Beyond the Collapse: The “Weak Narrative” of the Republican Party for Democracy, and the Opposition’s Failure to Expand Its Base | India News

Laparte’s account is weak

In the run-up to the polls, Tejashwi Yadav raised questions about Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s health, saying the NDA government was in a state of “unconsciousness” and calling it “dangerous”. However, the Rally for Justice and Development Party leader who shook the NDP with his 10,000 job listings in 2020 had nothing new to offer in terms of vision, except the promise of a government job for every family, which did not find many takers.

His Mai Bahin Maan Yojana, which promised Rs 2,500 to female beneficiaries, seemed somewhat feasible, but the NDA successfully countered it through the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar

Yojana, where eligible women entrepreneurs received Rs 10,000 as down payment, along with an additional financial support of Rs 2 lakh available within six months based on business performance. This scheme, now famous as the ‘Dashasari’ scheme, helped Nitish Kumar mobilize his core constituency of ‘Mahila’ voters and toppled Tejashwi’s narrative.

*Chirag Paswan

If the RJD rose from 22 seats in 2010 to 80 seats in 2015, it was because of its formidable social union with the JD(U), with the Congress playing the role of glue. In 2020, the RJD was the single largest party because Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), which was then undivided, contested the elections alone and ended up hurting the RJD(U). JD(U)’s loss was automatically RJD’s gain.

When the RJD went to the polls this time, it did not have any similar external factors to help it. The party was alone. The Justice and Development Party has tried to form a coalition to expand its base, but has not succeeded. The Congress Party remained the weak link in the alliance, and other allies such as the Communist Liberation Party of India (ML), the Vikashil Insan Party (VIP), and the Indian Totalitarian Party (IIP) did not add much to its social structure.

* Lalo is a responsibility and an asset

Tejashwi’s biggest asset is that he is Lalu Prasad’s son, but his father’s years in power, which people remember as the years of the “Jungle Raj”, are also his liability. The RJD was able to overcome the jungle raj narrative in 2015 and 2020 through a good social mix, or when the NDA alliance was weaker, but that was not the case this time.

Why Congress likely faltered

Several party leaders cited three general reasons behind Congress’ poor performance. First, they believe that the party’s pursuit of social justice alienated what remained of the upper caste and upper caste vote bank, while it was not enough to bring a large segment of extremely backward class voters to its side. The EBCs continued to rally behind Nitish Kumar, their preferred choice.

Kumar’s clear focus on women and IEC voters meant that the grand alliance was not able to expand its tent and attract any new section of voters except Muslims and Yadavs (MY is the RJD’s core base). “My party has now become Mahila (women) and Yuva (youth),” a Congress leader said, adding that the party has no control over these sections.

“Rahul Gandhi had come to attend an EBC conference in my area. A little further away, there was a village with a large Brahmin population. A crowd of 5,000 people, including a former vice-chancellor of a prestigious university, were waiting, hoping that Rahul would visit. But he did not. I was told that the advice given to him at that time was that the view of his visit to a Brahmin village after attending the EBC conference would not be good. It cannot be so or; we have to take it,” said a senior Congress leader in the state. “Everyone gets along.”

The opposition leader’s rhetoric against the special intensified review of electoral rolls and the “vote theft” narrative also did not resonate with voters. Party insiders, who were unsure about making the election campaign front and center in the party’s rhetoric to voters, said there was feedback from the field, but the leadership was not listening. In return, Tejashwi emphasized more on employment and other day-to-day concerns of people, Congress leaders noted. “There was no single coherent narrative. Except for one or two walks, Rahul and Tejashwi did not share the stage,” a leader said.

The third reason cited by many in the party was the decision to appoint several defectors from the National Democratic Rally, in addition to the usual allegations of irregularities in the distribution of tickets.

“I can identify at least 10 candidates who had previous association with the NDA. Be it the candidate in Sonparacha or the candidates in Kumhrar, Nautan, Forbesganj, Kochiyakot or Baldur. Every party gives tickets to turncoats, but the Congress and Gandhi himself were fighting the BJP and the RSS with all their might. And if you give tickets to those whose social media walls still have pictures of NDA leaders, then what Is there any remaining credibility? The party leader said.