Aarakshan, Beef, Caste, Daal: Bihar’s ABCD that Changed Equations

Comments by BJP leaders on reservation and beef have given a pscychological edge to Nitish, writes Neena Choudhary.

BJP activists in a road show on the last day of campaigning for the second phase of assembly elections in Gaya, October 14, 2015. (Photo: PTI)

Before the first vote was cast in Bihar on October 12, the state assembly election appeared to be headed for a photo finish as both the contenders – the BJP-led NDA and the Nitish Kumar-led alliance were locked in a fierce contest.

After two phases of polling across 81 seats of 243 assembly constituencies, the battle for Bihar seems to have given the present Chief Minister Nitish Kumar a psychological edge.

Fighting one of the most crucial elections in his 30-year-long political career, Nitish should, more than himself, thank the BJP, which inadvertently shot in itself in the foot even before the ‘war’ could begin in right earnest.

Fighting one of the toughest electoral battles in his 30-year-old political career, Nitish Kumar should thank the BJP for shooting itself in the foot. (Photo: PTI)

BJP’s Misfortune

BJP should do some serious introspection about the ABCD (Aarakhshan, Beef, Caste, Daal) – four issues which, of late, have turned the tide against it. On all these, it committed one mistake after another, so power-drunk were its strategists.

A large section of media may blame Lalu Prasad for turning the Bihar battle into a forward versus backward war. But the fact is that it was BJP President Amit Shah who started all this when he proudly proclaimed more than two months ago that it was the BJP which gave India its first backward prime minister.

In a pluralist society like ours, the president and the prime minister so far have never been counted in terms of forward or backward. The (uncharitable) claim had an equal and opposite reaction when Lalu Prasad, the champion of Mandal Raj, claimed that it was his party which gave India its first OBC PM in the form of Deve Gowda in July 1996.

Tables Turn in Nitish’s Favour

• After two phase of polling the Bihar battle seems to have given Chief Minister Nitish Kumar a psychological edge
• BJP should introspect about the ABCD (Aarakhshan, Beef, Caste, Daal) – four issues which have turned the tide against it
• Mohan Bhagwat’s reservation remark hasn’t gone down well with voters in caste-ridden Bihar
• Common people were afflicted with price rise, beef hardly mattered in the interiors of Bihar
• Price of pulses that shot from Rs 75 last year to Rs 200 now saw voters questioning Modi’s promise of achche din

Advantage for Nitish

To make matters worse, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat added fuel to fire when he, in an interview to the Sangh mouthpiece Organiser, said the time had come to review aarakshan (reservation). Caste-ridden Bihar, in the two poll phases, reportedly saw polarisation of voters, much as it had happened in 1995 when backwards and Dalits rallied around Lalu Prasad, catapulting him to become chief minister for the second time in a row.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav refering to M S Golwalkar’s book ‘Bunch of Thoughts’ to attack the RSS on reservation in an interview at his Patna residence, October 18, 2015. (Photo: PTI)

It’s worth mentioning here that the 1995 assembly election was the first poll in Bihar after the Mandal Commission recommendations was implemented in August 1990.

The second issue which has given the Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance an advantage was the brouhaha over beef. At a time when the youth are faced with unemployment, (despite Narendra Modi’s promise during the Lok Sabha polls to give jobs to one crore unemployed every year) and common people are afflicted with price rise, beef hardly mattered in the interiors of Bihar. It only remained a debatable issue on numerous TV channels.

Nitish, at one of his rallies, even pointed out that the beef issue was being imported from neighbouring UP much like the BJP had imported its leaders from Delhi, Gujarat and Rajasthan to shore up its strength.

(Photo: PTI)

Where are ‘Achche Din’?

When Plan A (Aarakshan) and Plan B (Beef) failed, the BJP raked up the caste issue. It fielded its most prominent face from the upper caste, Giriraj Singh, a Union minister from the dominant Bhumihar community, to reiterate that no leader from forward/upper caste would become the BJP chief minister if the party was voted to power.

It was an uncalled for remark at a time when the BJP’s top brass had steadfastly maintained that the party’s parliamentary board would take a call on the CM. But Giriraj’s statement upset at least half-a-dozen CM hopefuls from BJP who belong to the upper caste. This also frustrated a large section of forwards, who, however, are left with little option.

Youth Congress workers protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over price hike of pulses on Wednesday. (Photo: PTI)

The fourth and most significant issue was daal (pulses). Rattled with the astronomical price rise from Rs 75 (last year) to Rs 200 now, voters were seething with rage and unequivocally questioning Modi’s promise of achche din. To make matters worse, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, who is also a senior BJP MP from Motihari in Bihar, blamed Nitish for the abnormal price of pulses.

It is inexplicable why Radhamohan had to blame Nitish for this and thereby make himself a laughing stock. In fact, when Nitish countered the charge and asked the Union minister that ‘Has the price of daal increased only in Bihar?’ the BJP leader could not find a face-saving excuse. Any more faux pas by the BJP at this juncture of the election could prove costly.

(The writer is a Bihar-based journalist)