BJP graph falling fast?

On May 16, the BJP-led alliance in Bihar won 31 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats— nearly 80 per cent of the seats. On August 25, the same BJP could win only four out of 10 Assembly constituencies here. Just 40 per cent of the seats.

What happened in the last three months that the saffron party’s victory percentage came down from 80 to 40 per cent? 

Was the Lok Sabha election hyped in the name of Narendra Modi? Or was the BJP over-confident in Assembly by-polls? Or, most importantly, the coming together of erstwhile Janata Parivar leaders Lalu and Nitish upset all the political pundits’ calculation?

Whatever may be the case, one thing is for sure. In a democracy, it’s the voter who is supreme. And the people’s mandate has to be respected. This is precisely what senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi suggested but at the same time he added that byelections are not a true a reflection of people’s mood. 

His last version may not cut much ice with the  Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal- United (JD-U) and the Congress. “In three months’ time, people in Bihar realised that they have been fooled in the name of three promises: weeding out corruption, removing unemployment and checking price rise,” said Bihar RJD president Ram Chandra Purve.

His views were echoed by the Congress which said that in Assembly elections, it’s the local issues which matter more. 

“People were facing enormous hardship due to price rise of essential commodities. Tomato has, of late, become costlier than petrol. And apple costlier than tomato. So while the BJP always blamed us for price rise, it could do little to check food inflation,” said Bihar Congress vice-president Prem Chandra Mishra, explaining why people got disenchanted with the BJP.

But, Mishra conceded, more than the local issues, it was consolidation of secular votes which spelt doom for the BJP. 

Another factor for the BJP debacle was that the byelection was spearheaded by Sushil Kumar Modi, who could have staked his formal claim to be declared as chief ministerial candidate had the party performed well. 

But with ‘friends’ like Shahnawaz Hussain, Dr CP Thakur, Ashwani Choubey, Prem Kumar and Giriraj Singh, Sushil Modi needs no enemies. Too many cooks within the BJP spoilt Modi’s broth.