Patna (Bihar): Patna’s Gandhi Maidan, a barometer to measure the political clout, on Sunday witnessed a substantial crowd in a mega rally organised by mahagathbandhan or the grand alliance which consists of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, CPI-ML (Liberation) and other left parties.
The crowd shouted and clapped at every sentence uttered by the leader of opposition and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav.
Yadav took credit for providing employment to the youth during his short tenure as deputy chief and said that he will continue to raise the issue of unemployment among youths. He also made it clear that BJP is his core political rival.
RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Misa Bharti, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, CPI-ML (Liberation) leader Dipankar Bhattacharya and other leaders were present in the rally.
The rally was the culmination of 10-day long Jan Vishwas Yatra of Tejashwi Yadav which started on February 20, weeks after Nitish Kumar ditched the mahagathbandhan and went back to NDA (National Democratic Alliance).
The yatra covered a distance of 3,500 kilometres, witnessing an unexpectedly large crowd.
During the yatra, Tejashwi focused on employment and said that RJD is the party for all. He even moved beyond RJD’s trademark slogan of social justice and talked about samajik nyay (social justice) along with arthik nyay (economic justice).
Economic development along with social justice slogan was coined by Nitish Kumar soon after he became chief minister in 2005.
Decoding the crowd
RJD sources said that to ensure that the yatra attracted a huge crowd, it was taken through those areas that are considered as the party’s strongholds.
Additionally, local RJD MLAs were instructed to bring people from their areas on the yatra route. The other alliance partners of the mahagathbandhan, like CPI-ML workers, were also tasked to gather the crowd.
The journalists who covered Tejashwi’s yatra said that the crowd primarily consisted of RJD’s core supporters – Yadavs and Muslims. However, people from other castes also participated in the yatra, but their number was relatively less.
A journalist who covered the yatra in Nalanda said that there were mostly youngsters in the rally, and they were mostly from Yadav and Muslim communities. Other castes also joined the rally but in lesser numbers.
“Youths were jubilant and it seems they are looking forward to Tejashwi as a leader who can address their aspirations. He gave jobs to youths during his tenure as deputy chief minister and continuously talking about jobs as an opposition leader has worked in his favour,” he said.
Also read: Threatened by Tejashwi’s Jan Vishwas Yatra, BJP Desperate to Change Headlines
“Unemployment is a big issue for the youth and Tejashwi has created aspiration among them. Even in the 2020 elections, he had established the employment narrative, due to which no other narrative worked, and other parties also had to talk about jobs,” said political analyst Mahendra Suman.
He said, “Tejashwi has given an initial blow to BJP and JDU by gathering a huge crowd, but it is too early to draw any conclusions from this crowd because a lot depends on what he does next after this yatra.”
Patna-based journalist Amarnath Tiwary told The Wire, “In remote villages, people do gather in large numbers if a political leader makes a visit. So, I don’t think this crowd will convert into votes.”
Tejashwi’s attempt to go beyond M-Y
In the yatra as well as in the mega rally, Tejashwi reiterated that RJD is the party of all sections of society and not only of Yadav and Muslim.
“RJD is not only the party of MY (Muslims and Yadavs) but also the party of BAAP. B means Bahujan, A means agra (forward classes), A means adhi awaadi (women) P means poor,” he said in the mega rally in Gandhi Maidan.
He also said that the full form of RJD is Rights, Jobs and Development.
Tejashwi has been attempting to make RJD a party of all castes and creeds for quite some time. In the 2020 Bihar assembly elections, when he was the campaigner of mahagathbandhan and the chief ministerial candidate, Tejashwi had said that RJD is the party of ‘A to Z.’
However, political analysts and journalists told The Wire that the party is yet to deliver on the ‘A to Z’ combination in elections.
“If you see the selection of candidates in elections, you will not find that different caste groups are proportionately represented,” Patna-based journalist Amarnath Tiwary said.
Suman said that if Tejashwi talks about social justice, it should be reflected in his decisions. “Using social justice as rhetoric will not help. They must put forward a clear blueprint for this. And he should also realise that social justice doesn’t mean empowering just one dominant caste.”
Another Patna-based journalist Santosh Singh says that making RJD acceptable to all parties is a process in progress but notes that there are challenges to attracting caste-neutral youths.
“But, he is smart in talking about jobs for youths – caste-neutral issue. Tejashwi has started seeing youths as a possible constituency. This is working on the ground as well. He is getting traction among youths,” he says.
Ramakant Chandan, a Patna based journalist, believes that upper castes are slowly turning to RJD. “Tejashwi is targeting upper caste votes but also keeping grip on his core vote bank of M-Y,” Chandan said.
“Upper castes’ viewpoint about RJD is changing. Upper castes may not be turning towards RJD in huge numbers but they are not hating the party as they were doing earlier,” he added.
