The embarrassing defeat of Kanhaiya Kumar from Begusarai had surely shocked the pseudo-liberal gang rooting for his victory. Kanhaiya Kumar had lost to BJP’s Giriraj Singh by a margin of over 4 lakh votes. However, the embarrassment for Kanhaiya and his pseudo-liberal supporters was more than just a margin of 4 lakh votes. According to Journalist Pradeep Bhandari, Kanhaiya has even failed miserably to mobilize the electorate around his residence in his support.
According to the tweet in ward no. 15, Kanhaiya Kumar’s residence, Kanhaiya just managed to get 703 votes as compared to 807 votes polled in support for Giriraj Singh. The tweet further adds that even in Safapur, the biggest booth for communists, Kanhaiya could only manage 95 votes, while Giriraj Singh got 610. Pradeep Bhandari has tweeted:
BJP leader @girirajsinghbjp also won in Bihat – wardno15 (residence of @kanhaiyakumar ).Giriraj gt 807 votes, Kanhaiya 703. Even in Safapur the biggest booth of CPI, he could nly manage 95 votes, while Giriraj got 610."tukde tukde can never get people's mandate". #Elections2019
— Pradeep Bhandari (@pradip103) May 28, 2019
Kanhaiya Kumar, who contested Lok Sabha polls for the first time, had been the favorite of the left-liberal media, as the flag bearer of communism in the region. However, failure to grasp the current of the Bihari electorate had proved to be unfavorable for the ambitious 32-year-old leader.
Kanhaiya Kumar who had shot to fame after the infamous JNU incident, where anti-national slogans were allegedly raised in on the campus during a programme called to protest against the death sentence handed out to Afzal Guru, got the support of a barrage of famous left-leaning personalities. Some of them even parachuted to campaign for Kanhaiya in Begusarai. Actors Shabana Azmi, Swara Bhaskar, Prakash Raj, lyricist Javed Akhtar and prominent left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D. Raja and others had campaigned for Kanhaiya Kumar.
However, even with his star-studded campaign, the former JNUSU president seemed to have missed the sweet spot. Bihar electorate, which is known to vote in a highly localized manner, surely saw a minimal effect from this outside left-leaning support for Kanhaiya, BJP’s candidate Giriraj Singh, however, stood on the better end of the spectrum with his campaign focused on local issues.
Locals of Begusarai had already displayed their reservations against Kanhaiya Kumar for his alleged involvement in the JNU incident. The anger of the locals was clear when they stopped Kumar during his rally and asked him about what kind of freedom does he refer to in his speech. The video on the internet shows the locals blocking his convoy and asking him questions, to which the CPI candidate has no answer. One of the local asked, “The poor don’t want Azaadi (freedom). It is good that you wanted to become a politician but you need to give answers. Why were you opposed to reservation to economically backward class,” Kanhaiya has been criticizing the central government for carrying out polarised politics and not attending to the miseries of the poor section.
The CPI (M) candidate was also questioned by the locals as to why has he been opposing the provision of reservations to economically backward class. Kanhaiya Kumar defeat is surely an example of a superficial campaign, riding on media hype which failed to resonate with the local electorate.
