Did BJP rely too much on Modi? Five key things party could've done differently in Bihar

Bihar defied the high-octane campaign by Amit Shah and Narendra Modi and voted Nitish Kumar back into power. The thumping victory sent both, the pollsters and BJP strategists into a tizzy because none of them had expected BJP to lose so miserably in the mother of all electoral battles: Bihar. After the crushing defeat, the Parliamentary board, the BJP’s top decision-making body decided to meet at 4pm  to analyse its rout in polls, a second humiliating defeat in a row for the party after the Delhi assembly election. More than the defeat, it is the scale that has stung the party as it was expecting cohesive social arithmetic in its favour against the grand alliance of JD(U)-RJD-Congress. Earlier on Monday, Amit Shah reportedly met with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. The defeat in Bihar had prompted a section of the party to blame Bhagwat’s quota comments as one of the reasons for the loss. As NDTV points out, some of the searing criticism came from BJP’s own leaders. Some Bihar leaders, including Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav and Ashwini Choubey, have said that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s quota comments cost the party while there is also a feeling in a section the decision of not projecting a chief ministerial face gave Nitish an advantage. However, Bhagwat’s comments were not the only BJP misstep in Bihar. The BJP leadership has a long list of to-dos and don’ts after the drubbing they received in the recently concluded Bihar elections. From the BJP’s failure to project a strong chief ministerial candidate to a paucity of ideas and issues discussed during the campaigning, the party can brainstorm over a slew of areas where the party’s strategy was flawed. [caption id=“attachment_2501236” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  BJP office in New Delhi wore a deserted look following party’s defeat in Bihar Assembly polls on Sunday. PTI[/caption] Modi is great, but what after that? The prime minister and his ability to campaign extensively for state elections is commendable but the BJP needs to think beyond Narendra Modi. The electorate in Bihar told the BJP, in many words, that Modi is great but what else do you have? The party has to stop depending solely on the Modi and go beyond him to find something or someone who will appeal to the voters. However, it’s factually wrong that BJP was just depending on Modi to catapult the alliance to victory. The BJP dragged the cow issue into the Bihar elections but were cowed down by the Bihar voters. Beef is not as big a matter for people in Bihar as the BJP and its friends in the Sangh would like to believe. The voters were worried about more tangible problems — price rise, employment and development of the state overall. BJP ignored all the telling issues plaguing the state. As senior editor of _Firstpost_ Akshaya Mishra points out, “The party kept saying there was no electricity in Bihar while the reality on the ground was quite different. It said there was no development while there indeed has been good development over the last ten years that corresponds to Nitish’s rule.” Let’s also not ignore irresponsible statements made by leaders in the run-up to the state elections. Bhagwat’s quota comment dented party’s image in the state by huge proportions and it gave Opposition a chance to point fingers at the party which was perceived to be playing communal politics. Battle of models? Not really Eighteen months since his accession to the office of prime minister, Modi still fell back on his Gujarat Model of development in the run-up to the Bihar Assembly election. What he did not realise is that Bihar has its own model of development — the Nitish model — and it has worked pretty well for everyone. Instead of finding a loophole in the existing model, the party harped on what the PM had done while he was CM. Apparently, no one cares. This debate made the party and its top leadership look silly because it just proved to the smart voters that the BJP had failed to find something new to pin the blame on the Nitish-led government in the state. Like RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said, “We Biharis have full confidence, self-respect and capability to work hard for the development of Bihar. There is no need of a Gujarat model or an imported leader from Gujarat for development.” And the voters sided with him. Crowd puller, yes. But what about votes? No one can deny that Narendra Modi is Gandalf when it comes to public speeches. The PM weaves the sort of spell on people that is a rarity among the new crop of politicians. But the Bihar results proved that ’talking’ is not enough. Even though the turnout at all his rallies were massive, none of that translated into votes. Modi has style, one cannot deny, but like Mishra notes , the substance could be wearing off. The BJP’s over-reliance on the prime minister comes into focus here again. The party, after all, has to find another reason for the electoral in state assembly polls to cast votes for BJP because this dependence on Modi alone has cost the party first Delhi, and now Bihar. Last minute bribes for voters do not work either The Centre announcing a lavish package for Bihar just before the model code of conduct was exercised in the state, showed the party’s desperation. Many senior politicians called the tactic of ’luring’ the voters just before the elections deplorable. The BJP should realise that they are dealing with an electorate that is smart, aware and alert. They do not care for the state-Centre relationship as long as they don’t have paucity of jobs. The young voters of Bihar rejected BJP’s overtures here as well. Next time, first announce a CM candidate It is surprising that this did not strike the party, again. Even during the Delhi Assembly polls, announcing the candidature of Kiran Bedi at the last minute had hurt the party, but the leadership hardly took any cues from that defeat. In Bihar, amid big names like Nitish and Lalu, the BJP just depended on Modi-Shah duo to work their charm. It clearly failed. When it comes to state elections, voters usually depend more on the geographical proximity of the leader than the leader’s popularity worldwide. It could be a fun evening watching Modi deliver a speech at a nearby ground, but that’s all it is, the voters seemed to tell the BJP.