Lowest level of political discourse in Bihar elections

The people have witnessed the lowest level of politics by both the contenders of power in Bihar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA is pitted against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance in the ongoing Bihar assembly elections. The fifth and final phase of election comes to an end on Nov.5 and counting of votes will be held on Nov. 8. Both the contenders of power claim of their victory. This Bihar assembly election is the most keenly contested one in the history of independent India. It is the day of result i.e. Nov 8 on which people will come to know who won or who lost. Whichever side wins, the margin of victory will be very thin. There is neck to neck fight between NDA and GA. NDA is led by PM Modi while GA is led by CM Nitish Kumar. PM Narendra Modi himself is the face of NDA while GA has projected CM Nitish Kumar as its face in Bihar assembly elections. PM Modi has been the single star campaigner of NDA. He has broken all previous records of campaigning in assembly elections in a state by any other former PM. He has held more than 40 rallies in the ongoing Bihar assembly elections. His prestige as PM is at stake in this election. As the result of the assembly elections will have far reaching political ramifications both at the Centre and in the state, both sides have put everything at the stake to win. There is do or die situation for both the contenders. Both NDA and GA avowedly say that they are fighting elections on the agenda of development and good governance but neither of them allows the issue of religion, caste and community go untouched. Since 1952 elections, Bihar has always witnessed as caste being the single most important factor in casting of votes. The same situation of caste-wise voting has taken place in this ongoing Bihar election. As the people of Bihar are politically very conscious, it is difficult for any analyst or pollster to make prediction. The ramifications of Bihar assembly election result will put question mark on unquestioned leadership of PM Modi in NDA if it looses. If the GA looses, there will be the end of Lalu’s political career, question mark on Nitish political future and hopeless in Congress with the leadership. The Bihar assembly elections show that the politicians are only interested in power and they have nothing to do with development. It also shows that even the leader of the stature of Prime Minister can go to the lowest level of politics. It is no matter whether it is communal, caste or religious issue, politicians can focus on any of these three issues to garner votes. Grand Alliance under the leadership of CM Nitish Kumar is the conglomeration of secular democratic politics whereas NDA under the leadership of PM Modi represents the right of the Centre. Not even a single day has passed in Bihar poll campaign on which the leaders from both sides have gone all time low. Grand Alliance has edge over NDA certainly in one area. It is the leadership of CM Nitish Kumar, who has been a development-oriented politician and on this count he is unmatched in the state. No political leader across the party line stands up to Kumar in Bihar. It is because of differences within the Bihar BJP that the central leadership did not project any party leader in the state BJP as its chief ministerial candidate. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is himself the sailor of Bihar BJP boat to the shore. Now only three days are left to go when we would come to know who emerged victorious in nation's one of the most keenly contested assembly elections.

Check sky-rocketing price If one thing was behind the disillusionment of the people with the previous UPA government, it was the run away price of all essential commodities, including all food items. And because of its failure to check the rising prices, the people saw hope in the promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Lok Sabha election campaigns as prime ministerial candidate of BJP. The common people and the youths of the country were completely carried away by his grandstanding slogan. It is not only the price rise but also communal harmony, creation of jobs and peaceful co-existence on which Modi govt. has failed to deliver any result. The common people of the country are finding extremely difficult to fill their stomachs. Their back is being broken by the unbridled price of essential commodities, including food items. The price of green vegetables is going up and up. Onion is already bringing tears to the people eyes. The price of Pulses has broken all previous record and presently they at all time high. Some raids in different parts of the nation have also exposed the level of black marketing and hoarding by business men. It is true that inclement weather has also contributed to price rise of food items. The question arises now that the price of food items largely depends agricultural production, which is mostly dependent on rain, and if that is the ground reality, what was the need for making tall promises. The price of Arhar pulse has crossed Rs. 200 a Kg and onion Rs. 80 a Kg. Both pulse and onion are the staple food of the poor. But in the given situation of price rise, they can not afford to buy pulses and onion. Prime Minister Modi is an excellent orator, but he never mentions nor does give a hint at price rise issue during his month-long Bihar poll campaigns. The ruling BJP says that during its rule, the prestige of the country has gone high abroad. But what does it mean for the poor who are struggling hard to meet their both ends. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised during his Lok Sabha poll campaigns that if he was elected to power, he would bring the black money stashed away in foreign banks back, and the amount is so high that every India would have Rs. 15-20 lakhs in their bank accounts. But it has so far proved an eyewash. If the result of Munuicipal elections in Maharashtra and Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh is anything to go by, the hopelessness with Modi-led NDA govt. among the people is clearly reflected and it also shows the sharp fall in PM Modi’s popularity . If a global account report on price rise is to be considered, it is higher by 18 percent than that of the price rise in Pakistan. On the price rise issue, Modi-led NDA govt. has left Pak behind. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also failed to push forward the reforms process and check the rising intolerance in society. If the intolerance would be dismissed as manufactured by the Modi govt., the foreign investors would certainly think twice before investing in India.

Both UPA and NDA remote controlled

Three - day RSS coordination meeting with BJP is going to conclude today. It has been reported that all Ministers of Narendra Modi Cabinet were in attendance at the RSS meeting in Delhi and have given presentation of their functionings before it. Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) is a socio-cultural organization and its offshoots have been working in different fields with exemplary dedication. No body doubts its credentials in national service. But it is not a constitutional body to which Modi's ministers have to be accountable. In personal life, they may present before RSS, but as minister he/she is not accountable to it. RSS is also the doting father of BJP. BJP has interpersonal relation all the affiliates of the RSS. They are interdependent on one another. The ministers are to accountable to the PM. However, almost all ministers of Modi Cabinet lined up at RSS meet. RSS is a good organization for the nation but this does not give it a license to review government functioning and ask the entire Cabinet to be present before it. It is also an ideological mentor of the ruling BJP. BJP takes inspiration and dictation from it how to carry out government functioning smoothly from it. Prime Narendra Modi is also likely to address the RSS coordination meeting with BPJ. Modi's Cabinet is not accountable to RSS but the democratically elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And PM is accountable to the people. PM Modi has himself been a Swayam Sevak of RSS. He may have special regard for it. But being the Prime Minister, he is only accountable to the people of India, who have elected him. The fact is that RSS has a great influence on BJP and it guides the govt. Without the consent of RSS, Modi-led NDA govt.can not move even a step. PM Modi is also expected to be in attendance at RSS meet. There was an allegation against the UPA govt. that it dare not go forward on its own. The opposition BJP at that time alleged that UPA government was run from 10, Janpath, the official residence of Congress Prsident Sonia Gandhi. It was remote controlled by her. She is the elected member of Lok sabha and President of the ruling Congress party. NAC was constitutionally created body which gave approval to all govt. policies and programmes. RSS is neither a constitutionally created body nor an elected one by the people. So, on the issue of remote control model function, there is no difference between previous UPA and the Narendra Modi-led NDA government. It is also remote controlled by Nagpur, the headquarters of RSS. Giving presentation by the Narendra Modi's Council of Ministers before RSS is unconstitutional. It must stop. RSS may have helped BJP win LS elections and Narendra Modi elect PM, but it has no constitutional sanctity to take account of the BJP govt. at the Centre. It is said that Corporate world also helpled Narendra Modi-led BJP win LS elections but it does not mean that the government would accountable to them.

Getting idea from ideological mentor

The Rashtria Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) is holding a three day co-ordination meeting in New Delhi with BJP to instruct it how to run the government and what to do with agriculture, industry, influx of migrants from Bangladesh and OROP. Today is the second day of the three day meeting. All senior RSS leaders and its affiliates are participating in the meeting. All the top BJP leaders, ministers, including party president Amit Shah, have been in attendance. RSS is perturbed over continued the fall of government popularity among the public since the Modi-led NDA government came to power at the Centre. RSS leaders would also discuss in detail how to fight the coming Bihar assembly elections. It is believed that RSS intends to concede the demand of ORPO by the veterans of war. It is expected to put pressure on BJP to act to concede OROP. Besides that , the continued coming of migrants from across Bangladesh and Nepal in Indian districts adjacent to the border is a matter of great concerns for RSS. it is likely to alert the Modi government about upsetting the demographic equation in the districts adjacent to the border and LoC. RSS is the fountain head of inspiration for the BJP. Without the consent from the RSS, BJP can not move even a step. Though RSS claims to be a cultural organization and nothing to do with politics, it is for the sake of public speech. What is happening is all before us. It is now for the people to know what role does RSS play in BJP government at the Centre? It is BJP's conscience keeper. The previous UPA government of former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh was alleged to be running from 10, Janpath, the residence of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. It was alleged that Singh's govt. was remote controlled by Sonia. The same thing is happening with Narendra Modi-led NDA government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also reported to be present in the co-ordination meeting with RSS on Friday and take sermons from Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat. Narendra Modi-led NDA govt. also appears to be running from RSS headquarters, Nagpur. Since the beginning of the RSS meeting, all the senior BJP leaders and ministers lined up to attend it and instructions. Modi govt. is also remote controlled by RSS. It acts on their advice. The RSS is likely to prod the NDA government on fears of a changing demographic profile in districts bordering Nepal and Bangladesh as the three-day coordination meeting with the BJP entered the second day on Thursday. Top ministers and BJP leaders were in attendance at the meeting being presided over by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at a Madhya Pradesh government guest house in the national capital. It is believed that the RSS was concerned about the census data based on religion, released by the government recently, which indicated a steep rise in Muslim population in some districts in Assam and West Bengal, attributed to influx of Muslims from Bangladesh. The RSS, however, considers Hindus fleeing from Bangladesh as refugees, making a clear distinction with Muslims who enter India illegally. The recent terror strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and the Patel reservation row in Gujarat are also expected to be taken up in one of the sessions in the next two days. The RSS is considered the BJP ideological mentor.

Grand show of strength

The Swabhiman Rally in Patna by the grand alliance of JD(U), RJD, Congress and SP clearly showed that if they remained united till the casting of the last vote in Bihar assembly elections, they would certainly come out victorious. It was organized on a big scale to exploit the Biharis' anger over DNA remark by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bihar at Muzaffarpur rally against them. Modi had questioned CM Nitish Kumar's DNA in terms of politics, which the later depicted it to connect with all Biharis. Among the crowds assembled in Patna from all over the state at the historic Gandhi Maidan were carried away by RJD boss Lalu Yadav's one liner. This Swabhiman rally also established that Lalu is still the biggest crowd puller. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, JD(U) leader and CM Nitish Kumar and the party President Sharad Yadav, RJD Chief Lalu Yadav, SP leader and Mulayam's brother Shivpal Singh Yadav and Congress leader Gulamnabi Azad were at the front row on the dais. They represented the secular format of the nation. They have united to defeat BJP-led NDA in Bihar elections. CM Nitish Kumar emphasized PM's DNA remark and successfully painted it before the mammoth gatherings at Gandhi Maidan as an insult to Biharis because their self respect was hurt by it. The crowds were receptive to him. With the participation of Congress President Sonia Gandhi in the rally, the tag of secularism was attached to the grand alliance. Congress may have the least presence in the state, but when the question arises who is the first among secular political parties to be the torch bearer of secularism, it is the Congress party. So its mere presence in the rally would infuse a sense of security among minorities. Sonia made frontal attack on PM Modi and exposed his failure to deliver on the promises he had made to the people during LS elections as a BJP PM candidate. She mainly spoke on national issues where PM Modi has failed to deliver so far. She has rightly said that one-forth of his tenure has already elapsed, but he has not delivered on a single promise. On the day of Swabhiman Rally in Patna, PM Modi in his famous Man Ki Baat on radio broadcast said that no new ordinance would be promulgated on Land Bill and from today itself i.e. August 22, 2015 the Land Bill of 2013 enacted by UPA would come into force. This is nothing but the U-turn of Modi govt under farmers' pressure. This has been painted at the Patna rally as his bowing down before the people. CM Nitish Kumar has rightly said that Biharis may be poor, but they cannot tolerate when their self-respect is hurt. One thing that clearly comes out of the Swabhiman rally is that caste cannot be separated from elections in Bihar and all Bihar leaders played the caste cards to the full to garner support from their fellow caste men. Lalu Yadav clearly and openly questioned his cate men whether they have left him or still behind him in totality. His caste men present at the rally in full strength beckoned that they were still behind him. This Bihar election is going to be keenly contested one and future of all leaders from both camps are at stake. Whichever alliance may come out victorious; the naked display of casteist politics has no takers at least among the educated people of Bihar. They want state leaders to rise above caste.

Silence a sign of acceptance

Now it is 18th day that Lalitgate came into light, involving Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje Scindhia and Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in one way or the other and since then Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been keeping quiet on this issue about which the nation wants to know his views. It is surprising why PM Modi does not open his mouth on Lalitgate. It is not an ordinary issue but of propriety and probity in public life. He must break his enigmatic silence on the issue. Otherwise, the message goes out that he has also tacit support to impropriety and corruption. Not only almost all senior BJP leaders some among them are ministers in the NDA govt. and also PM Modi never tired of questioning former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh’ silence on the issues of corruption in UPA govt and probity in public. These BJP leaders were then in opposition and Narendra Modi was party's prime ministerial candidate in Lok Sabha elections. They interpreted Manmohan's silence as the sign of accepting corruption charges. And now why not by the same yardstick, PM Modi's silence can not be interpreted as his acceptance of his ministers’ involvement in Lalitgate. It also proves his claim of providing a clean govt. free of corruption a sham. PM Modi’s claim of Zero tolerance against corruption has fallen flat. PM Modi on his radio broadcast of Man ki Baat but made no mention of the new revelation about charges against Vasundhra and Sushma. The nation, however, wants to know its Man ki Baath from the PM. Even senior most BJP leader Lalkrishna Advani, who has been pushed into Salahkar Mandal against his wishes, has rightly hinted at his party ministers in question, how he had resigned the moment his name surfaced in the Jain-Hawala diary to maintain credibility in politics. He had resigned from the membership of Lok Sabha pending investigation and when he was given clean chit by the CBI, he was again elected to Lok Sabha and participated in parliamentary activity. He resigned on the basis of his conscience call because he was sure that he never did wrong and would come out clean. He had done this even after the party leadership asked him not to do this. Despite that the conscience is neither biting Sushma nor Raje and the PM has been maintaining deafening silence. It has created the perception among the public that this Modi-led NDA government is no better than the previous UPA government on the issue of corruption and others. The entire nation wants to know why PM Modi is silent on Lalitgate. He should have come out and told the people that his ministers had committed no wrong doing and it is a false campaign of opposition to level charge against them. And if he thinks that to uphold the probity in public life to strengthen credibility in politics, he must ask his External affairs Minister Sushma and Rajasthan Chief Vasundhra Raje Scindhia pending the probe. The longer PM Modi goes into silent mode, the greater the damage is done to the party.

BJP loses its face over Lalitgate

BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi lose their faces on daily basis because of their failure in dismissing their two Union Ministers - External Affairs Sushma Swaraj HRD Smirti Irani- and the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhra Raje Scindhia for their alleged involvement in morally and legally wrong acts. The charge against Swaraj is that she helped the fugitive and economic offender former IPL boss and cricket tycoon Lalit Modi acquire travel documents from British govt to go to Portugal to sign an operation paper of his wife, who is cancer stricken. She and her party defend it by saying that help was on humanitarian ground. Whichever ground it may be, but one thing is clear that she helped fugitive, which is wrong morally and legally. There is a charge against Rajasthan CM Vasundhra Raje Scindhi that he signed Modi’s immigration paper as witness to back his stay in Britain on the condition that it would be kept secret from the Indian officials. A Delhi court accepted to hear a case about the fake qualification charge against Smirti Iran. Enough proofs and documents corroborating the charge have come in public domain, which make the BJP's defence and PM's silence untenable. PM Modi's silence itself reflects that there is something fishy in both Laligate and certificate imbroglio. All these charges against BJP ministers puncture its claim of high moral ground. It clearly appears that scam days have returned again. Now BJP's charge against the previous UPA government that it was mired in corruption and scandals in its tenure of ten years is now boomerang on itself just after completing only one year in office. As former PM Manmohan Singh used to take silent stand on charges against his government and ministers, PM Modi has adopted the same thing completely unaware of the perception he himself and his party are making among the people. It appears that unless and until the public outcry spills on the streets all around, Modi's tainted ministers and leaders would not resign. The parameter adopted by the Modi govt. to deal with corruption, illegality and wrong moral acts can not be one for its ministers and another for opposition party leaders. Prime Minister Modi must ask his tainted ministers to resign to uphold high moral ground of which he speaks in his every public interaction. It is will be better for him to ensure smooth functioning of the monsoon session of Parliament by dismissing his tainted minister. Otherwise, Congress leaders and workers are bound to come on the streets to demand their resignations and stall it in coming days. The tainted ministers and the CM have lost the moral ground to stay in office. If they resigned right now pending the investigation, the opposition Congress would lose its opportunity to set goalpost.