New Delhi: The opposition, which was united on the issue of intensive scrutiny of voter list i.e. SIR, got scattered in Bihar. As soon as the Election Commission released the list of 65 lakh voters removed, the SIR issue disappeared and so did the opposition’s unity. The constituent parties of the India Alliance did not show much interest in the Vote Adhikar Yatra of Rahul Gandhi, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha. Sources even say that RJD chief Lalu Yadav is also not happy with the behavior of Congress during the Yatra. Although Tejashwi Yadav remained with the Yatra till the last day, RJD’s displeasure is being described as the real reason behind postponing the Patna rally, because the Yatra was completely taken over by Rahul Gandhi and the Congress. Rahul Gandhi’s behavior has also been surprising. Despite being the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul himself raised slogans like “vote thief gaddi chhod”.
When the Yatra started from Sasaram on 17th August, the issue of SIR was the most important. RJD and Congress were targeting the Election Commission and making the irregularities in the voter list an issue. Meanwhile, the Election Commission released the district-wise list of 65 lakh voters removed during SIR. The list released by the Election Commission spoiled the entire game of the opposition. Congress and RJD could not present even one person whose name was found missing from the voter list. The list of the Election Commission turned out to be correct. After this, Congress and RJD came on the back foot and started doing politics on the issue of vote theft.
Rahul Gandhi completed his Voter Rights Yatra on the basis of the issue of vote theft. But after the completion of the Yatra, the rally of India Alliance to be held in Gandhi Park, Patna on Monday was postponed. On Monday, a Yatra will be taken out in Patna city and will be concluded by reaching the Jayaprakash Narayan statue near Gandhi Park. The leaders will give speeches there. Only the leaders of Congress and RJD will speak from the India Alliance. It will be interesting to see whether Lalu Yadav comes or not. None of the constituent parties of the India Alliance will come. Congress and RJD have kept a distance from Shiv Sena and its leader Uddhav Thackeray because Thackeray’s party has been targeting Biharis in the name of language. Secondly, UBT was not invited to the Yatra so that the Muslim vote does not get angry. Leaders of Sharad Pawar’s NCP also did not reach the Yatra. TMC also did not join the Yatra. The Aam Aadmi Party is already separate. DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav from the India Alliance joined the Yatra and went back. There is little possibility of their coming again. The enthusiasm of unity created during the monsoon session has cooled down in Bihar.
Now the question is who benefited from the Yatra. If seen in terms of crowd and waving of tricolour, Congress got a chance to come in the discussion. Along with Rahul, his sister Priyanka Gandhi also joined the Yatra for a day or two. Congress seemed to dominate RJD somewhere. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was seen openly together till the end of the Yatra, but experts say that everything is not fine between the two. There are many reasons for it. The first big reason is that Rahul Gandhi did not declare Tejashwi Yadav as the CM candidate of the alliance. He even avoided the question when asked. While Tejashwi Yadav even talked about making Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister. Initially, he became his driver in the car, but later he was seen standing with Rahul. However, he avoided the driving seat. It is said that RJD President Lalu Yadav did not like to see Tejashwi on the driving seat. Secondly, Congress’s silence on the CM post was also not liked.
As far as the matter of more crowd and Tricolour was concerned, RJD lagged behind in that too. Congress’s team used to send its workers to the venue before RJD and fill the venue with Congress flags. It seemed that Congress was the one actually contesting the elections. RJD is also angry about this. But the real fight and strength will be seen in seat sharing. RJD is in the mood to give 50 to 60 seats to Congress. Now it will be interesting to see how many seats Congress agrees to.
The language used by Rahul Gandhi for Prime Minister Narendra Modi during this trip has also become an election issue in Bihar. Rahul himself raised slogans like “vote thief gaddi chhod”, and used words like “tu tadak”. BJP has already made the use of abusive language by Congress supporters and the abuse of PM Modi’s mother an issue. Congress has lost many elections in the past due to the use of words. Choice of words has been one of the reasons for defeat in two Gujarat elections and the general elections of 2014 and 2019. During the 2008 Gujarat elections, Sonia Gandhi as Congress President had called the then CM Modi “maut ka saudagar”. BJP made it an issue and turned the tables. Similarly, in 2018 Mani Shankar Aiyar spoiled the game by using the word ‘neech’. This same Mani Shankar Aiyar had taunted BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi by calling him ‘Chai Wala’ before the 2014 general elections, which has become an issue till date. In 2019 Rahul Gandhi himself had lowered his dignity by calling him ‘Chowkidar Chor’.
Rahul is still walking on the same path. The difference is that this time he is saying “Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod”.
