Bolt from Bihar Saturday, September 19, 2009

In the May general Elections, Bihar stood as a rock with the BJP - JDU alliance, giving them 31 out of 40 seats in the Lok Sabha. Yesterday, results of by-elections for 18 seats in the assembly saw Nitish suffer a major setback. His alliance with the BJP won 5 seats as against 8 won by Lalu Yadav - Paswan alliance. This is a complete turn around in just four months.

JDU - BJP is now making the classic mistake of blaming the defeat to 'local factors'. This is an ostritch like approach, which ignores the main issues.

First, The JDU has become a rest house (Sarai) for all members of the RJD - Mr Lalu Yadav's party. Nitish keeps on admitting all and sundry who are shifting from the other camp. The JDU is becoming a sanitised version of the RJD - the same people except Mr Yadav. People may have decided to vote for the 'real' thing, rather than an imitation.

Second, Good governance was the mainstay of the JDU-BJP campaign. This is not a political philosophy. Good governance is part of the basic duties of a political outfit. What is the big deal?

Third, most important, the Lok Sabha victory resulted in arrogance among the JDU-BJP leaders. This is political suicide. The people quickly show you your place if you are arrogant. Politicians are usually surprised to find that the purpose of politics is to serve the people, not vice versa.

The people of India are wise. In May 2009, they rejected the LKA led BJP alliance in MP, Uttarakhand and Gujarat. In the by-elections they have voted for th respective BJP led govts. Because, they did not appreciate the high and might airs of the central leadership, but accept the down to earth approach of the state leaders. This is a lesson that Sonia Gandhi has understood very clearly. No airs, no arrogance, dedication towards serving the people. This is a lesson that Atal Behari Vajpayee never needed, because he was made that way - simple, humble, caring for the people of India.