The Legislative Council poll results prove the NDA has difficult days ahead in Bihar, says NALIN VERMA



AN "apolitical" poll in Bihar has proved what a political one had done more than a decade ago: waning of upper castes' hold at the grassroots level. After 22 years, election to the Bihar's 24 Legislative Council seats were held. But the major political parties, including the RJD and the NDA partners, didn't field their candidates officially. The numerically stronger Yadavs, other OBCs and Muslims won handsomely, re-establishing Laloo Prasad Yadav's dominance. For the record, 15 of the 24 new MLCs are from Laloo Yadav's Yadav-Muslim-OBC combination. The icing on the cake for Laloo Yadav was the victory of two Scheduled Caste candidates, which means only seven MLCs are from the upper castes, when nine are Yadavs.

If the results are any indicator to the state's emerging political scenario, the NDA, still heavily dependent on the upper castes' support, has difficult days ahead in the run-up to next year's Lok Sabha polls. And despite the defeat of his "beloved" brother-in-law Prabhunath Yadav in Gopalganj, the RJD chief and "Raja of Bihar" has reasons to smile at the Council poll results. As many as 14 winners are from the RJD and Congress. Compare RJD success (with 11 winners) with the BJPs failure (not a single winner) and you would know what to expect in the Lok Sabha elections. The CPI, driven to the political periphery after severing ties with the RJD, too won two seats.

Its candidates Usha Sahani and Sanjay Kumar won from Bhagalpur-Banka and Begusarai local bodies' constituencies. Laloo Yadav was the first to announce that his party would not field its candidates officially in the Council polls. But after the results were declared, he declared: "There is RJD all around… NDA ka kahin ata-pata nahi hai (there's no trace of NDA anywhere)". But why did his brother-in-law lose? He said: "I had publicly asked him not to contest. Moreover, Prabhunath Yadav's defeat carries no political meaning."

With the BJP pushed to the wall, its leader Sushil Kumar Modi said: "The RJD deceived us.... It didn't officially participate in the polls but it pressed its cadres to work for its (unofficial) candidates from behind the scene."

But politics in Bihar today has been reduced to a game of dodging adversaries. Be it Laloo Yadav or his NDA rivals, no one really cares for the means to ensure victory at the hustings. Winning polls is the motto, whatever the means. Thus, despite Laloo Yadav's alleged deceitful tactics to ensure his unofficial candidates' victory, his action stands politically correct.

Another important factor in the Council polls was the glaring use of money, as has become the case with almost all elections in India. Many of the candidates had criminal antecedents. But it was the mafia dons and rich people who came out with flying colours. Except for the CPI's Usha Sahani who comes from a modest family, almost all the winners belong to the class that gained economic prosperity and social status in the post-Mandal era. Luring the voters with money was easy, for the voters were elected members of municipal and panchayat bodies and were limited in number in every local bodies' constituencies. Local newspapers were replete with reports of the candidates' supporters openly offering money to voters in Kaimur, Muzaffapur, Patna, Rohatas and West Champaran constituencies. Candidates of criminal background, who had more trust in their firepower and muscle-power, could not make it big. Thus, Ashok Yadav, Babban Yadav (who faces numerous criminal cases), Indira Devi (wife of a murder case convict and "terror" of Bagaha), Sattan Yadav, etc. have lost miserably.

The polls have been a source of humiliation for Ram Vilas Paswan and his Lok Janshakti Party, that in alliance with Nationalist Congress Party, had fielded 23 candidates. The LJP nominees failed to win even a single seat. In fact, after breaking off from the NDA, Paswan is battling for space in the state's political arena. The Legislative Council polls made it obvious that Paswan could survive only if he returns to the NDA or joins hands with the RJD-Congress combine, for the Dalit leader's clout over just Paswan votes alone is not sufficient to keep him alive politically.

Nalin Verma
The author is The Statesman’s Patna-based Special Representative.