Heroes of democracy

Biharis have done it. This often ridiculed group of people have shown they are the real heroes of democracy. They came out of the Laloo Prasad Yadav spell five years back when they voted for change, and catapulted Nitish Kumar, the socialist follower of Ram Manohar Lohia, to chief ministership. Today, they ensured he remains the state’s chief minister for the second consecutive term, throwing the anti-incumbency psephological concerns to the winds.
As chief minister, Nitish Kumar had concentrated on long-delayed projects, built bridges, laid non-existent roads, kept crime in check, appointed over 1 lakh school teachers, encouraged the girl child to go to school by providing her uniforms and cycle and ensured doctors actually attended to primary health centres. To outsiders it might sound like this was his job, and he’d better do it. But the joke that did the rounds in Bihar pre-Nitish Kumar was: people get paid to report for work, and want overtime money to do the work.
Nitish Kumar carefully chose development politics over identity politics: a stark deviation from the typical Indian brand of politicking. He did not allow the hue of alliances to taint his secular and socialist credentials. The shy politician resisted the temptation of bringing ally BJP’s star campaigner, Narendra Modi, to increase his brand equity. He ruffled a few feathers and invited media attention when he politely refused Modi’s oratory services. He chose to keep a low profile, concentrated on development of a state which was termed bimaru (sick). Having concentrated more on work, he did not need speakers, he did his bit with workers. And by keeping Modi out of the picture, he weaned the Muslims from the Laloo Yadav-Ram Vilas Paswan clique.
Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, too, had returned their respective chief ministers, Narendra Modi and Mayawati, to second terms. To be fair to Modi, he did push Gujarat towards progress, and won over the electorate, more on his development report card. However, he has been unable to shrug off the 2002 ghost. He continues to carry that burden on his saffron shoulders.
Mayawati, on the other hand, tried the unique Brahmin-Dalit coagulation, and it clicked in Uttar Pradesh. But she went overboard with her Dalit and statue politics, erecting elephantine images of herself, her mentor Kanshi Ram and their messiah, Ambedkar. Both Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh rode high on communal and caste politics.
But the Bihar electorate has shown unbridled maturity in shunning identity politics, and diverted its attention to development politics. It has rewarded Nitish Kumar for his multiple achievements and acknowledged the attention he paid to issues that were hitherto ignored during the 15-year tenure of the erstwhile first couple of Bihar: Laloo and Rabri. The election verdict is a lesson for the rest of the country, whose leaders are continuously pushing the electorate into caste, communal and regional politics.