Will Bihar vote over Sushant? May be, May Not Be

-Umesh Kumar Ray

The dates for the Bihar assembly elections have been announced. The elections are going to be held for the first time in any state of India since the Covid-19 crisis began. This election can serve as a model for the elections in other states in the coming days.

According to the Election Commission, the elections are going to be held in three phases in Bihar. The first phase election will be held on October 28 and the elections will be ending with the last phase voting on November 7.

The ruling NDA has decided the issue for this election. The NDA partner JDU and BJP top leaders are comparing the 15 years rule of Lalu Prasad Yadav to Nitish Kumar's tenure. At the same time, the main opposition party RJD is raising issues like unemployment and corruption.

In the midst of all this, the BJP and JDU are also allegedly capitalizing on the issues of Sushant Singh Rajput's death. On 8th September, Bihar Chief Minister and JDU Chief Nitish Kumar in his maiden virtual rally remembered Sushant Singh Rajput and tried to take credit for CBI enquiry into the actor's death.

“His father lodged an FIR in Patna when he found that an appropriate investigation was not taking place (in Mumbai),” said Kumar.

“Finally, when the bereaved father sought a CBI inquiry, we wasted no time in recommending it and the Centre, thankfully, gave its assent in good time. Now, we can hope that justice will be done in the matter,” said the chief minister.

The day before the virtual rally, the BJP’s arts and culture wing released masks and stickers bearing photographs of the late actor along with the hashtag ‘JusticeforSushantSinghRajput’. The stickers had an emotive slogan - “Na bhule hai, na bhulne denge (Neither have we forgotten, nor will we let it be forgotten).”

The Bihar government had locked horns with NCP-Shivsena led Maharashtra Government over Sushant case. Hence, It is not merely coincidence that BJP has appointed Devendra Fadnavis, Ex-chief minister of Maharashtra as election manager of Bihar. It may be a pre-planned strategy of BJP to make Sushant case an emotional issue and garner votes.

But the question is if the general public too is interested in the Sushant case and can vote on this issue?

70-year-old Ishwar Yadav hails from Jamui district. He runs a rickshaw in Patna. He doesn't know in which constituency his house falls. Just know that some Yadav was his MLAs. Currently, his wife is an MLA after his death.

Ishwar does not even know about Sushant Singh Rajput. He expresses ignorance when asked. He may not have known it. The case of Sushant Singh Rajput is in the headlines on social media and TV channels. He neither has a television nor a smartphone.

But, it cannot be said with the claim that he will not vote in the name of Sushant Singh Rajput.

A large population of Bihar is political, this is true, but there is also a decent population who is electorally illiterate. Such people do not vote with their free consciousness. Ishwar seems to be one such voter. When asked about voting, he told Indie Journal, "We will go to vote because it is important to vote." But he does not know why it is important to vote.

He also does not think that a lot will change by voting. When asked what has changed in his life so far, he tells, "The road has been built in the village. That is all. Nothing has changed in my life.”

Ishwar is worried these days due to reduced earnings. He says, "Before lockdown, I used to earn 500-600 rupees daily. Now the train is closed, there is no movement of outsiders. Right now the earning has come down to 200- 250 rupees daily."

On which issues Ishwar will vote, he remained silent for a few moments and said, "What will be the issue? We are not important to them. The leaders promise a lot but do not come to see again after taking votes. ”

However, the answer he gave on his voting pattern indicated that he will be voting for the candidate who has a chance of winning.  

"We will talk with the people of our community. The candidate who will be more likely to win, we will vote him ”

If someone asks to vote to give justice to Sushant Singh Rajput, what will Ishwar do? "Then one must vote for Sushant Singh Rajput. Sushant should get justice", he replied.

Rajkishore Ram, a resident of Jehanabad, currently lives in Patna and runs an e-rickshaw. The lockdown has made their financial situation dicey.

“The e-rickshaw instalment was to be repaid. But the money that was saved was spent on food sitting in the house in lockdown. I don't know how to pay the next instalment," he rued. Rajkishore has a smartphone and TV at home. He knows that Sushant Singh Rajput was from Bihar and was 'killed' in Mumbai. He says, " He was a boy from Bihar. Everyone killed him together."

Few TV channels are claiming that he was murdered despite knowing that CBI has officially not made any claim on it. In fact, CBI issued its first official statement on 3rd September over the investigation and said that various media reports regarding agency probes are not “credible” or “based on facts”; but are “speculative” in nature. An NDTV report quoting a source in AIIMS said that "It was too premature to say whether it was murder or suicide."

Raj Kishore is unaware of these developments. Perhaps this information has not reached him. He feels that the party which is confident of giving justice to Sushant should be voted. The narrative is important in elections. BJP has involved the Sushant case and its narrative is gaining ground.

Experts believe it is the pre-planned strategy of BJP to raise the Sushant issue. Political analyst D.M. Diwakar said, “It is a well-thought strategy of the BJP. The Party knows that it is under questions on migrant workers, COVID-19, floods and unemployment issues. It wants to divert these issues.  

"BJP by making the Sushant case an issue is trying to invoke Bihari pride," he said.

In the 2015 Bihar assembly election, PM Narendra Modi had said that there was a defect in the DNA of Nitish Kumar. Nitish Kumar had connected this to Bihari Pride saying he (Narendra Modi) had doubted the DNA of Bihar. Nitish Kumar had sent hair samples of thousands of Biharis to the PM office. This helped him in connecting people emotionally.

Now, it is Sushant Rajput case which is going to be an emotional issue. It will be interesting to see if people of Bihar focus on real issues or they will end up entangled in emotion.