The BJP-led NDA lost its development narrative to hate politics in Bihar. Controversial remarks by its leaders, including party chief Amit Shah, were seen to dominate over its development plank, with party leaders failing to convince voters that the NDA could do better than what chief minister Nitish Kumar had done. Top NDA leaders also failed to convince Bihar that development was its only agenda, not indulging in hate politics or polarisation, of which it was accused of by its opponents. The saffron party’s “return of jungle raj” campaign also fell flat.
The BJP, that gives itself credit for coming to power in several states, winning in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand after its stunning performance in last year’s Lok Sabha elections, also failed to convince Bihar voters that there was anti-incumbency against Mr Kumar. The BJP’s highest decision-making body, the parliamentary board, will neet on Monday to introspect on why it failed miserably in this high-stakes electoral battle.
While the BJP continued on its development plank till the first phase of elections, its campaign was seen deviating after that, with controversial remarks including on the beef controversy that followed the Dadri lynching incident, by its top leaders. The rhetoric by BJP leaders, including by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on quotas and minorities, was seen as a desperate attempt by the saffron leadership after getting feedback that it was not doing well and that the Nitish-Lalu alliance was way ahead. While speculation is rife on whether the Bihar results will have any impact on Mr Shah remaining party president, senior leader and home minister Rajnath Singh recently said Mr Shah will continue irrespective of what the results were.
With BJP losing another key state after Delhi in less than 10 months, party leaders have started questioning the leadership issue and also the decision to not project a NDA chief ministerial candidate, ticket distribution and alienating state leadership by assigning major tasks to the central leadership.
Already facing trouble in Maharashtra, where its Shiv Sena ally passes up no chance to attack it, the BJP leadership might find its allies more assertive now. With the BJP providing it another opportunity in Bihar, the Shiv Sena, in an apparent dig at the PM, said the defeat “denotes the decline of a leader”, while hailing Mr Nitish Kumar as a “mahanayak” (superhero). Speculation is rife that things are not going too well between the BJP and Telugu Desam as well.
The BJP managed to forge a caste alliance, but its impact on the ground appeared to have been negligible. Also, its caste calculation and social arithemtic failed miserably as it failed to divide dominant castes. Surprisingly, even the upper castes, traditionally considered as the BJP’s core votebank, favoured the Opposition alliance. Even BJP allies like Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP, Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP did badly.
Discontent seems to be growing in the party after the results, with Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra admitting that Bihar had rejected the “high-pitched” BJP campaign crafted by the party chief and suggested there was a need to cultivate a strong local party leadership in the state. He also said party strategists erred in their calculations, in their attempt to match caste with caste.
Bureaucrat-turned-politician R.K. Singh, BJP MP from Arrah, demanded introspection over the defeat and said responsibility should be fixed. He also criticised the way in which tickets were distribution before the polls. “It is not a question of thinking but a fact. Go and check up. People who were chargesheeted for crimes like dacoity were given tickets. That is not something that I expected from my party,” he said.
Sulking BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha termed the Grand Alliance’s victory as a “victory of democracy” and took a swipe at the party’s top brass, saying the issue of “Bihari versus Bahari” had been “settled once and for all”. He also said the party needed to introspect.
Former Union minister Arun Shourie said Mr Modi, Mr Shah and finance minister Arun Jaitley should be held accountable for the BJP’s defeat in Bihar elections and predicted that the “silent non-cooperation movement” in the party against the leadership would now deepen. He also said a “Modi-centric” campaign “lacked credibility” because of the unkept promises of the past and blamed the BJP’s “divisive tactics” for the drubbing.
