BJP achieves two key goals ::: Has Modi successfully taken 'eastern India' and the country as a whole marching toward Hindu domination ?

Tejashwi Yadav's RJD got more vote share than BJP and JD-U but still lost. 

The RJD, which won 25 of the 143 seats it contested, secured 23% of the vote share - the highest by a single party in the elections. It is more than the BJP and JD(U).

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), led by Asaduddin Owaisi, fielded 23 Muslim candidates and won 5 seats. -- Mainly from Muslim-majority constituencies. 

The RJD fielded 18 Muslim candidates, with three winning seats. 

Congress fielded 10 Muslim candidates, won - 2.

Janata Dal (United) had 4 Muslim nominees and won only one. 

Bihar had 19 Muslim MLAs in 2020. That number has been reduced to 11 now.

According to the Election Commission, the RJD, which won 25 of the 143 seats it contested, secured 23% of the vote share - the highest by a single party in the elections. It was a slight dip from the 23.11% vote share it received in the 2020 polls, where it emerged as the single largest party with 75 seats.

The BJP vote share was 20.8 per cent

JD-U of Nitish Kumar polled -- 19.25 per cent while Congress which managed only six seats had polled 8.71 per cent

LJP (Ram Vilas) of Chirag Paswan won 21 out of 29 seats ... it contested. It's vote share was 4.97 per cent.

Opposition has been unable to match the electoral aggressiveness of Team Modi. In Bihar, Nitish Kumar's "performer image" as someone who eradicated Jungle Raj was rewarded.   

Congress, in the past, has ruled India intermittently in coalitions, espousing Sicularism/secularism and equal rights for all religions but failed to keep voter confidence.

"He (Rahul Gandhi) should ask himself what would have happened if instead of him it was another political leader who had led our oldest party to defeat in more than 50 major elections. He would have been asked to resign. Right?," writes columnist Tavleen Singh. 

She adds: "It is not easy to decipher why Bihar’s voters have given such a decisive mandate to a man who has been Chief Minister of the state for more than 20 years." 

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As usual perhaps there are other issues of debate. One of them is --the Sickular brigade did not do much for the minorities. 

Their bluff was always going to be exposed. Post Bihar mandate and the vote count; AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi says -- Muslims should no longer be just voters- who have been exploited by political parties and instead they should become vote-getters and rightful citizens themselves. 

This is where he argues the AIMIM has good acceptability among Muslim voters. 

Another related refrain is - Often unreasonable and indiscriminate attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, no concrete actions in the name of Muslim welfare and an inability to contain corruption have discredited these Sickular parties. The important message is Muslim-appeasing parties in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Here too sickular parties have only played lip-service vis-a-vis welfare of the Muslims. 

In West Bengal, BJP state president  Samik Bhattacharya has rightly said -- "Marchhey Musalman, Morchhe Musalman (Muslims are perpetrators of violence as well as the real-time worst victims in the state)". 

The BJP has achieved two key goals: 

-- the marginalisation of Muslims from Bihar politics with/without needing to be explicit about it.

-- Causing split in Yadav vote bank through women and youth (new MY - Mahila and Youth power card) 

The third factor but a vital one 

-- The success of the pro-Hindu BJP rested safely on the shoulders of its leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he packaged and presented his winning image of a 'performer Nitish Kumar', good caste management and development agenda mixed with the appeal of a Hindu zealot

Everyone seems to believe that Team Modi is pushing hard for India’s development and also national security vis-a-vis Pakistan. 

Modi overcame difficulties. 

One such challenge in the past was Noteban. 

His decision to demonetize high-value currency notes in November 2016 pushed millions of poor into hardship but it was presented as a fight against the black money of the rich and ultimately helped the BJP win back those voters. 

Even Covid19 in 2020-21 could not harm Modi's reputation as a vote-getter.

Nevertheless due to multiple reasons, Modi had a "marginalised mandate" in 2024 Lok Sabha polls. This could have been loss of face. 

But he and Amit Shah worked hard. Reportedly, the RSS support was ensured yet again and they could quickly do the recovery-- winning Haryana, Maharashtra and now Bihar. 

Thus eyeing West Bengal is not without good reasons. 

2017 UP 

The BJP strategically did not field Muslim candidates and the number of Muslim legislators in the newly-elected house has dropped down to 25, an all-time low.

Looking back, in 2017 campiagn in UP; Modi played the polarisation game.

"If land is given for a [Muslim] cemetery in a village, it should also be given for [Hindu] cremation. If electricity is supplied during Ramadan, it should also be supplied during Diwali. 

There should not be discrimination," the PM had said at a rally trying to take a shot at the rival Samajwadi Party that have been accused of appeasing Muslims.  

In Uttar Pradesh both rival Congress and Samajwadi parties tried to reach out to the Muslim minority. It made Modi’s task easier in 2017 as well as 2022 because 80 percent of Uttar Pradesh’s 200 million people are Hindu.

In Bihar -- the RJD's approach ensured non Yadav polarisation. 

In the past; some BJP leaders such as Sakshi Maharaj had said -- "We achieved one milestone of our Hindutva agenda [Hindu hegemony] as the number of Muslims in Uttar Pradesh assembly has come down to 25 (2017). 

In 1990s we reduced Muslim voters and leaders to a political non-entity in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and now we have done this in UP".

ends 

Play the Cards well - Blogger