Tejashwi Yadav: The new ‘sonrise’ in Bihar's polity

Some called him school drop out. Others called him a ‘twitter babua’ (twitter kid). Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the extent of calling him ‘Jungle Raj ke Yuvraj’. But 31-year-old Tejashwi Yadav, who single-handedly fought the combined might of Modi as well as Nitish Kumar, never responded to any of the opponents’ derogatory nomenclatures.

Instead, he focussed on issues like ‘padhai, kamai, dawai and sinchai’ (Education, Jobs, Health and Irrigation for farmers) and set a new narrative in this part of the cow belt where, the the saying goes, 'you don’t cast your vote, you vote caste'.

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“Do you need jobs? Sarkari wala? If you get a government job, you will get a beautiful bride too,” Tejashwi would say in his each and every rally, and the impatient crowd would loudly cheer at his promise of providing 10 lakh jobs.

Right from the beginning of this election, Tejashwi played his cards well. He knew about the past baggage of the RJD and the misdeeds of some of the party leaders which brought Lalu-Rabri a bad name. So he started on a clean slate: “Let me apologise for any wrongdoings during the previous RJD regime.”

His public apology saw a new Tejashwi in a new avatar, who was ready to rectify mistakes, if any.

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But he never joined with the NDA leaders on raising the emotive issue of Ram temple, NRC, CAA, Chinese aggression or PM’s name-calling. Instead, he harped on local issues which largely affected the migrants and the unemployed.

“Tejashwi, like a seasoned politician, remained focused all throughout his 235 rallies he addressed in an Assembly election held in the absence of his maverick father Lalu Prasad. And his rallies drew more crowd than that of PM,” said noted social scientist Ajay Kumar, dwelling at length how a 31-year-old RJD leader made the Bihar battle a fierce fight.

“Not only this, Tejashwi even warned his supporters that they should desist from any ill-behaviour or celebratory firing after the poll results are announced. This he had said after the exit polls predicted his landslide victory. Such change in behaviour and attitude is a welcome sign. Bihar, therefore, is surely headed for a new ‘sonrise’, no matter which alliance wins,” opined the veteran political scientist.