Dust settles on shrill Bihar poll campaign

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the charge on behalf of the NDA, which has not declared a Chief Ministerial candidate, and launched a blistering attack on the JD(U)-RJD-Congress grand alliance. In response, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav-led the counter-attack with equal venom on Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.

The development agenda was brushed under the carpet after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s controversial statement on reviewing OBC reservation made headlines.

The statement of Bhagwat to review the quota policy put the BJP on defensive mode and every leader of the ruling party at the Centre came out in open to counter the quota review remark. For the first time, Bihar Assembly election trail witnessed BJP at variance with its parent organisation, which strengthened the winning aspirations of their arch-rival the Mahagadbandhan, which comprises the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and the Congress. Not one to miss an opportunity, the grand alliance, too, put the development agenda on the backseat and started raking up the quota issue to get a bigger share of other backward class vote (which comprises around 31 per cent). It also happened for the first time that the BJP started to import issues to polarise “their” vote-bank by raking up the beef controversy during the campaigning.

The poll campaign was kick-started by both the alliances as per their myths and beliefs, after the dates of the five-phased state Assembly elections were declared on September 9. JD-U’s Nitish Kumar-led Mahagadbandhan (Grand Alliance) started its electioneering on September 26 by launching a frontal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not fulfilling any of the promises made during the general elections, and appealed to voters to rely on a “tried and tested person.”

PM Modi had unveiled the Bihar election campaign for the BJP on October 2 by addressing a rally in the state’s Banka district. The BJP had lost the Banka Lok Sabha seat last year and the party hopes that Modi’s rally would help reclaim lost ground.

During the campaign for the bitterly-fought Bihar Assembly elections, noted leaders of each alliance spewed venom on each other. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on whom the NDA is banking on to sail through in Assembly polls, dubbed RJD president Lalu Prasad a shaitan (demon), the latter came out with a still more acerbic name for Modi, calling him a Brahma Pishach (super demon). 

 

Also, Prasad raked up the Gujarat riots and blamed  BJP national president Amit Shah and Modi for the Godhra episode. He also dubbed Shah as a  Narbhakshi (cannibal).

The acrimonious and provocative exchange of words resulted in show-cause notices from the Election Commission to the top leaders of rival alliances.