PATNA: Amid the vast range of issues that the ruling JD(U) and
BJP combine have been invoking to flatten the rival
RJD-led grand alliance
(GA) and vice versa, it is seemingly difficult for a voter to sieve through the cacophony and chaos of rhetoric to reach at dominant issues and make up their mind, so as to vote for a candidate of the particular combine, or other than that.
For, the rank and file of the rival political combines hark on the proverbial wisdom of the voters: that they have already made up their mind which CM face (Nitish Kumar or
Tejashwi Prasad Yadav) to vote for!
The issues brought forth into the electoral arena are as old as 30 years — 15-year rule of NDA under Nitish versus the 15-year rule of Lalu (Prasad)-Rabri (Devi). Added to it are the new issues called imponderables, like the agriculture reform bills passed by Parliament that has also become a new topic catching the people’s imagination.
For Nitish, who is leading the NDA charge against the GA led by RJD’s CM face, the campaign style this time is different. During the 2005 assembly elections, he used to merely explain to people as to what his government would do if he came to power and deliberately avoided mentioning the RJD or Lalu.
During the 2010 assembly elections, he sought votes on the work done — rather what came to be called the Bihar turnaround story with high growth rates in the gross state domestic product (GSDP), and visible improvement in the law and order situation.
In 2015, he, Lalu and Congress formed GA and took on the seemingly invincible NDA led by PM Narendra Modi to emerge victorious. However, Nitish quit the GA in July 2017 and formed a government with BJP, again.
This time, the situation has been made tricky, as the traditional style and flourishes of campaigning by the leaders would be absent. They would be communicating to the people through the digital medium and, secondarily, through their reporting by the print, electronic and news portals as well as their (mis)representation in social media.
This has made the 2020 assembly elections neither easy to contest nor forecast by the pundits as to what the voters’ choice would be, because of the plethora of poll issues.
1 CM Face: The NDA’s CM face is Nitish, who has almost 15-year experience of running the state. RJD has thrown up Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who is dismissed as a greenhorn by his rivals.
2 Collective coalition leadership: The NDA is happy to have PM Narendra Modi and Nitish on its side, with other parties in the alliance largely on the same page. Tejashwi has to shoulder the campaign responsibility alone, as his father Lalu Prasad is in jail in fodder scam cases.
3 Legacy Factor: The NDA has pitched itself on the 15-year rule of Nitish versus 15 years of Lalu-Rabri, calling the latter as ‘jungle raj’ due to uncontrolled law and order and fodder scam. Tejashwi has called the NDA rule as ‘rakshas raj’ (rule of demons) due to the incidents like rape of minor girls at Muzaffarpur shelter home and unchecked crime.
4 Family Rule: The NDA leaders describe RJD as “a family party” of Lalu and its tenure in government as the “family rule” of his children. Tejashwi has not reacted to it, but the NDA’s charge might not cut much ice, as the “dynasty factor” is common to all parties, even to a large number of MLAs across political parties.
5 Political Morality: The NDA is largely silent on it, even while it is either wooing or trying to induct smaller political parties into its camp. Tejashwi and GA partners have been harping on the insult meted out to the 2015 mandate when Nitish switched side to form government with BJP.
6 Corona Factor: The NDA leaders have been pointing to the state government’s timely intervention and increasing the number of per day testing facility. They also refer to quarantine centres, dedicated hospitals for treatment, central and state assistance given to the poor, ration card holders and also to the returning migrant workers both in terms of foodgrain and cash. The GA partners point out the mismanagement at the quarantine centres and lack of work opportunities for the poor and migrant workers.
7 Development: The NDA preens its feathers by insisting that Nitish wrote the Bihar turnaround story underlined by double digit annual growth by dint of infrastructure development — like in roads and bridges (national highway, state highway, major district roads, rural roads, and others) and power sector, and also through service sector — besides making new strides in fishery, power, poultry, dairy and goat rearing.
Further, the NDA also refers to bringing in new institutions — universities, IIT, NIT, IIIT, besides technical and medical colleges. It insists on the growth made in the agriculture sector — like increased crop, vegetables and fruit production and compensation paid to farmers against damages caused by natural disasters and floods, fund transfer to farmers through DBT method.
Tejashwi, along with the GA partners, has been pointing to increasing poverty and unchecked unemployment and also harping on scams which surfaced, but were put under the heavy lid, besides on pervasive large-scale corruption and bureaucratic dominance in all walks of life.
8 New Poll Promise: The NDA, along with PM Modi and CM Nitish, has maintained that it would transform ‘developing Bihar’ into a developed state. To start with, Tejashwi has promised to decide employment to 10 lakh youths at the first cabinet meeting, if voted to power.