New Delhi: It was a spectacular victory for the Nitish Kumar-Lalu Yadav-led Grand Alliance and a resounding defeat for the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah-led BJP.
After the loss in Delhi, the crushing defeat in the Bihar Assembly polls seems to have taken wind out of BJP's chariot and sent the saffronites, led by Mr Shah scurrying for cover and introspection. From here on, the journey for Narendra Modi and Amit Shah is likely to be arduous.
The Bihar outcome, experts feel, is a verdict against politics of hate and politics of polarisation, which the BJP top brass unabashedly unleashed during the campaigning. Discarding its development plank, leaders delved into beef politics, how Pakistan would celebrate a BJP defeat and how Nitish was favouring the Muslims over backward Hindus.
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The rejection of the politics of polarisation was complete with the BJP-led NDA bagging only 58 seats and Nitish-Lalu-Congress-led Grand Alliance sweeping the polls with 178 seats of a total of 243 assembly berths. The Congress, which had been wiped out of Bihar, surprised even its harshest critics by bagging 27 seats. The Grand Alliance registered an overall 41.9 percent with RJD getting 18.4 per cent, JD (U) 16.8 per cent and Congress 6.7 per cent.
Marginalising the state leadership, the Modi-Shah combine had taken upon themselves to win Bihar. Mr Modi became the first Prime Minister in recent years to have addressed nearly 30 rallies in any state assembly polls. The gamble badly boomeranged. If Mr Shah's leadership has come under cloud, Mr Modi's reported charisma and ability to lead the party to electoral victories could now be questioned.
For the BJP, it was a pathetic show as the party on its own got 53 seats out of 157 it contested, while its allies also put up a poor show. LJP, led by Ram Vilas Paswan, and RLSP of Upendra Kushwaha got two seats each. Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi won only one of the two seats he contested and his outfit HAM lost in all the 19 others it fought in. Of the seven independents three are from Left parties.
Knives are out in the BJP. Party's disgruntled and star MP, Mr Shatrughan Sinha, was the first to draw blood. "The issue of Bihari versus Bahri (outsider) has been settled once and for all,” Mr Sinha said firing straight at the Modi-Shah combo. BJP general secretary and Swadeshi Jagran Manch leader Murlidhar Rao claimed that both these leaders have "betrayed BJP and are the reason for party's defeat in these polls."
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