After the initial counting projection showed a lead for the BJP, the mood at the residence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was sombre on Sunday morning. However, soon after the table turned and the Grand Alliance marched towards a landslide victory that would resonate across the national politics even after the sound of Diwali crackers dies down.
The scale of the win stunned all. Few would have expected that the Nitish-led alliance will grab as many 178 seats, and leave the NDA with a meager 58 seats. The three partners of the NDA — lJP, HAM and RlSP — could manage just five seats.
The lJP and the RlSP are led by Union Ministers Ramvilas Paswan and Upendra Kushwaha respectively, while the HAM is a newly-floated venture of Mahadalit leader Jitanram Manjhi.
The support for Nitish was spread across Bihar as was evident from the Grand Alliance’s big lead in all the five phases and realisation that a section of the upper caste too backed the man who changed the face of Bihar. Interestingly, Nitish belongs to Kurmi caste which has minuscule three per cent presence in Bihar.
After sledgehammering the BJP-led NDA into a crushing defeat, Nitish Kumar and RJD boss lalu Prasad said the historic results would give a new direction and dimension to the national politics.
The two leaders, accompanied by Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Chaudhary, said the decisive mandate would help them provide a stable Government to transform Bihar and come up to the expectations of the voters.
lalu said after installing the Nitish Kumar-led Government, he will launch a battle against the Narendra Modi-led Government and a movement against “the divisive politics of the BJP”. “First of all, I will proceed to Varanasi (Modi’s Parliamentary constituency) to arouse public sentiments against the PM. We will also strongly support the movement against intolerance started by writers, filmmakers and intellectuals,” said lalu, and added, “After this crushing defeat, Modi has to resign and go back to Gujarat.”
Nitish said the Bihar election was keenly watched by the entire nation as the people were in search of a strong alternative.
Attempts had been made to divide society on communal lines, he said, and added that their game plans were defeated by the politically conscious people. “I am sure this result will have implications on national level,” he said.
The oath-taking ceremony is likely to be held in the Gandhi Maidan after Diwali. Both lalu and Nitish said they would discuss it later on. Asked who could be the Deputy CM, Nitish said such things could not be discussed at a press conference.
“There is no problem in Government formation. But the real problem is now going to be for Narendra Modi. I will mount an aggressive attack on Delhi. Modi is mere a pracharak of RSS and he thought he could befool the Bihar people once again,” said lalu, adding “This poll result is a referendum against Modi.”
An hour before the Press conference which was held at Nitish’s official residence 7, Circular Road, the CM motored down to lalu’s residence 10, Circular Road and brought RJD supremo to his residence.
Both expressed gratitude to the people for supporting the Mahagathbandhan by handing out a decisive victory. They said the people negated the opinions of poll pundits, punters and psephologists who either gave a big lead to the NDA or projected a neck-to-neck contest giving clear majority to none.
“It is a big victory; we accept it with humility,” Nitish said and also gave credit to the strong unity of three-party Mahagathbandhan.
The CM said he would honour the Opposition and seek their help in solving major public issues. lalu added, “I have assured Sushil Kumar Modi that his position would be retained.” Prime Minister Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, former PM HD Deve Gowda, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, former Jammu & Kashmir CMs Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Andhra CM Chandra Babu Naidu, Shiv Sena chief Udhav Thackeray, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and many others congratulated Nitish for the victory. Many of them also called up lalu to convey their greetings. “Narendra Modi must be feeling shy of greeting me,” lalu said with a laugh.
To a query, the RJD chief said he would perform his responsibility and respect such a huge mandate. But he also had a word of caution for those sections of society who, he said, due to their enmity with him and Nitish voted for the BJP. “It is not fair to decide votes due to personal enmity,” he said without much explanation.