BIHAR BATTLEFIELD
Elyas Muhammad Thumbe
Bihar is one of the most
influential states in Indian politics. Late Jaya Prakash Narayan – the warrior
of safeguarding Indian democracy and the brain behind Janata Movement during
emergency period, were from Bihar. The state Bihar has witnessed many regional
parties, importantly JDU, RJD, LJP which have campaigned major role in previous
central and state ruling.
Bihar is the
state rich in human and natural resources with fertile land covered by ever flowing
revers. Hardworking Biharis have made
the state ever green and the landscape is bursting with agriculture. Though
Bihar has such rare and invaluable wealth it has been lagging far behind in the
graph of Indian development. The poor and poverty stricken Biharis strewn over
many states of the country in search of livelihood. Poverty, illiteracy, lack
of education, child labor, lack of basic infrastructures like electricity,
road, sanitation, health are very common which turned the life of citizen into dark
and dim. Lawlessness, nepotism, casteism, corruption, hooliganism have crossed
all its limitations in Bihar.
25 years
back, the people dejected from the earlier Congress regime, have shifted their loyalty
and opted the regional political group? JANATA
Parivar with a dream of bringing a change in Bihar. But, even after 25 years of
ruling by Janata Parivar, no change has ever been seen, instead the scenario led
from worse to worst.
Now with the
general assembly election’s declaration in the state, almost all parties of the
country are ready to show their vigor in Bihar assembly election like a war
field.
The
conditions of towns and suburban areas in the state are far from any modern
developmental concepts. Open drains,
filthy streets, pot hole – dusty – damaged roads made the life of urban civilians
unbearable. Electricity is the biggest challenge for the people. Frequent and
continuous cut off of electricity supply is very common in the urban areas and
electricity is a rare thing in rural areas.
Bihar has the lowest per capita income in the country at Rs 5,772 against the
national average of Rs 22,946 indicates that productivity, development and
economy has fell down drastically. Atrocities on Dalits, Tribals and minorities
are still a big challenge in Bihar where caste politics and feudalism is in its
highest point. All parties including ruling government are uttering the hymn of
‘Bihar awaits changes’. BJP is trying in full volume with an
ambition and with every gimmicks to capture Bihar into its parlor. It has
formed NDA alliance coping with Lokjanshakthi of Ramvilas Paswan and Hindustan
Awami Morcha of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. At the same time Lalu Prasad
Yadav and Nitish Kumar Yadav have also joined hands grabbing Congress with
them. The alliance of RJD-JDU-Congress has been promoted as ‘Maha Ghatbandhan’
(grand alliance). Samajvadi Party, at the last moment has changed its mind to
quit the grand alliance dissenting in seat sharing matters. SP and NCP have
come into mutual understanding and declared to jointly come into the fray.
Similarly CPI, CPM and other communist parties have formed an alliance for a
joint fight. Social Democratic Party of India, popularly known as SDPI has declared
its contention in 5 constituencies. Meantime, All India Majlis e Ithihadul
Muslimeen (AIMIM) Party owned by Owaisi Brothers has also decided to contest in
24 constituencies.
Two election surveys
indicated that there are 50:50 chances for both ‘Maha Ghatbandhan’ and NDA, which
exposes a massive battle between parties and alliances in Bihar assembly
election. People in Bihar have firmly understood that the ruling parties in the
state and at Center have contributed nothing to Bihar.
The Urban and rural areas
in the state are in such a pathetic situation, that one can say that they are
far away literally from any development. Lives of civilians have become
agonizing due to open drainages, filthy and garbage strewn streets, dilapidated
roads, undisciplined traffic system, corruption in all walks of life, etc. The
biggest problem in the state is disruption of power supply, to which the
government has not shown willpower to set it right. The condition in the rural
areas too is totally miserable. It will be a special day if there is power
supply of 8 hours in a day in the rural areas.
Caste politics has the
prime role in Bihar politics which has impacted badly and directly on
exercising social justice. 25 years of Janata rule has counterfeited the people’s
expectation of changes in Bihar. In the past years, infighting in Janata
Parivar had led to division which resulted in formation of separate parties which
fought against each other in previous elections with mutual animosity. Now,
these parties joined together in the name of ‘grand alliance’. The success of
this grand alliance in this assembly election will be depending upon the
mindset of the workers and leaders of these parties as they need to ally at the
grass root level too. It has to overcome factionism within and discontent among
the ticket aspirants. However, no doubt,
the charisma of Lalu Yadav and Nitish Yadav will attract major votes of Yadavs
and other OBC communities. The people from all over India are curiously and
positively awaiting to see how successful the commitment of ‘grand alliance’ could
be in keeping away the BJP from capturing power in Bihar. Strictly speaking, JDU is sole responsible for
solidifying BJP which was once week in Bihar by forming alliance with it in the
previous elections. The previous JDU-BJP alliance had strengthened the base of
BJP in Bihar. The reason for parting ties by RJD with right wing BJP is only
because the candidature of Narendra Modi as PM which RJD was not ready to cope
with. If the PM candidate would have been other than Narendra Modi, perhaps RJD
wouldn’t have parted tie with BJP.
Hence, the minority communities in Bihar may not be attracted to JDU.
NDA alliance is also
nothing but a muddle. Alliance by Dalit based parties like LJP and HAM with
right wing BJP is nothing but an anomaly. Both Ramvilas Paswan and Jitan Ram
Manjhi have stood up on the political foundation by fighting against upper cast
hegemony, untouchability, inequality, etc. Nevertheless, these political
leaders have turned back from their ideological abode and embraced the right
wing BJP only for gaining opportunities. Hence, the people from their own
community may not support them. BJP and
PM Narendra Modi are calculating that they may get the votes through speeches
and promises. Narendra Modi’s recent declaration of a special package of Lakhs
crores for Bihar is kept aside by the people of Bihar as deceiving, as his declaration
of “Ache Din” during the 2014 Loksabha election has already been proved a damp
squib. His promises like bringing back black money, lowering prices,
development, etc. are all big lies. After BJP coming into power in the center,
there is an increase in communal violence in the country, increase in hate
speeches, saffronisation of education-culture and even the history, about which
people have been disappointed by it as the party has been trying to
build the country on the basis of rightwing nationalism. Narendra Modi and BJP
playing ‘development card’ outwardly, while in the background the RSS, their
master is hell-bent in promoting
Hindutwa, communal polarization and corporatization turning the situation in
Bihar even more worse. Hence, the option
for the people in Bihar is to choose less harmer ‘Mahaghatbandhan’ than most
harmful ‘NDA”.
The communist alliance in Bihar
is not promising to people’s wishes as previous election results show that
there is no popularity for them. Though NCP and Congress parties do not have
massive vote bank in Bihar, we can see little seats for them which may not cross
single digit. Now, MIM has freshly stepped in Bihar, willing to contest in 24
seats, is mainly eyeing on Muslim vote bank. But, Muslims in Bihar are not
familiar with MIM as the party is very new to them and there is no base in the
state. They are well aware that the party has no any clear stand and solution
about the issues of Muslims in Bihar. The Muslims are well aware that the
violent and exaggerated speeches are not the solution for Indian Muslims.
Social Democratic Party of
India is contesting in 5 constituencies with confidence of opening a new
chapter of its history in Bihar politics. The cadre based party and has a
presence in 10 districts with thousands of cadres. SDPI has been actively working
in Bihar for about 5 years, has addressed lot of local issues pertaining to the
public in general and of Muslims and Dalits in particular. Huge public
participation has been witnessed in its pre-election rallies and conferences
held in different districts of Seemanchal. Keeping an eye on Muslim - Dalit and
OBC votes, the party has fielded 3 Muslim and 2 Adivasi candidates. SDPI, with
the objective of building a hunger free – fear free nation, has committed to
eradicate corruption, communalism and corporatization in the country through
inclusive politics. The country is eagerly watching whether SDPI will open its
chapter of political power by winning assembly seats in this election.
With this speculation,
calculation and analysis one can say that the assembly election in Bihar will
be a battlefield which will bring a clear message to the parties, public and to
the country as well.
End.
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