The BJP leadership has resorted to highly polarised campaign in Delhi and this would not get any kind of response in Bihar. Obviously they must refrain from trying such experiment when the state goes to the polls later this year. Moreover the prospective electoral scenario has acquired a completely new direction with young leaders emerging on the scene to take command of their parties and electioneering

Three prominent young faces of Bihar politics Tejashwi Yadav, Kanhaiya Kumar and Chirag Paswan have made their presence felt on the electoral war turf by launching yatras. While they are holding public meetings their primary focus has been hitting the roads in vehicles, to muster support.

RJD leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi will start his ‘Berojgari Yatra’ from February 23; Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Chirag began his ‘Bihar first, Bihari first Yatra’ from February 21 and CPI leader Kanhaiya is already touring the state as part of his ‘Jan Gan Man Yatra’, which will culminate at Gandhi Maidan on February 27.

While Nitish Kumar has already been on yatra, this is for the first time such political initiative has been taken by the young leaders. This change also somewhere underlines that the political indices and electoral parameters have undergone change. For a change in the political narrative and the mode of governance and to ensure a corruption free development, the electorates, the people of Bihar are willing to repose their trust in the youngsters.

Shivanand Tiwary a senior RJD leader and close aid of JP says; “It is good that the youngsters have decided to undertake yatras across the state. They will get the opportunity to know their political economy of the state and its people. So far they have come to know of the existing political scenario and needs from their senior. Now they will have the opportunity to meet and interact directly. They would come to know the grass root reality.”

The leaders who really made a major change in the political structure and socio-economic perspective of the state used to travel on foot in the remote areas of the state just before elections. While they were aware of the needs of the people, they personally knew their workers and activists. This has undergone a complete change.

Nevertheless the ground reality of Bihar is such that they will have to resort to old style of campaign. The primordial relations are so strong that extensive use of high-tech strategy would backfire. It is quite revealing to see that the yatra of these young leaders have been receiving quite enthusiastic response. People turn up in good numbers. But the fact also remains that Kanhaiya has stolen the lead over others. He has been making speeches against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens and has managed to draw crowds.

Though Tejashwi has been in serious political activity for more than six years the fact remains that he has so far not been able to present himself as a viable alternative to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. Chirag is seen as the worthy son of Ram Vilas Paswan. Kanhaiya has emerged as a rationale and honest leader who meant business and has also made a name for himself on his own, but how far he would be able to lead Bihar is still not clear to the people. In class and caste ridden Bihar he is yet to gain a foothold in state politics. His close aides confide that his no nonsense approach and style of functioning has alienated local CPI leaders and followers during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

With the probability of election strategist Prashant Kishor throwing his weight behind Kanhaiya, the electoral scenario wold certainly undergo a complete transformation. The way the things are moving, Kishore appears to be determined to puncture the development plank of Nitish. In a direct assault on Nitish Kumar-led government's development model, Kishore said Bihar was the poorest state in 2005 and continues to be so. Only two days back he questioned the Nitish development model. He even derided his making ideological compromises to stay in an alliance with the BJP.

What is worst for Nitish is Kishor publically asking Nitish to spell out whether he is with the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi or those who support Nathu Ram Godse. Nitish while has been publically claiming to be follower of JP and Lohia, but he never opposed eulogy of Nathuram Godse by the BJP leaders. Kishor on many occasions sought to know “Nitish-ji has always said that he cannot leave the ideals of Gandhi, JP and Lohia but at the same time, how can he be with the people who support the ideology of Godse.”

Nitish would fight the election on the development works carried out by his government. It is unlikely that he would touch issues like Ram mandir, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and Article 370. He has already made clear that the Bihar election will be fought on ‘Jal Jeevan and Hariyali. Incidentally Paswan has gone one step ahead; “Bihar elections will be fought on local issues and the development work of the alliance government. We have publicly said that hate speech of BJP leaders in the Delhi election can’t be justified. Restraint over language is a must”.

However realising the fact that Kishor would support Kanhaiya, the senior leaders of JD(U) and BJP have joined hands to launch insinuation campaign against Kishor. They claim that he has joined politics for promoting his business and nothing else. While they allege that Kishor picks winners, they conveniently ignore that he was instrumental in the victory of Modi, Jagan Mohan Reddy, Capt. Amarinder Singh and even Arvind Kejriwal. (IPA Service)