Has Bihar voted against communal polarisation?

Has Bihar voted against polarisation?

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Wednesday, 18 November 2015 AT 09:10 AM IST

    

Sakal Times Pune

http://www.sakaaltimes.com/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsId=5393045696791129537&SectionId=4861338933482912746&SectionName=Blog&NewsTitle=Has%20Bihar%20voted%20against%20polarisation

One of the highlights of the recent Bihar assembly poll is that the voters have completely rejected attempts of polarisation on communal grounds. The number of Muslim MLAs has risen from 19 of the previous house to 24 but a party which wants to identify itself as one with minority community politics has been rejected by the people. What is most striking is that of these 22 belong to the JDU, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD and the Congress while the BJP has only one Muslim MLA. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) led by Asaduddin Owaisi which had fielded its candidates in the Muslim dominant region has failed to make its debut in the Bihar assembly. The AIMIM was hoping to win some seats in the Bihar assembly which would have served as an entry point to the Hindi belt.

Almost all parties in the poll fray had played the caste cards to woo the voters but the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance has outsmarted the rivals. Some parties, in addition, had also tried various games to bring in communal polarisation to improve its seats tally.

Bringing in the Pakistan factor and pulling in the cow in the election arena were expected to divide the electorates on communal grounds and thus ensure the BJP victory in many constituencies. If the AIMIM were to be prominent player in the polls, the BJP would have been a beneficiary of this outcome. Both Hindu and Muslim voters refused to bite the bait and instead preferred to vote for centrist parties like JD (U), LJP and Congress.

In the recent few years, the AIMIM has been harping that all parties like the Congress, Samajwadi Party, JD (U) or RJD are taking this community for a ride and that only a Muslim party would safeguard the interests of the Muslims. This campaign had succeeded in Maharashtra with AIMIM winning two seats in Maharashtra assembly and securing sizeable votes in some other constituencies. Then why did this party failed to make inroads in Muslim dominant region of Bihar?

Obviously, the Muslim voters in Bihar did not feel the need of supporting a party with a certain communal identity or certain leaders to protect their interests and felt secure supporting JD (U), RJD and Congress. The majority Hindu voters, too, rejected BJP’s attempts to divide the electorates on communal lines to win the poll and instead voted in favour of the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance which had put up the agenda of development and good governance.

India’s secular credentials were best proved when Manmohan Singh, a member of a minuscule minority Sikh community, was elected Prime Minister in 2004 and five years later his government was voted back to power for a second term. The victory of certain parties in Bihar polls would have boosted the growth of this party and would have sent an ominous signal. By refusing to be carried away by vicious communal propaganda, both Hindu and Muslim voters in Bihar have proved their political maturity.

Comments

Fr. Anil Chakranarayan, SJ - Saturday, 21 November 2015 AT 02:51 PM IST

U r right. Njoyed the article. Secular India wud continue ruling Indians despite caste, creed, language, Ilks, fraternity, Wings, Outfits, Fringes, u name it. *Muslim ministers in BJP didn't raise an alarm@the riot, massacre in Muzafarnagar, later Dadri killing, other attacks, inflammatory mouthings against Muslims. Muslims mite'v thot that their own brother-ministers in BJP, joyously sang the same fascist song that BJP & their ilks sing. 'Two legs good 4 legs bad". Thus Muslim too'v realized that 'Known devils are better than unknown angels'. *Latin adage:'Homo homini lupus'.What happens in Syria, in Ireland, corruption is done by a religious minority against their own majority poor. It’s happening all the time in the world. So called 'our own'(same religion, caste) can persecute us. Why elect them? *Humans r’nt fools. But Politicians like to think so. They don't learn. voters tot them ‘Those who live by violence will die by ‘no-votes’.

 

1

 

0

 

Maharashtra is at a standstill

State is at a standstill

CAMIL PARKHE

Sakal Times

http://www.sakaaltimes.com/20120605/5311163883781370098.htm

Tuesday, June 05, 2012 AT 08:13 PM (IST)

Tags: Bihar,   Nitish Kumar

The recent reports that Bihar has recorded the highest, 13 per cent, growth rate among the states needs to be welcomed not only by the people in Bihar but also other states where local politicians have been crying hoarse over the influx of Biharis in their respective states. Bihar has experienced a new lease of life after Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) took over as chief minister, ending the over 15-year-old rule of Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Maharashtra, the leading state in the country, has experienced a strong resentment against the presence of Biharis and people from other northern states after Raj Thackeray broke away from the Shiv Sena and used the issue of "outsiders" to create political space for his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. When Bal Thackeray floated his Shiv Sena in the 1960s, he too had made the south Indians in Mumbai the targets and entrenched himself as the voice of the Marathi people, especially in Mumbai. Today, when Raj Thackeray has been praising the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat model of development and Bihar is progressing fast, Maharashtra is fast losing the race to retain its lea in development.

Almost all parts of the state are facing load shedding for several hours a day. The plight of farmers and entrepreneurs in rural sectors is worse. They face power shutdown when electricity is most needed. The economic growth in these areas has virtually come to a halt and yet there are no sign of measures to mitigate the situation in near future. The power scarcity is expected to create an alarming situation within a few years and the ruling group leaders and those in the opposition are refusing to acknowledge the writing on the wall. Some major cities like Aurangabad receive drinking water after an interval of two days while towns like Shevgaon in Ahmednagar district get water after four days. Shevgaon is not far away from the Jayakawadi reservoir, state’s largest irrigation project. Even then, residents of such towns are considered luckier than people in remote villages, who just do not have any source of clean drinking water. This indeed is a sorry state of affairs for an economically developed state.

What is worse is that none of the political parties and leaders -- ruling or opposition -- has taken up these issues in the interest of the masses or tried to exploit them to their own political advantage. All politicians take up people’s issues and hit the streets only during the state or the civic polls. They return to their cabins in New Delhi or Mumbai as soon as the elections are over, even before counting begins. In the past, leaders like Sharad Pawar, Pramod Mahajan, Gopinath Munde or even Ramdas Athavale had undertaken statewide tours, mobilising public opinion on  people’s issues. This had helped them to be on first-name terms with local leaders and eventually become a leader of the masses. The new breed of politicians has not tried that sort of approach. They have never tried to be with the masses to really get to know their problems. They usually do not know the pulse of the masses.

Senior BJP leader L K Advani recently criticised the UPA government for the various crises faced by the country but lamented that even the BJP work has been disappointing. The same can be said about the Congress-NCP front in Maharashtra. The front has been elected to rule for the third consecutive term only because the opposition parties have miserably failed to expose the ruling group’s failures on economic, industrial and other fronts. The state has not witnessed any major development in power generation, industrial growth or on removal of the regional development imbalance. The ruling politicians have remained steadfastly apathetic to the people’s problems while the opposition leaders have not been much different.

The recent BJP executive meeting saw Gopinath Munde on the dais after long. Although a mass leader in his party, Munde has been keeping a low profile after Nitin Gadkari became the party president three years back. The voices of other opposition leaders, including the Shiv Sena, are heard only when the state legislative session is on, or when elections are round the corner. Their agenda is confined to the protests in the House and statements at media conferences.

Raj Thackeray has rarely moved out of Mumbai to keep himself abreast of the state situation. Nor is he monitoring the affairs of the state legislature and civic bodies, where his party members have been elected. The leaders don't realise that Nitish Kumar and Mamata Banerjee had to toil hard for nearly two decades before they could oust the ruling parties in their states.

The lacklustre performance of all-party politicians is ominous for the future of the state. In the face of intense competition from other states, Maharashtra will have to strive extra hard to attract investment and maintain its lead in development. And everyone must remember that even the basic needs of the entire population are not being met at present.