Modi ads indicate clashing ambitions
The reasons behind the Modi-Nitish advertisements in Bihar newspapers driving the wedge between the BJP and the JD(U) deeper may not be merely the two allies’ different perceptions of secularism and communalism in the poll-bound state with sizeable Muslim voters.
A closer look at the advertisements and the sentiments they sparked off in the two parties indicate a long-simmering one-upmanship game between them with clashing ambitions in view of Bihar’s impending Assembly polls, in which each party wants to win more seats so as to become the bigger partner in their next government and thereby the real controller of Bihar’s promising destiny.
Apart from displaying a photograph of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi with his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar of the JD(U), the controversial advertisements nowhere even hinted at Modi’s Hindutva halo in the texts accompanying the photograph.
Rather, in admiring the governance model and development in Gujarat under Modi and highlighting the fact that thousands of Biharis are working and prospering in Gujarat, the advertisements said: “May be we have different religions and beliefs, but we live in peace under one roof in Gujarat.”
Even though independent analysts have described the advertisements as those that have simply emphasised Gujarat’s progress under Modi and the long socio-economic relations between Gujarat and Bihar, the JD(U) felt offended ostensibly by the Modi-Nitish photograph, which was widely seen and discussed in Bihar last year.
JD(U) insiders admit the party was already on the edge even days before the advertisements appeared because of the massive scale of the BJP’s arrangements and publicity for its national executive meet in Patna.
While the BJP, which got to contest 102 seats against the JD(U)’s 139 in the October 2005 Assembly polls and won 55 against the JD(U)’s 88, has been planning to demand more seats to contest in the forthcoming Assembly polls, the JD(U) has been reportedly asking the national party to contest on even fewer seats than the last polls.
“Secularism is only a fraction of the reasons behind the JD(U)’s anger. The regional party wants to see the BJP get further marginalised in Bihar. They are clearly afraid of the BJP’s chances in Bihar if Narendra Modi conducts campaigning for the Assembly polls. Modi’s past communal image works as a mask for the JD(U)’s hidden ambitions in Bihar and beyond,” said a Bihar BJP general secretary, requesting anonymity.
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