'This Was Very Much Nitish Kumar's Election': Radhika Bordia on the Bihar Results
New Delhi: Speaking to The Wire as the Bihar assembly election results are coming in, veteran journalist Radhika Bordia said that her extensive travels across Bihar showed her that the opposition's alliance, the Mahagathbandhan, had collapsed on the ground. It had made an important issue – the 'special intensive revision' of voter rolls – its electoral plank but then refused to stress on it during grassroots campaigns, Bordia said.
Bordia said that during her travels the arrow, the ruling Janata Dal (United)'s symbol, was prominent, so much so that it appeared poised to "even outdo the Bharatiya Janata Party."
When it came to speculation on the BJP having pushed JD(U) chief and state chief minister Nitish Kumar to the background, Bordia says that the reality on the ground was different. "It was very clear this was Nitish's election. A Nitish cutout appeared at the BJP office in Patna four days before the election," she said.
Unlike last time in 2020, when the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and its chief, Chiraj Paswan, ran a targeted campaign against Nitish, this time, the National Democratic Alliance's partners fought with cohesion.
Nitish
While Bordia does not rule out the fact that in some places the results could be down to the wire, she feels that Nitish's popularity is undisputed and his policy decisions have kept him relevant in Bihar politics for two decades now.
"Go to any village, four or five posts in the Panchayati Raj system will belong to people from the Extremely Backward Classes. These are people who have told me that they could not even vote before and they do believe that they can vote because of Nitish," Bordia said.
Bordia called Nitish a paradox in Indian politics. After his first term, it is true that there have been instances when Nitish's governance faltered, but the opposition have not been able to make election issues out of these failings, Bordia added.
Bordia also said that the narrative of Nitish's illness did not hold as he was largely seen as his usual coherent self in public meetings. It also led to a wave of sympathy for him.
Opposition
The SIR did not resonate on the ground. "People said that it was only in the last 20 years that many have begun voting. They have seen widespread rigging, vote theft and what not, so the SIR did not resonate with them," she said.
This is where the opposition did not succeed as well. It made the SIR into a campaign and then did not follow it. "Congress is a franchise, people say, and it wasn't seen on the ground. In places like Jahanabad and Gaya, I saw AAP leaders but no Congress leaders. The party has a Dalit president [Mallikarjun Kharge] but he was seen nowhere. Campaign money was spent on Kanhaiya Kumar who has no footprint in Bihar," she said.
Ultimately, Bordia noted, because the Election Commission has lost its credibility, the odds are stacked against the opposition to a huge extent – which is all the more reason for it to fight more, visit more villages and rally together.
This article went live on November fourteenth, two thousand twenty five, at thirty-three minutes past twelve at noon.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
