Mr Narendra Modi, whose campaign visits to Bihar now seem more likely despite murmurs of protest from the JD(U), has already smoothed his path into the state’s psyche and enthused the BJP’s rank and file. For many in Bihar, the Gujarat chief minister may have lost much of the stigma of communalism surrounding him.
After the BJP’s central leaders signalled that Mr Modi would campaign for Bihar’s Assembly polls, most of the party’s Bihar leaders feel the JD(U) would ultimately soften its stand to allow Mr Modi “a free hand in the BJP’s campaigns” and that his presence would raise the NDA’s prospects.
“The BJP, with its spectacular achievements in Bihar and Gujarat, has superior firepower to counter the Bihar Opposition parties’ hackneyed refrain of communalism to malign Modi,” said a Bihar BJP general secretary.
While the opposition to Mr Modi’s expected presence in the campaigns comes mostly from Bihar’s political parties with a clear eye on the Muslim vote bank, the state’s general electorate no longer seems to be as opposed to Mr Modi as five years back. Mr Modi could have undergone an image makeover among Bihar’s people for a complex variety of socio-political and economic reasons in recent years, say experts watching the political and public sentiments in Bihar over the controversial leader.
Mr Modi, who had been a persona non grata for the JD(U) in Bihar ever since the NDA government took over in November 2005, tried hard to make himself acceptable to the common public in Bihar during his maiden visit as Gujarat chief minister to Bihar on June 12 and 13. The visit displayed a marked softening of his dominant Gujarat image as the “Hindu Hriday Samrat”.
While an advertisement blitzkrieg — much to the chagrin of the JD(U) — advantageously presented Mr Modi as the well-wisher of Muslims and all Biharis, his emotional speech in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on June 13 dripping with love for thousands of Bihari migrant workers in Gujarat and stressing the long socio-political ties between the two states endeared him to Bihar’s common public.
“He (Modi) would be largely perceived by the electorate in Bihar as a visionary leader with proven administrative skills that ensured Gujarat’s fast growth under his rule,” said a BJP minister in Mr Nitish Kumar’s Cabinet.