But politics lost in Bihar

The polity of Bihar has been known for its astute political acumen and the last decade or so has been signified by its perseverance for a more progressive nature of politics. Since 2005 the overarching vision for socioeconomic progress has transcribed in the voting pattern despite fringe aspects of caste, sect, dhanbal and bahubal remaining in the foray.

The underlying priorities for assembly elections of November 2005 & 2010 were defined by a broader societal consensus for change. Probably after a long time hope and aspirations of constituents were underlining the political merit. A radical shift for a State mired in caste politics and surrounded by the hoopla of lawlessness. But more importantly the politics was organically becoming progressive and more liberal in nature. Swasthya, Shiksha, Susashan, and Sadak were fast replacing  Bhurabaal, Bahubal, and Bandook as buzz words.   

Come 2014 and the state witnessed another watershed; this time for BJP or rather Narendra Modi after its coalition with Janata Dal (United) broke. We may dispute it but yet again the electoral prospects in Bihar were defined by the vision of progressiveness and hope for the nation.

However the Jeetan Ram Manjhi saga seems to have pushed all of the evolving political ideas into the bin and caste-goonism seems to be making a grand reentry in the political hubris. The grandeur claims of safeguarding dalit interests may have complex ramifications but it is likely to rekindle the notion of intense social maneuvering in the political circles - which in essence would bring seasoned fixers back into the mix. A new lease of life for many redundant hangers across the party line. And one of the biggest damage of this changing political dynamics would be minimal role and opportunity for young political aspirants and for those who aspired to pursue a far more progressive and new age politics. 

This is unfortunate on 2 counts. First it may have further dented the prospect of electoral meritocracy in Bihar as witnessed in Delhi elections; where now ticket distribution and campaign would be heavily based on sectarian and caste arithmetic and would mostly benefit those who are totally engrossed in it.  Secondly the new age progressive political acumen generated in the past decade via a rather positive political churning would either be lost or contaminated. And both would be a serious loss to Bihar which in the long run would witness a humongous political vacuum with the likely absence of authentic leadership. 

Keeping in view that it takes atleast a decade for generational shift in politics and for new entrants to get acclimatized to the political game, Bihar would be deprived of some potential natural leaders in immediate future and instead would have at its helm the benefactors of sycophancy and dynasty politics.

If we pick 5 of the biggest leaders in today’s politics of Bihar, we would identify almost everyone’s root to emergency movement of mid seventies. It is remarkable that a politically astute state like Bihar has not produced a single big leader outside the gambit of Jay Prakash Narayan’s Sampurn Kranti movement in the past 40 years. Compare that with evolution of political leadership in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Assam, UP, Karnataka and the results would be glaring. 

This only underlines the issue of brick mongering, backstabbing, and mistrust in Bihar politics and beyond a doubt Jeetan Ram Manjhi’s actions are going to subvert the notion of political trust to a new low. His actions may have induced a greater level of insecurity among the political leaders and would only jeopardize any prospect of leadership transition across the party line.