The new friendship between Bihar’s leading politicians, Lalu Prasad Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal and chief minister Nitish Kumar of Janata Dal-United, has already paid dividends.
The two JD(U) candidates, Pavan Kumar Varma and Gulam Rasool Balyawi, overcame cross-voting by members of their own party in last week’s Rajya Sabha by-polls to secure victories over two independent candidates backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Yadav instructed his party legislators to vote for the JD(U) candidates after being called on the phone by Nitish Kumar, who chose to reach out to his great rival when he was told that some of his party members wanted to side with the candidates the BJP was backing.
Lalu Yadav said he authorised the support of the JD(U) candidates “in the name of defeating communal forces.” After the victory, Nitish Kumar spoke extensively about the need to create an alliance of secular parties not only in Bihar but throughout the country. “A start of such a wider golbandi [coming together] against BJP started from Bihar and this will spread across the country,” he said.
This is seen as a direct indication that the JD(U) and RJD will form an alliance against the BJP in the by-elections due to be held in 11 Bihar assembly constituencies this year.
“The coming together of the RJD and the JD(U) is not restricted to providing stability to our government in the state and defeating the BJP’s candidates in the Rajya Sabha by-elections,” JD(U) leader Ali Anwar told Scroll.in. “It is primarily meant to save the state from communal politics. This alliance will grow further in future."
The upcoming by-elections are consequently being seen as a test of whether the electorate will respond to the idea of a secular combine: the local press has already termed it the “grand secular alliance”.
The BJP’s remarkable performance in the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar has created fears that the Hindutva ideology has finally emerged as a real force in the state. Renewal of the long-lost friendship between the two former chief ministers is a sign that both recognise the threat this poses to their own brand of secular-socialist politics.
The BJP’s attempt at wresting away JD(U) members has also not gone over well. Yet with the help of its new allies, the Congress and the Communist Party of India, the new JD(U) government was also able to claim a comfortable majority in the assembly.
In the by-polls, a section of JD(U) MLAs defied the official line and voted for the two BJP-backed independent candidates, real estate baron Anil Sharma and former JD(U) leader Sabir Ali.
Three seats had fallen vacant after Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan and BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Ramkripal Yadav won Lok Sabha seats. While the seat vacated by Paswan was won unopposed by JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, voting was held for two other seats.
Insiders say the joint action on the floor of the assembly has given a massive boost to the nascent alliance. The two parties now see the necessity of moving past their acrimonious past. “History is the only problem now,” said RJD spokesman Manoj Jha. “We aren’t prisoners of history, although we will certainly learn from it”.
Of the 11 seats where elections are to be held later this year, six were held by the BJP, three by the RJD and two by the JD(U). The Election Commission has not announced the schedule for these by-polls yet.
The two leaders first fought in 1994. Before then, Nitish Kumar was known in Bihar as Lalu Yadav’s “Chanakya”, a reference to the philosopher from ancient India who was instrumental in establishing the Gupta empire. Kumar went on to form a highly fruitful alliance with the BJP that has seen him serve two terms as chief minister.
History is about to come full circle in Bihar. Both Yadav and Kumar seem to realise that the coming together of the leadership will not be enough to bring together the respective vote base of the two parties. “This will require a massive effort from both the leaders,” said a senior RJD leader. “Both are planning separate tours throughout the state in order to convince the supporters of the threat the BJP poses for the state.”
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
The two JD(U) candidates, Pavan Kumar Varma and Gulam Rasool Balyawi, overcame cross-voting by members of their own party in last week’s Rajya Sabha by-polls to secure victories over two independent candidates backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Yadav instructed his party legislators to vote for the JD(U) candidates after being called on the phone by Nitish Kumar, who chose to reach out to his great rival when he was told that some of his party members wanted to side with the candidates the BJP was backing.
Lalu Yadav said he authorised the support of the JD(U) candidates “in the name of defeating communal forces.” After the victory, Nitish Kumar spoke extensively about the need to create an alliance of secular parties not only in Bihar but throughout the country. “A start of such a wider golbandi [coming together] against BJP started from Bihar and this will spread across the country,” he said.
This is seen as a direct indication that the JD(U) and RJD will form an alliance against the BJP in the by-elections due to be held in 11 Bihar assembly constituencies this year.
“The coming together of the RJD and the JD(U) is not restricted to providing stability to our government in the state and defeating the BJP’s candidates in the Rajya Sabha by-elections,” JD(U) leader Ali Anwar told Scroll.in. “It is primarily meant to save the state from communal politics. This alliance will grow further in future."
The upcoming by-elections are consequently being seen as a test of whether the electorate will respond to the idea of a secular combine: the local press has already termed it the “grand secular alliance”.
The BJP’s remarkable performance in the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar has created fears that the Hindutva ideology has finally emerged as a real force in the state. Renewal of the long-lost friendship between the two former chief ministers is a sign that both recognise the threat this poses to their own brand of secular-socialist politics.
The BJP’s attempt at wresting away JD(U) members has also not gone over well. Yet with the help of its new allies, the Congress and the Communist Party of India, the new JD(U) government was also able to claim a comfortable majority in the assembly.
In the by-polls, a section of JD(U) MLAs defied the official line and voted for the two BJP-backed independent candidates, real estate baron Anil Sharma and former JD(U) leader Sabir Ali.
Three seats had fallen vacant after Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan and BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Ramkripal Yadav won Lok Sabha seats. While the seat vacated by Paswan was won unopposed by JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, voting was held for two other seats.
Insiders say the joint action on the floor of the assembly has given a massive boost to the nascent alliance. The two parties now see the necessity of moving past their acrimonious past. “History is the only problem now,” said RJD spokesman Manoj Jha. “We aren’t prisoners of history, although we will certainly learn from it”.
Of the 11 seats where elections are to be held later this year, six were held by the BJP, three by the RJD and two by the JD(U). The Election Commission has not announced the schedule for these by-polls yet.
The two leaders first fought in 1994. Before then, Nitish Kumar was known in Bihar as Lalu Yadav’s “Chanakya”, a reference to the philosopher from ancient India who was instrumental in establishing the Gupta empire. Kumar went on to form a highly fruitful alliance with the BJP that has seen him serve two terms as chief minister.
History is about to come full circle in Bihar. Both Yadav and Kumar seem to realise that the coming together of the leadership will not be enough to bring together the respective vote base of the two parties. “This will require a massive effort from both the leaders,” said a senior RJD leader. “Both are planning separate tours throughout the state in order to convince the supporters of the threat the BJP poses for the state.”