'Phir se Nitish': How the JD(U)-RJD-Congress plans to counter BJP's Mission 182 in Bihar

New Delhi: As Bihar prepares for a fierce political battle, the ‘grand alliance’ of the Janata Dal (United), the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress has launched an aggressive campaign to ensure that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not achieve its ‘Mission 182’. Prashant Kishore, who earlier played a key role in crafting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic 2014 poll campaign, has now been hired by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to spearhead the JD(U)’s poll campaign in the state. Leading a team of foot soldiers of the JD(U) and allied parties, Kishore is overseeing a campaign which relies heavily on door-to-door outreach, public advertisements through life-size banners, and promotional songs. Here’s a look at the strategies of the JD(U)-RJD-Congress combine, which is considered to have a psychological upper hand in the elections, to keep the BJP and its alliance partner at bay: [caption id=“attachment_2392300” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “] Poster wars in Bihar. Image: Tarique Anwar[/caption] Har Ghar Dastak Launched on 2 July at different parts of the state, the simple door-to-door campaign, which involves no technology, aims to personally get in touch with 3 crore voters in 1 crore households. To carry out this campaign, JD(U)-RJD workers have been divided into different groups and each group has been assigned a fixed number of houses on the commissionery, district, block, panchayat and village levels. Armed with handbills highlighting the Nitish government’s achievements, the workers knock on doors and put four questions before the occupants of the house: Has Bihar progressed in the past 10 years? Have you experienced any change in your life in 10 years of the Nitish government?  Do you believe that Nitish has brought a change in his tenure? If you think so, will you support him and convince others to vote for him in this election? The campaigners jot down the response and leave the home after pasting a party sticker on the main door as a mark. Not only this, the voters are also added to a party’s WhatsApp group to keep in touch with them. Continuing the attack on the Modi government for not releasing caste-based census data With an aim to stop the BJP from eating into the votes of ‘backward castes’, leaders associated with the ‘grand alliance’ have been asked to keep attacking the dispensation at the centre for not releasing social base caste count caste count data in the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011. The backward castes constitute a sizeable chunk of the population in the state that is considered as a traditional vote bank of the JD(U)-RJD. The attack on the Modi government on this point is a calculated move to project it as ‘anti-backward castes’ and to try and consolidate Other Backward Caste (OBC) votes. The saffron party, on its part, considering the strength of OBCs in the Hindi heartland, has formed an OBC Morcha to boost electoral prospects in Bihar. Counter Modi’s credibility The JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance is raising the Vyapam and Lalit Modi scams in all its public rallies to puncture Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proclamation – ‘Na Khaunga, Na Khane Dunga (I won’t be corrupt, and won’t allow others to be)’. The opposition alliance did not let Parliament function by intensifying its campaign on these scandals and is set follow it up during the forthcoming polls in the state. #AskNitish campaign This is a public engagement initiative first introduced by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to bring people closer to their leaders. The campaign, which facilitates direct questions from people to the Bihar chief minister using the Twitter hashtag, is aimed at reaching out to youth on social media. Aggressive use of social media Nitish Kumar has started giving special attention to the social media for the past few months. He promptly tweets his reaction to the statement made by the opposition. Not just the party supremos, other JD(U)-RJD leaders and workers have also become hyperactive on different social networks, including Facebook and WhatsApp, to connect with voters of their constituencies. Campaign slogans and posters The JD(U) featuring Nitish’s photo is dominating Bihar’s skyline carrying different messages above a common punchline ‘Phir Ek Baar Nitish Kumar’ (Nitish Kumar once more) to counter BJP’s BJP’s tagline ‘Is Baar Bhajpa Sarkar’. (This election, vote for a BJP government) For instance, the slogan ‘aa_ge badhta rahe Bihar,phir ek baar Nitish Kumar’_ (For Bihar’s march forward, Nitish Kumar once more)  is being used to counter ‘Apradh bhrashtachar aur ahankar, kya is gathbandhan se badhega Bihar? Hum badlenge Bihar, Is baar Bhajpa sarkar’ (Crime, corruption and arrogance-can this alliance take Bihar forward? We will transform Bihar. This election, vote for a BJP government). The carefully choreographed poster and hoarding campaign for Nitish has been designed around his persona. Interestingly, similar to the BJP’s campaign that features only Prime Minister Modi while relegating entire state leadership to the background, none of the posters or hoardings put up by the JD(U) have any reference to the alliance partners - RJD and Congress. ‘Phir Se, Phir Se; Phir Se Nitish’ The JD(U) has released its campaign song, featuring exuberant lyrics  and catchy tunes ‘ ‘Phir se ek baar ho, Bihar mein bahaar ho; phir se ek baar ho, Nitishe Kumar ho’ (Let there be prosperity in Bihar, let there be Nitish Kumar once more). Written by Tanu Weds Manu lyricist Raj Shekhar, the song has been composed by Sneha Khanwalkar, who was the music director for films like ‘Oye Lucky Lucky Oye’ and ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’. The 4.21-minute long song is said to be prepared after a two-and-a-half month research under Prashant Kishore’s guidance. It showcases the development that the state witnessed in the past 10 years during which Nitish was at the helm of affairs. No stone has been left unturned to target the BJP through the song. In a line ‘Bhoomi Ka Sapoot, Bhoomi Bachayega’ (the son of the soil will save land), the song also talks about the land bill being pushed by the BJP-led government at the Centre. The controversial land bill finds a mention in the song because 86 percent people of the state depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Asking people to stay away from “false promises”, and issues of caste and religion, the song asks people to vote for a leader who is concerned about their welfare. The party has also launched mobile caller tunes and ringtones.