Bihar elections: Narendra Modi has not disappeared from BJP's posters; he is still in the thick of battle

A lot has been written and debated about BJP’s mid-course nervous breakdown in the big ticket Bihar assembly polls. Two arguments were made to substantiate this – one, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has run away from the electoral scene and cancelled his rallies on 16 and 20 October. It was said he would hereafter mark only a token presence in the campaigning; two, the BJP has removed Modi and Amit Shah’s hoardings and posters in Patna and in other parts of the state and replaced them with those of state BJP and NDA leaders. On landing in Patna, this correspondent had expected that the hoardings and posters which were on display till about a fortnight ago, would be missing and a new set would be in place. Plain curiosity drove him to do a reality check. To his surprise, he saw a large number of Modi-Shah hoardings in all parts of Patna. The poster at Patna airport was indeed missing but that was removed by the Election Commission on the basis of some complaint submitted to it. The Civil Aviation secretary was also petitioned for its removal and the ministry had taken cognizance. Subsequently it advised Airports Authority of India that they ought to be careful while accepting ads at election time. [caption id=“attachment_2490648” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] All other hoardings which this correspondent had seen on the previous visit, say for instance at the Income Tax roundabout, Chriyantand, Bailey Road, Rajendra Nagar flyovers, etc, are still there. They have not been removed. Instead, a series of brightly lit neon sign displays along the divider and either side of the road have come up on all these flyovers. As one drives outside of Patna to far flung West Champaran (Bettiah), East Champaran (Motohari) and Indo-Nepal border town Raxaul , around 200 kilometer away from Patna, I thought I was sure to miss these faces on hoardings and instead find some new ones such as those of Jitan Ram Manjhi, Ramvilas Paswan, Upendra Kushwaha, Sushil Modi, Nand Kishore Yadav and Mangal Pandey. But again, Modi-Shah hoardings greeted me on the highway and some vital crossings. Of course, the number of hoardings outside Patna is much less, but so are JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar’s hoardings. The hoarding war is mainly limited to the media. Maximum mileage with minimum expenditure, good management principles are applied by both rival parties, the BJP and the JD(U). The hoardings at the party offices of the two principal rivals, the BJP and the JD(U), about 100 meters apart on the same road, Veer Chand Patel Path, make an interesting study. The BJP, which supposedly has a bigger resource reserve, has one Modi-Shah hoarding and an NDA hoarding showcasing alliance partner leaders and state BJP leaders at the gate. The interiors are plain. By contrast, the JD(U) office has over half a dozen brightly lit hoardings in eye-catching colours at the gate. Inside, the party office is plastered with shiny portraits of Nitish Kumar on bright yellow background. They carry the seven resolves of the leader. Modi rejoined campaigning after about a two-week recess on Dussehra. On 1 November, he is addressing three rallies, at Madhubani, Madhepura and Katihar and would address another three on 2 November to conclude his campaigning. As 55 assembly constituencies in West Champaran, East Champaran, Sitamadhi, Muzaffarpur, Sheohar, Gopalganj, Siwan go to the polls, the NDA and the Mahagathbandhan are leaving no stone unturned to instill confidence in the workers and influence the voters. The areas going to the polls today traditionally have a wider BJP support base. To be in the reckoning, the party has to capitalize on that. Conversely, the Mahagathbandhan has to make a substantive dent if it has to gain power. Contrary to the perception in some sections, this election is still wide open.