy of polarization of Hindu votes, its fate is likely to be domed if it does not correct itself soon. Bihar election results thus open the gaps in the BJP strategy which is at fault owing to great Indian traditions.

Maha gath bandhan (Grand Alliance) victory proves two major things. First in Indian politics caste and religion still have sway in determining the electoral results. The fundamental base of the alliance rested on these elements, not a good thing for Indian politics. Second Nitish Kumar possesses the charisma among people of Bihar. His success is indicative of future happening; he may be projected as the common candidate for the PM post in 2019 election. Moreover this experiment of Grand alliance can be repeated in other states too including UP. S P President Mulayam Singh Yadav is a veteran politician with much successful record under belt in the electoral politics. He left alliance in Bihar because he did not want experiment to be repeated in UP where SP has strong base among backward classes and minorities.

Now the major issue relates to the governance of Bihar. Nitish Kumar carries a good and influential image but his associates in alliance do not hold such image. This will emerge as the crucial question as RJD of Lau Yadav has got more seats than JD(U) of Nitish and Sharad Yadav. The interesting point is to see the way Nitish Kumar handles RJD.

RJD has its own agenda. It has now been revived in the state politics but its interaction with Nitish government will determine the fate of Bihar. Nitish Kumar has to deliver people of Bihar on several counts in which such issues need to be taken care of as:

To meditate on the status of farmers; the election campaign saw raising of different issues but no party raised the issue of farmers although about 81% population of Bihar is agriculture dependent moreover about 89% population lives in rural areas. In spite of it farmers remained at receiving end. Nitish government will have to look into their grievances.

Migration is another problem; every year about 44 lakhs residents go out of Bihar to gain employment. It is due to fact that industrialization and entrepreneurship are lacking in the state. New government will have to look this particular problem

Fate of young ones lies into danger zone; as the level of education is low in the state. The affiliated degree colleges and primary schools need to be upgraded to a standard level. A new central university is being established in the state besides one already existing; but more pressing need is to improve the standard of state universities. The major fall out of low level of education is that a large section of students go to Delhi for the preparation of the UPSC and other administrative examinations. It is well known that coaching industry in Delhi does not have good standard as required by UPSC but aspiring students are trapped in their alluring advertisements which waste their money, ancestral property and time. Nitish government therefore should try to develop a good educational infrastructure so that students do not need to venture out. For this purpose quality based faculties are required which can be recruited from whole of the country. Moreover emphasis on English- computer skill needs to ne increased as these are two bases of globalization, and can help to reap dividends of new economic opportunities.

The moot question is: can Nitish government deliver on these and several other pressing problems? The more burdens are now on Nitish Kumar. He has a clean image. No tainted person, he should ever allow to tarnish his image.

Nitish must see the interests of people, if he finds any troubles from other partners; he can devise new political strategy of alignment even with BJP to serve the people. Now his end objective service is on test.

Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava is Assistant Professor, CSJM Kanpur University (affiliated College) and Vice Chairman CSSP, e mail-[email protected]

 



 

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