Will it be Lalu Prasad versus Yogi Adityanath in Bihar?
To mark the completion of the third anniversary of the Narendra Modi government, the BJP is giving special focus to Bihar. Some prominent leaders of the party will visit the state to showcase the achievements of the Modi government.
Announcing this, senior Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said: "As part of the party's massive campaign, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya, Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, among other prominent leaders and MPs, will visit the state between May 25 and June 15."
BJP chief Amit Shah is also likely to camp in the state from July 2-4 as part of his nationwide tour till September 25, for an assessment of the party's strength there. He may also address two rallies in Patna on May 27 and Nalanda on May 30.
But the spotlight is on the rising star of the BJP and its new Hindu Hriday Samrat Adityanath. He has been specifically chosen to take on one of the most powerful and charismatic OBC leaders, Lalu Yadav. Adityanath, a Thakur, and Lalu, a Yadav, represent two castes who are known for their muscle power within the upper castes and OBCs in UP and Bihar.
Prem Kumar, the leader of the opposition in the Bihar Assembly, said: "Yogi Adityanath will address a mega rally at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna to mark three years of the BJP-led NDA government of Narendra Modi. He will challenge Lalu-Nitish (Kumar) in his own firebrand style in their stronghold." It seems that the BJP is using the UP chief minister as Brahmastra (deadly weapon) in Bihar.
The decision to send UP deputy CM Maurya, the OBC face of the BJP in UP, to Nalanda, the home district of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, too has been taken strategically. This district is considered the pocket-borough of the Bihar CM. Maurya belongs to one of the most powerful non-Yadav backward castes, Kushwaha, while Nitish is from another powerful non-Yadav OBC caste, Kurmi.
So why has the BJP decided to focus so much on Bihar? And why is the focus on Yogi Adityanath?
The purpose of the rallies is to mark the completion of three years of the Modi government but the real intention is to energise the party’s cadre in the crucial state before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Adityanath’s provocative style is expected to keep the political tempers simmering.
After the grand victory of the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Bihar is the only big state where the party was defeated handsomely and the grand alliance of Lalu's RJD and Nitish's JD(U) stopped its juggernaut in 2015. Now, the BJP sees an opportunity to take on the grand alliance. In these rallies the party is likely to highlight the Centre’s achievements with Bihar’s failures.
The BJP believes that after the UP results, a new wind is blowing and it will certainly spread to neighbouring Bihar. Adityanath is the biggest icon of BJP's UP victory. By using him, the party may succeed in accomplishing Mission Bihar. The BJP is keen to use Uttar Pradesh as Brahmastra in Bihar. And their main target is Lalu.
It’s an open secret that Adityanath's style of championing the cause of Hindus is more powerful than both PM Modi and party chief Amit Shah's. Adityanath will thus be the new face of Hindutva in UP as well as Bihar. And the BJP is keen to utilise him to the optimum.
The BJP has already declared an all out war against Lalu. Its leader Sushil Kumar Modi has come out with serious corruption charges against the powerful RJD chief. The Bihar BJP demanded filing of a criminal case against the RJD president over his purported telephonic conversation with jailed gangster Mohammad Shahabuddin. All these charges have made Lalu a bit vulnerable. The BJP wants to hit him hard to push him further into a corner.
After the success of the grand alliance in Bihar and failure of the secular parties in Uttar Pradesh, opposition parties have realised that the only model to defeat BJP is the Bihar model. This means all opposition parties should come together and make the 2019 Lok Sabha election a BJP versus Opposition one. And if they go by the UP model, i.e. to contest separately, they will be wiped out.
Lalu is already working on this and has declared that his August 27 rally in Patna will be around the cry of "BJP bhagao, desh bachao" (oust BJP, save country).
A galaxy of opposition leaders have been invited - from Congress president Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, former UP CM Mayawati to former PM HD Deve Gowda and former UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav - to take part in it. The RJD chief has urged all of them to bury their differences and join forces against the Modi dispensation.
Lalu's role is considered crucial to opposition unity and if he succeeds, he may create big hurdles for the BJP in the 2019 general election. Hence the BJP has decided to take him head on. And who can be better than Yogi Adityanath for this job.
The battle has already started on social media. On May 21, Lalu tweeted: "In BJP-ruled states, BJP's workers are killing people under saffron grab. Country is going into the darkness of anarchy and negativity." In response, Yogi mocked at him, saying: "Yes, there is Ram Raj in Bihar, Isn't it?"
As of now, the BJP has tried to make it a battle between Lalu and Yogi but it would be interesting to see whether the UP chief minister is fielded consistently against the RJD chief. Or whether later Modi himself comes to take on the grand alliance.
Political observers will also keep a close eye on how Lalu brings together diverse forces like the Left and Mamata, Mulayam and Mayawati in a united front against the BJP.