Bihar’s long fascination with bursting Diwali firecrackers bearing the names and pictures of top regional leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar has gone ahead this time to add Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the list, signifying the Congress’ rising popularity in the state.
People shopping for firecrackers in the bustling marketplaces in Patna and several other towns in Bihar were pleasantly surprised to find the wrappers on the sundry explosive products carrying the names and photographs of the Congress national chief and her son, a party general secretary. Both mother and son have addressed about a dozen jam-packed public meetings to campaign for the Congress during Bihar’s ongoing Assembly polls.
“These firecrackers seem to bear a political message. After all, Bihar has been a state with a people hugely aware politically,” said Dr Anjani Kumar, a doctor found shopping for firecrackers in Patna on Thursday. “The Diwali this year certainly gives the Congress deeper roots in Bihar,” he added.
But there is still no match for the “Lalu bombs” in Bihar’s Diwali market. The RJD chief, whose face has been figuring on wrappers of firecrackers for the past 20 years, remains a big hit as various crackers named after him are the unquestionable bestsellers. “Most customers like to buy ‘Lalu bombs’ along with ‘Rabri charkha’ and ‘Rabri spar-klers’,” said cracker seller Mohammed Pappu Khan in the wholesale market in Old Patna. Next in popularity and sales is what is named as “Nitish Time Bombs,” almost same in nature as the “Lalu bombs” but differing only in name and the picture on the wrappers. Chief minister Nitish Kumar, known for his serious image and sobriety in words, has been leading the grandest campaign for the ruling JD(U)-BJP alliance based on his government’s development work, but all that apparently makes little difference in the firecracker market. Next to Kumar in the race among Bihar’s political patakhas is Yadav’s ally and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan.