PATNA: It was supposed to be a prestige fight for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. But as the polls draw near, it has turned out to be a battle between RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sidestepping Nitish, it is Lalu, who is calling the shots, thus forcing the NDA leaders to keep shifting their agenda from time to time. Barred from participating in the elections after being convicted in one of the fodder scam cases, Lalu has time and again made it evident that he would have the last word in the Grand Alliance.
This attitude has certainly yielded result. Realising that the Alliance is creating a major roadblock for their candidates in many constituencies, the BJP leaders have started targeting Lalu as a part of their poll strategy. The party, which was previously banking on development issues, has now launched a counter-attack against Lalu. And in the entire process, Nitish has kept mum.
Lalu, who along with his wife Rabri Devi, ruled Bihar for 15 long years on the agenda of social justice, knows the pulse of the society very well. And now, in a bid to strengthen his foothold, Lalu has been training guns on the BJP leadership. In one of the rallies, he even challenged RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to scrap reservation. “Yeh ladaai hai backward aur forward ki. Maine Mohan Bhagwat ko keh diya hai ki moochh mein dum hai to aarakshan khatam karo. (This is a war between backward and forward castes of Bihar and I challenge RSS chief to scrap this reservation),” he said.
Fully aware that in today’s age, it is not absolutely possible to win an election depending on caste politics alone, Lalu is trying to do a balancing act. Being out of power for a decade and facing the slur of ‘Jungle Raj’, Lalu’s recent strategy has been simple—put the house in order and then attack.
“In a way, Lalu’s playing aggressive Mandal card has consolidated him as the top backward leader. But Nitish is a man who is countering the Modi campaign more effectively,” said Shivanand Tiwary, a former Rajya Sabha MP. “But the Mandal politics has also forced Nitish to heavily depend on Lalu. As of now, he hardly has his own social base.”
Aggressive Mandal politics, however, may dampen the chances of many JD(U) and Congress candidates, if backward caste voters fail to trust them.
Until Lok Sabha polls last year, Nitish was trusted by forward caste politicians as well as the voters as he never played aggressive anti-upper caste politics in the state. In a given situation when his key partner Lalu has drawn a battle line, he can’t afford to have any contradictory opinion.
Nitish was forced to take this decision after the poll debacle last year, when the upper caste deserted him. Perhaps, he never expected that he would be left high and dry. During his first party rally in Raghopur, Lalu asked his Yadav voters to “stay awake and remain united” especially against Brahmins. He also referred to RSS as an organisation dominated by Brahmins. Even during the ticket distribution, Lalu took away all the Yadav-dominated seats, even in areas where JD(U) had sitting MLAs. In pursuing his own agenda, he fielded 48 Yadav candidates in the 101 seats allotted to his party.
This move forced the saffron brigade to target Lalu, leaving out Nitish. And often running out of issues, the BJP is now trying to make political issues even out of casual remarks. Lalu’s comments on Hindus eating beef have created a huge uproar, making many believe that the incident was blown out of proportions.
Despite projecting Nitish as the chief ministerial candidate, the agendas are being set by Lalu. JD(U) spokesperson Niraj Kumar, however, thinks otherwise. “We know the nature and personality of Nitish Kumar for the last so many years. He always talks sense and never takes up any frivolous issue or sectarian issue. It is Kumar who really matters in this election and people trust his capability on the front of governance,” he said.
The RJD, meanwhile, stands by its chief. “We all know the kind of appeal Laluji has among the people of Bihar, and he talks for the betterment of the subaltern. Undoubtedly, he has the potential to check the saffron brigade’s expansion in Bihar,” said Manoj Jha, national spokes person of RJD.
After the Lok Sabha debacle, Nitish tried his best to reinvent himself as a brand and had even hired consultants like Prashant Kishore. But all that looks like a thing in the past now. In the end, it’s Lalu who is making the waves in poll-bound Bihar.