Opinion | Bihar Votes Beyond Caste: A Democratic Reset | Opinion News

Nitish Kumar remains the most trustworthy political leader of Bihar. (Image: PTI)

Bihar was always measured on the scale of caste politics. Every analysis, every political move was targeted towards caste groups and religious groups. The very reason for insulting Hindu society and treating it shabbily was based on the belief that they could divide Hindus on caste and religion. This election has shattered all these assumptions and illusions.

Nitish Kumar remains the most trustworthy political leader of Bihar. It proved to be an election between reliable delivery versus wild promises. People preferred reliable leadership. The massive rebound of JD(U) is a tip of the hat of the people of Bihar for their elder leader Nitish Kumar.

Bihar has the oldest tradition of democracy from Lichchhavi ganarajya onwards. It has been at the helm of social change. The last big attempt at social change was the JP movement that spawned a new generation of leaders. Unfortunately, one of them was Lalu Yadav, who took it down the caste path.

Bihar and its governance were reduced to a casteist cauldron by Lalu Prasad Yadav. This election has seen the return of Biharis to their ancient democratic roots. The failure of the MY (Muslim–Yadav) card has shown that Muslims too are tired of being used as fodder and being held captive in the name of ‘saving them from fascist Hindus’.

Other factors that changed the election so decisively were the sudden media promotion of Lalu Yadav that recoiled. People were reminded of the Jungle Raj of the Lalu era. The open show of ‘desi katta’, the open threatening behaviour of Tejashwi Yadav’s loud, overly aggressive supporters turned them off. And the choice was clear.

While it was clear that women were supporting NDA because of the excellent work done for women by Nitish earlier, the latest scheme announced by the Nitish government for women gave huge encouragement to them. The unexpected level of rise in their voting percentage gave a clear signal of their preferences.

This record rise in votes, not just of women but the general overall rise of 10 per cent, created a doubt when so-called analysts claimed that youth were with Tejashwi. Now, looking at the results, it is clear that the youth too had become aware of the Jungle Raj of Lalu vs the change in Bihar’s fortunes with improvement in development indices and law and order and infrastructure. There was a time when Lalu had dismissed improvement in infrastructure as having no meaning for the poor, a cynical thought that even newly created leaders like Kanhaiya repeated.

Perhaps, rapid positive change in UP too played on the minds of the people. Benefits to the last person in the queue delivered by the Modi government have impacted every Bharatiya life. Bihar is no exception.

I feel there was an undercurrent of resentment against the low level of political discourse reflected in the highly abusive language of MGB against not just BJP but against PM Modi and his departed mother; this too played its role in alienating the youth of Bihar. The sly remarks against Nitish Kumar’s age-related issues too worked against MGB.

Sustained creation of distrust against constitutional institutions, presentation of fake data to discredit them, has not gone down well with the people. It is clear from the total negation of these charges through very high participation in ballots against which the party wished to score points.

Rahul Gandhi’s insincere approach to politics, where his managers weave some events and then he disappears, has not found acceptability. The fact is that he raised doubts about the electoral rolls and presented so-called evidence, which actually justified SIR (Special Intensive Revision). But he opposed that too. The message was that he just wished to create disaffection.

Decline in the fortunes of family or dynasty-led parties has given a clear message to the parties that each party and its leader will have to prove itself. No caste or no display of family credentials assures any leader success. Democracy is maturing.

Despite all the negativity created by vote chori, SIR, etc, people’s faith in democracy is touching. They know they can bring in a person or party by their votes. The historic voter turnout in Bihar is a tribute to their refusal to buy into the cynical opposition narrative. For me, this aspect of the Bihar election, and the debunking of caste-based politics, is more important for the nation than the massive win of the NDA.

The writer is a well-known author and political commentator. He has written several books on RSS like RSS 360, Sangh & Swaraj, RSS: Evolution from an Organisation to a Movement, Conflict Resolution: The RSS Way, and done a PhD on RSS. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.