Bihar Assembly elections was absolutely less about development and more about beef, castes and reservations in which BJP-led NDA and JD (U)-led Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) participated actively. The writing was on the wall, about Nitish Kumar notching up another win, as soon as exit polls had been declared, but putting the spanner in the works was News24’s Chanakya and NDTV’s exit polls, which showed a clear majority for Narendra Modi-led BJP – RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav proved to be an asset rather than an impediment. Now, since the mandate has been declared and it paved the way for the Grand Alliance (178 seats) rule in Bihar, here are 5 key points that likely gave them an upper hand over:
1. Nitish is a figure of development and ‘sushasan’ (Good governance) in Bihar and many Lalu supporters have turned toward him for growth.
2. Lalu Yadav played his trump card by announcing that Nitish Kumar will be the CM candidate for ‘Mahagathbandhan’. This united the voters who foresee Nitish Kumar as the role model for development of Bihar. ‘Mahagathbandhan’ is their formula to stop ‘communal forces’ like BJP and it has certainly paid off.
3. Narendra Modi: PM’s ‘DNA’ remark boomeranged on BJP after it was connected by Nitish Kumar to Bihari pride.
3. Women voters: Nitish Kumar, in his tenure of 10 years, has improved the literacy rate amongst women which now stand at 73 pct. He provided tens of thousands of bicycles to girls to attend schools. He is quite popular among the women voters who constitute of over 30 pct of the total voting public.
4. Caste: While this is the most prominent factor for the debacle of the BJP, the Grand Alliance has succeeded in appeasing Koeri-Kurmi-Dalit (around 30 pct) voters. Beside this, a section of upper caste voters including Bhumihar-Rajput-Brahmins support Nitish Kumar. Nitish has won their support on the basis of development work like roads, electricity etc done by his government in the state. He is the one who has devised primary teachers jobs to lessen unemployment among youths. Also, Muslims (over 16 pct) also support Kumar and incidents like beef ban and Dadri lynching boosted BJP’s anti-Muslim image in the state.
5. Reservations: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief may have called for review of the reservations system, but it was largely projected that BJP wanted to eliminate the reservations system. Though the party was quick to respond that it stands for reservations, but by then the damage had been done.
