By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net
With 178 seats out of the 243 Assembly seats, to say that the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ of Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress has bulldozed its way to victory, would be merely stating the obvious. Once again, Bihar has managed to change the political discourse at the national level: from the initial impediment of Congress in 1960s to the movement led by Jai Prakash Narayan in the late 70s and the stopping of LK Advani’s Rath Yatra in 1992, all have been testimony to Bihar’s exceptional political inclination in changing the course of Indian politics.
More than 80% of Other Backward Castes (OBCs), Extreme Backward Castes (EBCs) and Muslims rejected the communal ‘jumlas’ and the deliberate attempt to divide Dalits and Muslims by none other than the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah. The state many not score high on the average literacy rate, but the citizens nevertheless managed to dismiss and fool not only the BJP but also the psephologists of various news channels.
The impact of the Bihar results was so strong that even Shiv Sena, known for bashing Biharis living in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, praised Nitish Kumar as a Hero.
The results have made it clear that communal politics doesn’t have any place in India and it can never win if secular parties are united. The answer to the question posed by the BJP Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on TV channels, on how the BJP won 30 Parliamentary seats in 2014 election, lies in the division of majority secular votes. Not only in Bihar; this has been the mool mantra of the BJP win everywhere.
Abhishek Waghmare of Indiaspend.com provided data and suggested, “Facing the BJP juggernaut independently in the Lok Sabha elections, the JD (U) and the RJD +Congress garnered 45% vote share but won only nine out of 40 seats. NDA, on the other hand, got only 39% of total votes but won 30 seats.” In 2015 he says, “The present Grand Alliance garnered 42% vote share in assembly election and won 178 seats. The NDA won only 58 seats with a 34.3 % vote share.”
An important lesson here for the Congress would be that it if intends to be a significant partner, it will have to sacrifice its ego and ‘big brother’ attitude. It has to dump the suggestions of the Anthony Committee formed to find out the reason for the defeat in 2014 election, which believed its proximity with Minorities had led the people to doubt its secularism.
Nehru’s secular belief and policies helped Congress rule India after Independence for a long time. The first jolt for the Congrress came soon after Nehruvian beliefs were shunned by Indira Gandhi’s totalitarian attitude and Rajiv Gandhi’s communal politics. It could not form the government on its own after the demolition of Babri Masjid.
Going forward, the support for support inclusive development is the other important wisdom from this result. While Lalu regained his caste-support base, Nitish Kumar’s clean image and inclusive development model paid him rich dividends.
Quoting the Economic Survey of Bihar 2014-15, Abhishek Waghmare observed, “The Nitish-led coalition matched the progress in economy with equal focus on social sector-women empowerment and child development.” The government led by Nitish Kumar, in the last decade, also implemented 50% reservation for women in panchayats and reservations for the post of Mukhiya.
Political wisdom of Biharis may be unfolded more in future but a quick conclusion is that India of 2015 needs development, but not at the cost of its secular and pluralistic nature. The software, as suggested by Pawan Kumar, spokesperson of JD (U), is ready for the 2019 General Election. Is BJP and Congress watching?