Narendra Modi gives a fresh lease of life to RJD

Polarisation of Votes in Bihar Gives a Fresh Lease of Life to RJD

RJD supremo and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad suffered a serious jolt on February 24 when 13 out of his 22 party MLAs deserted him.

Most of them came back to the party fold later. Though he successfully managed this political crisis, it became evident that Lalu once known the messiah of social justice has lost much of his political sheen today.

Despite his open offer for a state level coalition with the Congress, the party kept him on tenterhooks for months and kept on hobnobbing with the JD(U).

He was very much aware of the political dividend he may get of this alliance. Perhaps this was the key reason he ignored his earlier alliance partner the Ram Vilas Paswan-led LJP.

Some senior party leaders like Ram Kripal Yadav and Gulam Ghaus have left the party and contested on other party tickets.

Not only in political level did he suffer, in September 2013 he was convicted by a CBI court in the multi-crore fodder scam and as a result was debarred from contesting elections. He was pushed to the wall after the demoralizing defeat of the party in two consecutive elections.

But Lalu got a fresh lease of life after the aggressive campaign by BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Bihar.

The polarization of minority voters has proved a boon to the RJD-led alliance which was considered as formidable force to check “Modi wave” in Bihar.

This helped him to revive his old MY (Muslim- Yadav) social constituency. This social combination commands about 30 per cent votes.

One of his former party MLA Akhtar-ul-Iman who joined the JD(U) to contest from Kishangunj withdrew his candidature before the election in favour of sitting MP and RJD backed Congress Maulana Asrar-ul-Haque to prevent the split of Muslim votes, which had cascading impact in many other adjoining constituencies.

Comments like “go to Pakistan” by former BJP minister and Nawada candidate Giriraj Singh and “casteism in Bihar DNA” by former party chief Nitin Gadkari have further helped the RJD.

Lalu not only targeted Modi in all his election rallies, but even tried to win over Muslims by making comments like as “Mai apki golbandi ko salute karta hun.” (I salute your polarization). Political observers feel that Modi has given Lalu a fresh lease of political life as this election was crucial for his political survival. And no doubt this polarize election has adversely affected the JD(U) in many constituencies.

Source: New Indian Express