Nitish's work & Lalu's vote base sealed fate of BJP

The landslide victory registered by Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance is the outcome of three factors: Nitish’s image of an effective leader who could deliver at the ground level, Lalu Prasad’s rock-solid vote base and the BJP’s tactical errors (which it committed during two-month-long electioneering).

This correspondent, who travelled more than 3,800 km in September-October, most of them interior areas, found that voters compared Nitish model of governance with Modi’s model of development. The common response to Nitish’s model was that it is visible at the ground level. One could find power connections, transformers installed and handpumps sunk. Hospitals and roads were bonus to them. 

On the contrary, compared to the Lok Sabha poll, very few people believed Modi when he promised Rs 1.25 lakh crore special package for Bihar. Many thought it was another rhetoric like the previous promise of putting Rs 15 lakh in every bank account, or giving employment to crores of unemployed or the hollow promise of controlling inflation. Besides, the price rise of daal and onions moved away women from the BJP.

But instead of tackling basic issues, Modi harped on themes which were irrelevant and did not behove a person holding the prime minister’s post to do so.  
 
The Bihar election started on a promising note of development, where the prime minister and the chief minister unveiled their respective models of development and talked about the special package for the state’s growth.

But the growth agenda suddenly took a backseat and irrelevant issues like beef, cow, reservation, caste (particularly dalits), took the central stage.

Modi himself erred on various fronts. In his each and every rally, he would mock at Nitish and ask the crowd: “Bijli aayi?”. The crowd would remain silent as there had been wide improvement on the power sector. Still nobody in the BJP had the guts to tell Modi that he had been harping on an issue which has seen a drastic change due to large scale rural electrification under the Rajiv Gandhi Vidyutikaran Pariyojna.

To make matters worse, Modi one fine day took a jibe at Nitish and said, “Nitish babu, you hold press meet with selected newsmen and do ‘mushaiara’ (symposium). This will give you a new job after November 8.”

A prime minister, who had earlier questioned the CM’s DNA, was again hitting below the belt by asking him to do ‘mushaiara’. The war of words worsened when he labelled Sonia Gandhi, Nitish and Lalu as ‘3 Idiots’.

The BJP may have worked out its caste arithmetic to win Bihar poll, but the bawdy language of its top leaders showed no sign of improvement. Just before the final phase of poll, Modi raked up 1984 riots issue and said, “Madam Sonia… doob maro.”

This jibe came three days before the electorate in Seemanchal, a stronghold of the Congress, were about to cast their votes. It’s not that Lalu never made derogatory language. But the PM stooping to the level of Lalu was not at all appreciated by the common man.

Lastly, Grand Alliance leaders will have to thank RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who by suggesting that “time has come to review reservation system,” sealed the BJP’s fate in caste-ridden Bihar, where 85 per cent people are backwards, dalits and minorities most of whom still swear by Lalu.