The morning of 9th September'15 brought perhaps the most independent and transparent body i.e. Election Commission of India (ECI) into act when it announced the dates of Bihar Assembly elections, 2015. Model Code of Conduct got automatically enforced. The "bigul" (trumphet) of political parties and the queues of candidates at the party offices (Patna and Delhi...also Nagpur) became a common phenomena till the final list of candidates was announced. A neck-to-neck competition between MGB (NLR-Nitish-Lalu-Rahul) and NDA (SMS-Shah-Modi-Sushil/Shahnawaz) was expected from the word "Go". It would be improper and unjust/biased to not mention the super-confident national (?) political party BSP (Sushri Behan Mayawati), which has fielded its candidates in all the 243 constituencies.
Post-independence, Congress managed to sweep elections (LS and state assembly) till 1967 uninterrupted. Since then, state politics began to creep in making roads for regional factions and with passage of time, formations and divisions of/in parties and their support base accordingly, today we are at the crossroads where the arch rivals have united against leaving behind the past memories and rigid yet flexible ideologies (Sarkar ke liye kuch bhi karega).
Where on one hand we have Nitish (incumbent CM and the Modi of Bihar's development-Kurmi-4%) with Lalu (Fodder-Rabdi-drama-humorous-Lantern-law&order jeopardized@15years-1990-2005-Yadavs-14%) and Congress (Rahul Gandhi yet to prove his mettle as a leader of the country's oldest political party and future PM-Muslims-16.9%), the other hand is not less diverse- BJP (Modi-Amit Shah duo, Hindus-Forward-15%), LJP (Give me ministry and I would give my 100% allegiance till you are in power-Paswan-5%), RLSP (family party-Kushwaha-4%), HAM (ex-CM Manjhi- loves controversial statements- Musahar-3%). If you analyse the %s closely in both the alliances, you may have understood the bottom line of the Bihar elections like before continues to be "Casteism"- Backward (OBC/EBC-51%) and Minority v/s Forward and Most Backward (Mahadalits/SC), which makes it more difficult to predict the winner of the game.
Communalism has added its flavour in the elections post-Dadri, ink throwing episodes and daily award wapsi exercise. Thus, C+C is what makes the prediction to determine the future government of Bihar even more tougher.
Would be unfair for the parties if I miss mentioning the freebies announced by both the alliances (bipolar continuum- extreme left MGB and extreme right of course NDA). Nitish's cycle scheme for girls (2005 elections) has traveled a long distance to NDA's Scooty scheme for girls (along with free petrol-2015) is one among the many (DA increment, inclusion of more castes in EBC and SC list, 1.65 lakh special package, Padhai-Kamai-Dawai and bijli-paani-sadak etc.)
Amidst all of this-rallies of star campaigners-their speeches and promises (but obvious), one noteworthy aspect of the elections has been the role of the district administration- from a supporter (earlier) to an active participant (2015 elections). The manner in which it has ensured best implementation of Model Code of Conduct- catching illicit liquor, illegal arms, cash>50K, using banners & flexes w/o permission, loudspeakers beyond 10 PM etc., SVEEP (Systematic Voter Enhancement and Electoral Participation)- creating awareness among the voters to use their democratic R2V without fear on V-Day, 100% distribution of Voter Information (Matdan Parchi- which used to be once distributed by the party in their favourable way), stringent monitoring of advertisements from ground 2 social media etc., deployment of CRPF personnel at all polling booths marking peaceful election process needs an applause of the highest order.
All Voter Turnout records of past elections have been broken (record 68% VTR in Katihar in Ph-V) may be due to the present "mahoul" of the nation and the past or anti-incumbency or development-needs taking driver seat etc.
Majority of the exit polls have signaled good news for MGB, but remember they are just exit polls (complete reversal in final results in 2004 LS and numerous others). It would be better to wait a couple of days more before the "bigul" for making government starts and queues in front of Raj Bhawan. Few political parties' offices would get drums beating and celebrating Diwali with colours and crackers and rest serenity and peace.
Lets hope the party which makes government for the coming 5 years this November'15, gives the state and its people what they deserve. Things have had started to change in the last 10 years for Bihar- Roads, electricity, GDP growth rate, image on the country's map and people's minds etc. Hope this trend continues at an accelerated pace and the development of state- infrastructure, capital (including Human) matches/excels beyond the country's.
Kalam's India 2020 may be one of the targets the new government (2015-20) can look for, would be a great tribute to a fantastic Indian scientist and President.
Jai Bharat Jai Bihar!!!
Post-independence, Congress managed to sweep elections (LS and state assembly) till 1967 uninterrupted. Since then, state politics began to creep in making roads for regional factions and with passage of time, formations and divisions of/in parties and their support base accordingly, today we are at the crossroads where the arch rivals have united against leaving behind the past memories and rigid yet flexible ideologies (Sarkar ke liye kuch bhi karega).
Where on one hand we have Nitish (incumbent CM and the Modi of Bihar's development-Kurmi-4%) with Lalu (Fodder-Rabdi-drama-humorous-Lantern-law&order jeopardized@15years-1990-2005-Yadavs-14%) and Congress (Rahul Gandhi yet to prove his mettle as a leader of the country's oldest political party and future PM-Muslims-16.9%), the other hand is not less diverse- BJP (Modi-Amit Shah duo, Hindus-Forward-15%), LJP (Give me ministry and I would give my 100% allegiance till you are in power-Paswan-5%), RLSP (family party-Kushwaha-4%), HAM (ex-CM Manjhi- loves controversial statements- Musahar-3%). If you analyse the %s closely in both the alliances, you may have understood the bottom line of the Bihar elections like before continues to be "Casteism"- Backward (OBC/EBC-51%) and Minority v/s Forward and Most Backward (Mahadalits/SC), which makes it more difficult to predict the winner of the game.
Communalism has added its flavour in the elections post-Dadri, ink throwing episodes and daily award wapsi exercise. Thus, C+C is what makes the prediction to determine the future government of Bihar even more tougher.
Would be unfair for the parties if I miss mentioning the freebies announced by both the alliances (bipolar continuum- extreme left MGB and extreme right of course NDA). Nitish's cycle scheme for girls (2005 elections) has traveled a long distance to NDA's Scooty scheme for girls (along with free petrol-2015) is one among the many (DA increment, inclusion of more castes in EBC and SC list, 1.65 lakh special package, Padhai-Kamai-Dawai and bijli-paani-sadak etc.)
Amidst all of this-rallies of star campaigners-their speeches and promises (but obvious), one noteworthy aspect of the elections has been the role of the district administration- from a supporter (earlier) to an active participant (2015 elections). The manner in which it has ensured best implementation of Model Code of Conduct- catching illicit liquor, illegal arms, cash>50K, using banners & flexes w/o permission, loudspeakers beyond 10 PM etc., SVEEP (Systematic Voter Enhancement and Electoral Participation)- creating awareness among the voters to use their democratic R2V without fear on V-Day, 100% distribution of Voter Information (Matdan Parchi- which used to be once distributed by the party in their favourable way), stringent monitoring of advertisements from ground 2 social media etc., deployment of CRPF personnel at all polling booths marking peaceful election process needs an applause of the highest order.
All Voter Turnout records of past elections have been broken (record 68% VTR in Katihar in Ph-V) may be due to the present "mahoul" of the nation and the past or anti-incumbency or development-needs taking driver seat etc.
Majority of the exit polls have signaled good news for MGB, but remember they are just exit polls (complete reversal in final results in 2004 LS and numerous others). It would be better to wait a couple of days more before the "bigul" for making government starts and queues in front of Raj Bhawan. Few political parties' offices would get drums beating and celebrating Diwali with colours and crackers and rest serenity and peace.
Lets hope the party which makes government for the coming 5 years this November'15, gives the state and its people what they deserve. Things have had started to change in the last 10 years for Bihar- Roads, electricity, GDP growth rate, image on the country's map and people's minds etc. Hope this trend continues at an accelerated pace and the development of state- infrastructure, capital (including Human) matches/excels beyond the country's.
Kalam's India 2020 may be one of the targets the new government (2015-20) can look for, would be a great tribute to a fantastic Indian scientist and President.
Jai Bharat Jai Bihar!!!
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