Return of Yashwant Sinha and his call for 'Better Bihar'

Former union minister and diplomat-turned politician Yashwant Sinha quit the Bhartiya Janata Party in the summer of 2018 citing that “democracy in India was in greater danger.” Now, more than two years later, Sinha is back in Patna ahead of Bihar Assembly Elections fighting the Nitish-led NDA.

83-year-old Sinha, who said he is taking ‘sanyas’ from party politics, has not joined any opposition parties and has confirmed that he is not looking at “floating another new party yet.” But instead, he is leading United Democratic Alliance (UDA), focusing on issues in Bihar and bringing smaller parties, who is anybody “not with NDA”, under the slogan for a ‘Better Bihar’

According to reports, UDA has fielded its candidates in all of 71 constituencies in the first phase. The alliances include 15 other small and big parties and are also trying to connect with other alliances.

Sinha, who served under the Vajpayee government between 1998 and 2004, has been spearheading movements against nearly every political issue gripping the country while criticising the Modi-led government on various policies.

For instance, he along with other senior leaders, demanded a CBI inquiry into the Rafale deals made by the government. Then later in 2019, following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Sinha led a delegation to the erstwhile state that was divided into union territories and called the move “suppression of dissent.”

A staunch and rational critic of the Modi government, he also led a movement against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens under the banner of ‘Gandhi Shanta Yatra’.

He hailed the women protestors of Shaheen Bagh while criticising the CAA/NRC as unconstitutional and accused the government of “dividing people on the basis of religion.”

Back in 2014, Sinha was in disagreement with Modi as the PM face for the party during the General Elections and following the landslide victory, Sinha received backlash and, many say, he was side-lined, among many other senior BJP leaders.

Two years after he exited the party, Sinha is back in electoral politics after a considerable gap. He says the plight of the migrant workers during the Covid-19 lockdown inspired him to roll up his sleeves and enter electoral politics again. “This is the most incompetent government of Independent India,” he had said of the government’s failure to support migrants.

“Everything it touches, it mismanages,” he said.

Sinha recalled that most of the migrants were from Bihar and Jharkhand. He even sat on Dharna in Delhi demanding action from the government.

Sinha claims that the Nitish-led NDA in 15 years has not achieved progress in the state; poverty and unemployment continue to be Bihar’s key issues. “Nothing moves without bribe,” he had said of the corruption in the state.

Bihar, like the rest of country, is ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic and Sinha has criticised the government for its poor response and also claimed that the Covid-19 figures were being fudged in the state.

Initially, Sinha demanded postponing the polls reasoning the pandemic and said that virtual rallies are for the richer parties and that the under-funded small parties have no leverage.

However, Bihar goes to polls next week and Sinha is on the ground leading various other parties and groups against the Nitish-led NDA.