Bihar: NDA's ‘Parivarvaad’ in Tough Battle to Retain all 4 LS Seats in First Phase of Polls

Patna: Prime Minister Narendra Modi might be loudly talking against "parivarvaad" (dynasty), but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance's candidates belonging to dynasty politics are facing a tough battle to retain its (NDA) four seats in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls underway on April 19 in Bihar.

Contrary to Modi’s repeated attack against parivarvaad, the ruling NDA is pinning hopes on dynasty politics in the first of the seven-phase polls in the state.

The Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), major ally of the Mahagathbandhan, which is contesting from all four seats --Gaya, Aurangabad, Nawada and Jamui -- is poised to spring a surprise result, as claimed by the party's young star campaigner, Tejashwi Yadav.

In the last two Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019, NDA won all four seats easily in a polarised atmosphere. But this time round, the situation appears different. The Mahagathbandhan, led by Lalu Prasad-led RJD, the main rival of BJP, has changed its election strategy as per caste equations on the ground to challenge the NDA.

Ignoring heat wave-like conditions, a large number of people were seen in long queues, particularly in rural areas in Gaya, Aurangabad, Nawada and Jamui parliamentary constituencies, to cast their votes.

The NDA's candidate in Gaya is former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, founder of Hindustani Awam Morcha, a key ally of BJP. Manjhi's HAM is headed by his elder son Santosh Kumar Suman, who is a minister in the NDA government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Suman is also an MLC. Manjhi's samdhan (son's mother-in-law) Joyti Devi is HAM’s MLA from Barachatti Assembly seat in Gaya. Manjhi's younger son is also active in the party and is likely to contest the Bihar Assembly elections in 2025.

Manjhi is a clear example of ‘parivarvaad’ of BJP’s ally in the state.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Manjhi was the candidate of the Mahagathbandhan against then Vijay Manjhi of the Janata Dal-United, an NDA ally now. But the incumbent JD-U MP from Gaya is not contesting polls this time because the seat has gone to HAM in the seat-sharing formula of NDA. Unlike in the previous polls, when main fight was between two Manjhis, belonging to the Mushahar Dalit community, this time they are locally known as Bhuiyan – owing to the community’s work of digging land (bhumi) as well.

Mushahars, who are landless Dalits, are sometimes referred to as 'rat eaters' or rat hunters, and are one of India's most marginalised communities.

However, Manjhi (Jitan Ram) 79, is fighting against young Kumar Sawarjit, an RJD candidate in Gaya. Sawarjit ,a former minister and party MLA from Bodh Gaya, belongs to the Paswan or Dusadh community, considered militant among the Dalit community. Sawarjit's father, Rajesh Kumar, was a Janata Dal MP from Gaya, who defeated Jitan Ram Manjhi in the 1991 polls.

Though this is the fourth time that Jitan Ram Manjhi is contesting from Gaya Lok Sabha seat, he has been unsuccessful so far. Going by his age, this is being seen as his last attempt.

According to political watchers, Jitan Ram Manjhi is depending on the social support base of BJP among the upper castes, of the JD-U among Other Backward Classes or OBCs, Extremely Backward Castes or EBCs and his own Mushahar community, which has a sizeable number. This seat is considered to be a BJP stronghold, which has won the seat four times in the past 25 years—except for 2004 and 2019.

While RJD's Swarjit is popular and is eyeing to make dent in Manjhi's Mushahar community, and is also confident of getting overwhelming support from his Paswan community, RJD is also banking on its traditional support among Yadavs, Muslims and other Dalits.

The Gaya parliamentary constituency, (reserved for Scheduled Castes) is witnessing something new this time. It is a battle of Manjhi versus non-Manjhi for the first time in over two decades.

During the two-week-long election campaign, Jitan Ram Manjhi had to face unhappy and angry voters at several places in rural Gaya.

In Jamui parliamentary constituency, (reserved for Scheduled Castes) the NDA candidate, Arun Bharti, also belongs to the ‘parivarvaad’ category. He was fielded by the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), and is the brother-in-law of Chirag Paswan, who heads head LJP(R), an ally of BJP.

Bharti, who is contesting for the first time, is also the son-in-law of LJP founder and former Union Minister late Ram Vilas Paswan, a Dalit leader.

The Jamui incumbent MP, Chirag Paswan, has shifted to Hajipur, a traditional stronghold of his late father Ram Vilas Paswan.

Bharti, whose mother was a Congress MLA and MLC, is contesting against RJD’s Archana Ravidas, wife of a local RJD strongman Mukesh Yadav.

Similarly, in Nawada parliamentary constituency, BJP candidate Vikas Thakur is the son of veteran party leader and former Union minister C P Thakur, who belongs to powerful upper caste, Bhumihar.

Thakur is also BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP and was fielded from Nawada, which is considered a stronghold of the Bhumihar community, known for its ‘blind’ support for the saffron party and its Hindutva politics. Senior BJP leader and Union minister Griraj Singh had won Nawada seat in 2014 polls, but faced the tag of an outsider.

The incumbent Nawada MP, Chandan Singh, is not in the fray this time. He was with Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) headed by former Union minister Pasupati Kumar Paras (Ram Vilas Paswan’s brother), an ally of NDA, which was not given any seat to contest in the Lok Sabha polls.

RJD 's candidate Shravan Kumar in Nawada is eyeing at support from the party’s traditional vote bank of Muslim-Yadav and Dalits. His main focus is his own caste – Kushwaha -- an OBC community, which has sizeable presence, along with Muslim-Yadav and Dalits.

Sushil Kumar Singh, BJP's incumbent MP from Aurangabad parliamentary constituency, is seeking re-election and is hoping for victory for a consecutive fourth time, twice as a BJP candidate and once as a JD-U candidate (2009, 2014 and 2019).

Singh, son of Ram Naresh Singh alias Lutan Singh, a former MP, belongs to a powerful political family of Aurangabad, known as Chittorgarh of Bihar for dominance of two upper caste Rajput families - former CM Satyendar Narain Singh and Lutan Singh -- since over six decades.

Singh is confident but is being challenged by RJD candidate Abhay Kushwaha, former MLA, who quit ruling JD-U and joined RJD to contest the polls.

Kushwaha is hopeful of ending Singh's victory march this time on the basis of caste equations in his favour and anti- incumbency against Singh and the NDA government at the Centre and the state.

In last Lok Sabha polls, a Mahagathbandhan candidate belonging to the Kushwaha caste had given a tough fight to Singh despite the fact that he was nowhere in comparison to the resources of Singh.

"RJD's Abhay Kushwaha is a strong candidate and the fight is not easy for Singh, like in the previous polls. Kushwaha is eyeing full support from his caste along with RJD's traditional support and Left parties, which have strong pockets in Aurangabad district", Satyanarayan Madan, a political watcher, told NewsClick.

However, the first phase of Lok Sabha polls is also being seen as a test of the so-called ‘Modi magic’. Modi has campaigned in Jamui, Nawada and Gaya, addressed election meetings and appealed people to vote for NDA candidates to win 400 plus seats this time.

The political battle between NDA and the Mahagathbandhan is likely to heat up in the coming days.

The BJP-led NDA leaders have been claiming that they will win all 40 Lok Sabha seats, but the ground reality is different. It seems a difficult task for NDA to replicate its 2019 success in Bihar, when it secured 39 out of 40 parliamentary seats. The Congress won only one seat and the RJD failed to win any, marking a significant setback for the party.