Bihar: Some BJP and Ally JD-U Candidates Face People’s Wrath During Campaign

Patna: As election campaign picks up for the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, the resentment of people has surfaced against some of the candidates of the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the past few days.

Top leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies Janata Dal-United, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) might be claiming to win all 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state, but the ground reality is different. It seems a difficult task for the NDA to replicate its 2019 success in Bihar, when it secured 39 out of 40 parliamentary seats. The Congress won only one seat and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) failed to win any seat, marking a significant setback for the party.

In the present scenario, at least five NDA candidates, including former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, have been facing the wrath of people during election campaigns in their respective parliamentary constituencies.

For instance, Prasad, an outspoken incumbent BJP MP from Patna Sahib seat, seems to be in trouble this time. It was reported in local Hindi dailies that people have been protesting against Prasad regularly at different places for his failure to fulfil promises of development. Local people have been heard expressing their anger against Prasad, claiming to defeat him this time.

"Hum log Prasad ko vote nahi karenge,unko harayenge" (We will defeat Prasad this time) is a common refrain heard among people from Patna City to Fatuha in his constituency.

"Prasad has not only failed to do anything for development, he has no time for Patna Sahib people and refused to meet them after he won the polls twice. We will teach him lesson this time", Devendar Kumar Singh, a resident of Fatuha, told Newsclick.

Prasad, considered close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, is also facing angry BJP workers, who have been holding meetings against him and demanding that the top BJP leadership replace Prasad by fielding new candidate from Patna Sahib.

"The party (BJP) should field a new face in place of Prasad, who is unpopular among people and workers due to his arrogance and style of functioning" a BJP worker Satyendar Kushwaha, said.

According to sources in BJP here, a young BJP leader Rituraj Sinha, son of senior BJP leader R K Sinha, founder of security service provider SIS(India) who is associated with RSS for long, was eyeing to contest from Patna Sahib, but BJP decided in favour of Prasad.  factor is reportedly behind the unrest among BJP workers because Sinha was active in the constituency before the previous Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

More or less a similar situation prevails in Buxar, where BJP has fielded new face, Mithilesh Tiwary, replacing senior party leader and Union minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey. "People are not happy with BJP as the incumbent MP, who is a minister in Narendra Modi cabinet, failed to fulfil the promises he made. A section of farmers is angry that the NDA government ignored their 500-day-long protest demanding compensation for land acquisition for a power plant in Chausha. They are blaming Choubey for this. Besides, farmers in general are upset for not getting MSP (minimum support price for crops),” Harish Choudhary, a farmer, told NewsClick.

After Choubey was denied a ticket, a section of BJP workers, particularly his supporters, are not active in the campaign for the new party candidate.

There are also reports that Union minister Giriraj Singh, the incumbent MP from Begusarai, who is in the fray again, was shown black flags by people and party workers.

NDA's ally JD-U’s incumbent MP, Chandeshwar Prasad Chandrawanshi, from the Jehanabad seat, who is seeking re-election, is also facing the wrath of people. Local dailies have reported anger against him on the ground that is surfacing during his visits to village after village for campaigning.

There are similar reports from the Aurangabad seat where BJP’s incumbent MP is seeking re-election.

Cries of ‘go back, go back’ filled the air with youths threatening to not vote for BJP again for “creating unemployment”. At other places, slogans of “No job, no vote. Go back, go back” were raised, as well as price rise.

However, BJP leaders at the state headquarters downplayed these incidents by alleging that “some workers and supporters” of the Opposition RJD were trying to create trouble during the election campaign. "There is no such thing. NDA candidates have a clear edge over the opposition Mahagathbandhan in all the seats. We will win all," a BJP leader said.

A JD-U leader, however, admitted that anti-incumbency was visible on the ground, as the NDA had been in power at the Centre since 2014.

BJP is contesting 17 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state and its allies, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD-U is contesting 16 seats, Chirag Paswan-led LJP(R) is fighting on five seats and one seat each has Hindustani Awam Morcha of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha of former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha.