Vote for development
by
AJ Philip |
Nitish Kumar has a big job cut out for him in Bihar
Exit polls suggest that the Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party combine will bounce back to power in Bihar with a larger majority when votes are counted on November 24. The significance of the electoral outcome is that for the first time, the second most populous state, considered a laggard so far, has clearly opted for development.
Everybody who witnessed the prolonged campaign in the state is certain that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s gamble in staking on development has paid off. What is uncertain now is the margin with which the two-party alliance will win the elections. There is no doubt at all that the results will mark a new beginning in the state’s electoral history.
Bihar had for long been considered a citadel of casteism. It is a phenomenon under which the voter exercises his franchise to further the cause of the caste or religion to which he belongs. One of the reasons why the state, despite its rich mineral and other natural resources, could not progress was the caste factor that influenced political and administrative decisions. It also degenerated into one of the most corrupt states in the country.
For decades, immediately after Independence, when the state was ruled by the Congress, upper castes like Brahmins, Bhumihars and Rajputs controlled politics, though a majority of the voters belonged to lower castes like Yadavs and Kurmis and Scheduled Castes like Paswans and Musahars. The advent of Lalu Prasad as chief minister in 1990 marked a turning point when the upper castes’ control of state politics ended, once and for all.
Lalu Prasad, a product of the late Jayaprakash Narayan’s “Total Revolution” movement in the seventies when students came out on the streets to protest against corruption in the state, captured the imagination of the people, who were mesmerised by his witticism, repartee and down-to-earth approach to events and people. And when he grandiosely promised that he would make the roads of Bihar as smooth as the cheeks of film star Hema Malini, the people found a ray of hope in his leadership.
And when Lalu Prasad Yadav as Chief Minister got BJP leader L.K. Advani, who was on his way to Ayodhya, to build a Ram temple in place of the centuries-old Babri Masjid, arrested, he fortified his position among the Muslims. But he frittered away all the goodwill he enjoyed as he got embroiled in a multi-million corruption case and, thereby, overlooked the needs of development.
The contempt with which Lalu Yadav held his party was borne out by the fact that when he was jailed, he preferred to have his semi-literate wife Rabri Devi installed as chief minister. In other words, he did not trust anyone in the party. During the husband-wife team’s long tenure, the roads remained as pot-holed as ever and law and order went for a toss with kidnapping for ransom becoming a thriving business.
To be fair to him, Lalu Yadav ensured that the state was free from communal violence of the kind witnessed at Bhagalpur and Hazaribagh in the eighties when the Congress ruled the state. While security was precious for Muslims, they also needed jobs and opportunities for self-employment, a fact the Lalu-Rabri duo did not take into account.
It was in this bleak scenario that Nitish Kumar came to power in 2005. During the five years that have gone by, his single most important achievement was his ability to improve the law and order situation. For once businessmen realised that they no longer had to pay money to criminals for protection. Similarly, women did not have to hurry to reach their homes before sunset.
Some innovative schemes like providing bicycles to girls in high schools, filling of a large number of vacancies of teachers in government schools and providing 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayats convinced the voters that Nitish Kumar was serious about development. For them, the gleaming highways and roads he built or repaired were proof that he could be trusted. He also ensured that nobody could raise charges of corruption and nepotism against him.
He won the confidence of the least developed communities among the backward castes by tailoring programmes aimed at their special development. His refusal to allow Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, accused of playing a nefarious role in the Gujarat riots in 1992, to campaign in the state sent positive signals to the Muslims who also realised that he did not allow any religious violence to occur during the last five years.
All this deprived Lalu Yadav and his partner Ram Vilas Paswan of talking points against the ruling combine. For the first time, Lalu realised that the Yadav-Muslim combination, which was the secret of his success, had lost its appeal. Of course, people turned up at his rallies to hear his wisecracks but they no longer treated him as a serious contender for power. He also made the mistake of antagonising the Congress which, influenced by Sonia Gandhi’s son and MP Rahul Gandhi decided to test the waters by ploughing a lonely furrow.
Though the mother and son attracted large crowds in the state, the Congress lacked the organisational infrastructure to convert the crowds into votes. By giving tickets to the wives of some criminals-turned-politicians and relatives of Lalu Prasad who fell out with him, the Congress forfeited its claim that it alone could provide a clean alternative to the alliances represented by Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad.
While Nitish Kumar has many achievements to his credit, the fact remains that Bihar is not a destination for investments, whether Indian or foreign.
All this suggests that Nitish Kumar has a big job cut out for him as he prepares to form the next government in the state. He has proved that the problem of incumbency that every ruling party faces in the states.
(The writer is a New Delhi-based senior journalist.)
Oman Tribune |
Other comment for AJ Philip
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| NEWS UPDATES |
|
|
|
|
|
|
