The Mahagathbandhan cabinet is assuming power in Bihar on Friday after its grand victory over communal fascism. The people of Kerala congratulate Nitish Kumar and wish the best for him and his cabinet.
The Assembly election in Bihar was keenly watched as it was held amid raging communalism and intolerance that gripped India for the past one year and a half.
The election was held in the backdrop of threats faced by India’s secularism and plurality from a communal propaganda that created enmity between religions and brutal murders carried out by the Sangh Parivar outfits.
The country has been witnessing a declaration of war on minorities and groups with different points of view.
We have seen the vengeful attitude towards the art and culture fraternity that took objections to communalism and hate.
Progressive writers like M.M.Kalburgi were killed. Even Shah Rukh Khan, a popular actor and the son of a freedom fighter, became a victim of this hate politics.
Secular India was pained when Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse was portrayed as a martyr and Mother Teresa was shown in a bad light.
As the protector of the Constitution, the President warned as many as four times against the growing threat to the country’s plurality and dangerous levels of intolerance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, did not bother to address the concerns or respond to the challenges to the secular India.
In this context, the Bihar election offers so much for secular India to be happy and proud of. When Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav came together and the Congress joined them to form the Mahagathbandhan, it was a victory for democracy and secularism. The alliance’s victory will help keep at bay the communal fascism led by the RSS and the divisive politics played by the Modi government.
Narendra Modi addressed lakhs of people in 36 election rallies in Bihar. He tried to influence the people by offering a development package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore for Bihar.
BJP president Amit Shah went to the extent of saying that crackers will be burst in Pakistan if the Mahagathbandhan wins in Bihar, in an attempt to fan communal sentiments and gather votes from it.
Despite all its game plans, the BJP lost pathetically. With Bihar pronouncing its verdict in the footsteps of Delhi, the fall of the Modi-led BJP government has been set in motion.
Lalu Prasad Yadav has said that the winds of change will spread from Bihar to all over India. The verdict of the secular and democratic people of Bihar will be a model for all other states.
Parties in the Left Democratic Front and the CPM which leads the alliance have considerable roots in Bihar. They have lauded the Mahagathbandhan in its victory. But they do not have any role in this victory. They were helping the BJP indirectly.
The CPM or other Left parties did not join the grand alliance against the communal fascism of the BJP. CPM, CPI, CPI (M-L), SUCI, Forward Bloc and the RSP formed a Left Front to contest the Bihar polls.
The Left Front contested in 221 of the 243 assembly seats in Bihar. They got only three seats and all of them belonged to the CPI (M-L). The Left could have at least struck an electoral understanding with the grand alliance to resist communalism.
The CPM and CPI received fewer votes than NOTA. The Left was swept out of Bihar with its large numbers of tribal and backward communities.
The Left parties’ decision to go alone in the elections is estimated to have cost the secular coalition at least 10 seats. The BJP won only 53 seats, and at least 10 of them were won with the indirect help of the Left Front.
The BJP won Chainpur by 671 votes. The CPM candidate plled 2,573 votes. In Pipra constituency, the BJP won by 3,930 votes. The CPM scored 8,366 votes.
This is the picture in many of the constituencies won by the BJP. The Left parties tried to divide the votes of the secular alliance and help the BJP. The CPM will have to analyse in future that it had committed a historical blunder in resisting communal fascism. In many places, Left parties were fighting each other.
The CPM politburo evaluated that the Bihar election results will strengthen the fight against right-wing communal forces in the country.
Party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the BJP got a setback in Bihar for trying to destroy the country’s secular democratic foundation. This was just an attempt to save their face after trying to help the BJP and failing in that. Wisdom dawned on them when the people swept off their positions.
I would like to know the reactions by the CPM leaders of Kerala to the irresponsible stand taken by the party to help the BJP to destroy the secular democratic foundation of the country. The people have not forgotten the history of the CPM, which joined the BJP in supporting the Morarji Desai government in 1977 and the V P Singh government in 1989.
They voted with the BJP in Parliament to pull down the UPA I government. What we saw in Bihar was just another episode of the Left’s long-standing ties with the BJP.
The CPM’s past and present make it clear that the party has lost all moral strength to resist communal fascism.
The Congress and the United Democratic Front has always staunchly opposed the BJP at the Centre and in the state. No party other than the Congress can oppose communal fascism.
The CPM, which covertly helps the BJP, has a lot to learn from Bihar.
The Bihar experience lays bare the double standards of the CPM which organises campaigns against the BJP and communal fascism in Kerala. The CPM has a history of using the minority and majority card as the situation warrants.
The times call for the unity of secular parties to resist the BJP at the national level. The nation is smouldering with resentment a year and a half into Narendra Modi’s rule.
The basic structure of our democracy, secularism and pluralism is being targeted. Bihar presents a pointer to us in this context. All secular parties have to overcome their opposition to the Congress and stand united.
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