This is not going to be pleasant. This is not an analysis of the Bihar Elections, this is not a report about Bihar Elections, and this does not discuss the implications of the MGB victory in the Bihar elections on the national scene. This is a scathing criticism of the “Bhartiya Janata Party”, its ideological mentor “Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh” and all Right Wingers in general. I believe as an Indian, a Bihari and a politically active person with a center-right frame of mind, I have all the moral rights in the world to vent my frustration out against the saffron party whose whitewash in the Bihar Elections has pushed my state at least a decade back, especially when it was well on its way to reclaim the lost glory.
BJP needs to understand one thing that Modi is no magician and Amit Shah is no Chanakya. They are humans with their limitations. Modi understands the national narrative well. He knows Gujarati politics well, may be he knows politics elsewhere too but in all other elections except the General elections and Gujarat Assembly Elections, he will never be considered as a local face. Villagers, uneducated people, less educated people and people who cast votes purely on the basis of caste do not invest their 100% confidence in non-local campaigners. This is what happened in Bihar Elections. The Bihar BJP Team looked like Modi, Shah and a few hangers who nodded at everything that Modi and Shah said.
As far as oratory is concerned, Modi is a natural. But to assume that he is the only orator in BJP is a huge mistake. Even Atal Bihari Vajpayee who I consider the best orator ever in Indian politics allowed the likes of Sushma Swaraj, Pramod Mahajan, Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to address rallies. I used the word “allowed” because that’s how it seems.
The way BJP were going in this elections, it seemed as if there were no other faces in BJP, let alone local faces.
BJP failed in training and nurturing local leadership who could respond to Nitish and Lalu’s jibes in chaste Bhojpuri, Maithili, Magahi, Angika or the Bihari tapori language of Patna belt. Many of Modi’s Shuddha Hindi words were undecipherable for the local masses. Amit Shah’s heavily accented Hindi was well alien for them. Why did no BJP leader of Bihar take the center stage? Or were there none? Probably the latter because Sushil Modi, the tallest Bihar BJP leader has proved himself to be a complete dud as far as realpolitik skills are concerned. He first allowed Nitish Kumar to walk away with all glories of development, he allowed him to stop Narendra Modi from entering Bihar few years back and then to top it all, he allowed Nitish Kumar to dump him and his colleagues like a heap of filth.
Why did Ravi Shankar Prasad not address rallies?
Why did Radha Modhan Singh not address rallies?
Why did Shahnawaz Hussain not address rallies?
Why did Giriraj Singh not address rallies?
Why did Rajiv Pratap Rudi not address rallies?
And Amit Shah must be a distressed man right now and why not? There are so many in BJP who want him out at any cost. And this complete rout in Bihar Elections will only increase the dissenting voices and not all voices can be shunned. But Amit Shah failed in creating a winning team, a winning formula or an effective campaign. A party president is supposed to maintain unity in the team but BJP had Shatrughan Sinha braying against the party at the loudest of his voice and the party strangely felt no need to cut his feathers. Is Shatrughan Sinha a nobody? Maybe for BJP Top brass in Delhi but for Biharis, he is their biggest Cinema icon. Why he was not silenced in time? On the other hand BJP had the Vijayvergiyas and Sadhvis and Yogis with their Paleolithic agenda and stale ideologies. And Cow politics. Why they were not issued strict advices to shut up?
And what’s with the RSS? Even an apolitical person understands that Bihar along with UP are two states that fight elections on caste lines, so if Mohan Bhagwat thought of making sense by issuing anti-reservation remarks, his timing was that of a tail ender up against the attack of Steyn and Morkel. It was his statement and his statement alone that gave opposition the necessary firepower. It was his statement and his statement alone that reduced Narendra Modi to a desperate campaigner pitching for more reservations and pointing fingers at communities. Mohan Bhagwat alone made BJP look like a helpless party fighting for survival in Bihar elections.
And then we have the right wing intellectuals of India. I have a theory about Leftists and Right-ists of India. While the former works like a mafia wherein there is a structure and people even from the lowest ranks are supported and promoted, Right Wing works like a small shop, where the shopkeeper likes less competition so that his shop runs well. BJP IT CELL completely failed at creating a right wing ecosystem and hence small blogs like us or our friends at opindia remain unnoticed while the scrolls and firstposts and DailyOs are nurtured and promoted by the leftists.
BJP -it was a lackluster campaign. Amit Shah you need to loosen up a bit and create more leaders in BJP. Modi, it is time to respect the sanctity of your chair. You are our beloved PM not a 2 bit campaigner. Let others do that job for you and you develop India for us.