The opposition organised a successful bandh in Bihar at a very short notice. This demonstrates that the people of Bihar are turning against the Nitish Kumar government. The chief minister was facing the heat of anti-incumbency even during his Adhikar yatra. He was facing protest from many sections of society and particularly from those para teachers, who got jobs during his first tenure as the chief minister. At many places the protest became ugly and got violent.
What was more damaging for Nitish was not the incidents of protests themselves, but their projections in the electronic media. Around five regional TV news channels were covering the Adhikar yatra of Nitish. Because of the coverage given by TV media, the print media was also forced to follow the news of the protest, though in a subdued manner.
So far the media projection of Nitish government has been very positive. So much so that even the media is facing the wrath of general people for not showing the true picture of Bihar.
Many senior journalists of the state were seen unhappy with the pressure that the media was facing from the government, which is the main source of advertisement revenue of the newspapers of the state. On the other hand, the state government under Nitish has also increased the advertisement fund, which gave the leverage to the chief minister to pressurise newspapers in Bihar to give him better publicity. The more favourable publicity you get, the more favourable publicity you need. So long, Nitish was getting favourable media coverage, but the Adhikar yatra proved to be damaging for him, as he was projected very badly during this campaign. Before the last Assembly elections, Nitish embarked on a Seva yatra, which turned out to be a successful campaign. The campaign was so successful that National Democratic Allianc [NDA]-led by Nitish got more than 80 per cent Assembly seats in the 2010 elections. By Adhikar yatra, Nitish was trying to strengthen himself in such a way, that he could fight the next Lok Sabha elections from Bihar without aligning with the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP].
It is not a secret that Nitish wants to play a major role in the government formation at centre after the next Lok Sabha elections. For that he needs more Lok Sabha MPs from his own party. With the support of the BJP, his party has 20 such MPs from Bihar. There are 40 Lok Sabha seats there. In the company of BJP, Nitish cannot expect to get more than this, so he was planning to go alone and fight all the 40 seats of the state. In his Adhikar yatra, he had made his intentions clear, when he had announced that he would support any party at the centre, which gives Bihar a special status. He also declared that Bihar with 40 Lok Sabha seats will play the most crucial role at the government formation, if people of Bihar support him in the struggle of getting special status for his state. It was unfortunate for the CM that when he was making such an announcement, the United Progressive Alliance [UPA] government was on a shaky foot after the withdrawal of Trinamool Congress [TMC] support by Mamata Banerjee. It gave the impression that Nitish was saying that his party might support the UPA government at the centre at that troubled time.
However, with his Adhikar yatra, Nitish was trying to create an independent base in Bihar, whereby he could fight all 40 seats of Lok Sabha without the support of BJP. BJP was also aware of the intention of Nitish. That is the reason why president of the state BJP, C P Thakur had to announce that his party was preparing to contest all the 40 seats of Bihar. He also stated in a straightforward way that there was possibility of break down of NDA in Bihar and keeping that possibility in mind his party has to be ready in advance.
Anyway, Nitish’s Adhikar yatra flopped miserably. What Nitish was trying from this campaign was to arouse regional feeling among the people of Bihar, because his alliance partner BJP, being a national party, cannot match him in regional rhetoric. That is why Thakur was again forced to give a statement that if Bihar cannot get a special status, it has to progress with its own resources and there is no need to make much hue and cry over the neglect of the state by the centre. BJP was reacting in an expected manner, as far as Nitish was concerned, but the people of Bihar were not responding to Adhikar yatra in an expected way. Nitish was asking people of his state to fight for the right of state to get special status, but instead people started fighting to get their own rights from the state government. Para teachers were protesting for their rights to get their salaries on time and also pay parity with the regular teachers. Students were protesting for their rights of students unions elections in colleges and universities. It is worth mentioning that no student union election has taken place in any college or university in Bihar after 1984.
So what did Nitish get from his Adhikar yatra? Bad publicity in electronic media, which percolated to print media as well. This negative publicity has paved way for the success of Bihar Bandh organised jointly by the opposition parties. Though, more red banners and flags could be seen on roads on the day of Bandh, Lalu Prasad Yadav had more reasons to smile. Now opposition says that there is a jungle raj in Bihar. Has really, the jungle raj returned in Bihar? Those, who still remember the days of Lalu Rabri government, will answer this question in negative, but certainly there is a strong anti-incumbency wave against Nitish Kumar in Bihar. He should take it as a warning signal and do the needful. [IPA]
What was more damaging for Nitish was not the incidents of protests themselves, but their projections in the electronic media. Around five regional TV news channels were covering the Adhikar yatra of Nitish. Because of the coverage given by TV media, the print media was also forced to follow the news of the protest, though in a subdued manner.
So far the media projection of Nitish government has been very positive. So much so that even the media is facing the wrath of general people for not showing the true picture of Bihar.
Many senior journalists of the state were seen unhappy with the pressure that the media was facing from the government, which is the main source of advertisement revenue of the newspapers of the state. On the other hand, the state government under Nitish has also increased the advertisement fund, which gave the leverage to the chief minister to pressurise newspapers in Bihar to give him better publicity. The more favourable publicity you get, the more favourable publicity you need. So long, Nitish was getting favourable media coverage, but the Adhikar yatra proved to be damaging for him, as he was projected very badly during this campaign. Before the last Assembly elections, Nitish embarked on a Seva yatra, which turned out to be a successful campaign. The campaign was so successful that National Democratic Allianc [NDA]-led by Nitish got more than 80 per cent Assembly seats in the 2010 elections. By Adhikar yatra, Nitish was trying to strengthen himself in such a way, that he could fight the next Lok Sabha elections from Bihar without aligning with the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP].
It is not a secret that Nitish wants to play a major role in the government formation at centre after the next Lok Sabha elections. For that he needs more Lok Sabha MPs from his own party. With the support of the BJP, his party has 20 such MPs from Bihar. There are 40 Lok Sabha seats there. In the company of BJP, Nitish cannot expect to get more than this, so he was planning to go alone and fight all the 40 seats of the state. In his Adhikar yatra, he had made his intentions clear, when he had announced that he would support any party at the centre, which gives Bihar a special status. He also declared that Bihar with 40 Lok Sabha seats will play the most crucial role at the government formation, if people of Bihar support him in the struggle of getting special status for his state. It was unfortunate for the CM that when he was making such an announcement, the United Progressive Alliance [UPA] government was on a shaky foot after the withdrawal of Trinamool Congress [TMC] support by Mamata Banerjee. It gave the impression that Nitish was saying that his party might support the UPA government at the centre at that troubled time.
However, with his Adhikar yatra, Nitish was trying to create an independent base in Bihar, whereby he could fight all 40 seats of Lok Sabha without the support of BJP. BJP was also aware of the intention of Nitish. That is the reason why president of the state BJP, C P Thakur had to announce that his party was preparing to contest all the 40 seats of Bihar. He also stated in a straightforward way that there was possibility of break down of NDA in Bihar and keeping that possibility in mind his party has to be ready in advance.
Anyway, Nitish’s Adhikar yatra flopped miserably. What Nitish was trying from this campaign was to arouse regional feeling among the people of Bihar, because his alliance partner BJP, being a national party, cannot match him in regional rhetoric. That is why Thakur was again forced to give a statement that if Bihar cannot get a special status, it has to progress with its own resources and there is no need to make much hue and cry over the neglect of the state by the centre. BJP was reacting in an expected manner, as far as Nitish was concerned, but the people of Bihar were not responding to Adhikar yatra in an expected way. Nitish was asking people of his state to fight for the right of state to get special status, but instead people started fighting to get their own rights from the state government. Para teachers were protesting for their rights to get their salaries on time and also pay parity with the regular teachers. Students were protesting for their rights of students unions elections in colleges and universities. It is worth mentioning that no student union election has taken place in any college or university in Bihar after 1984.
So what did Nitish get from his Adhikar yatra? Bad publicity in electronic media, which percolated to print media as well. This negative publicity has paved way for the success of Bihar Bandh organised jointly by the opposition parties. Though, more red banners and flags could be seen on roads on the day of Bandh, Lalu Prasad Yadav had more reasons to smile. Now opposition says that there is a jungle raj in Bihar. Has really, the jungle raj returned in Bihar? Those, who still remember the days of Lalu Rabri government, will answer this question in negative, but certainly there is a strong anti-incumbency wave against Nitish Kumar in Bihar. He should take it as a warning signal and do the needful. [IPA]