Bihar election results: Dalit, Dadri cost BJP dear

New Delhi: Did RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat’s comments on reservation and controversial remarks, including on the Dadri lynching and Faridabad Dalit incident, by saffron leaders cost the BJP-led NDA in the Bihar Assembly elections.

Both the BJP and the RSS on Sunday rejected that Mr Bhagwat’s remarks had any impact on the elections, with the Sangh claiming that the Grand Alliance leaders used the “anti-RSS” plank to “hide the shame of caste-based political polarisation and consolidation of reactionary politics.” Incidentally, Mr Bhagwat is camping in Delhi and senior BJP leader and Union minister Rajnath Singh met him on Sunday morning.

It could be recalled here that BJP leadership had to reprimand its leaders for their controversial remarks after the party came under fire for trying to “polarise” the votes on “communal lines.” BJP president Amit Shah’s remarks that firecrackers will go off in Pakistan if the Grand Alliance won also backfired for the NDA, which had claimed that development was its main poll plank.

Rejecting suggestions that Mr Bhagwat’s remarks had a negative impact on the saffron party’s poll prospects, senior BJP leader and Union minister Ravishankar Prasad said “Absolutely not.”

RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha maintained that Mr Bhagwat had only given a “rational assessment of reservation policy which is meant to empower SC/ST/OBC who failed to get the reservation benefits.” He infact questioned the BJP as to why it failed to consolidate the pro-BJP sentiments in Bihar despite “unmatched popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and enough representation from the state in PM’s council of ministers. He added that “elitism” has become a “bane” for the BJP.

“This (reservation) issue has been blown out of proportion and had no impact on voting pattern...What he (Bhagwat) meant was to highlight the capacity building of SC/ST/OBC so that larger number of people could take the benefit of the policy of positive discrimination,” said Mr. Sinha.

 

Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.