In an ironic imitation of Sushasan Babu ’s functional social engineering and focus on issues of development that uprooted his charismatic father, the chief ministerial candidate of the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance), Tejashwi Yadav, reinstalled the RJD in a pole position as the counting neared a nail-biting finish in Bihar on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Tejaswi Yadav reinvented the aggressive social justice formula and cleaned out the criminalisation and corruption legacy of his father and former chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was absent from the campaign as he is lodged in jail in a corruption case. Unlike the 2015 elections, where the young debutant was only a side presence as the campaign was steered by the senior stalwarts — Lalu and his former ally and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar — Tejashwi Yadav claimed the central role in the ongoing polls deciding on crucial matters of seat allocation in the alliance, campaign strategy and the social combinations on his own. His five years in the Assembly seem to have helped him grow into the mature politician who fought the might of the BJP-JD(U) alliance with the rag-tag army of the Left and a much weaker Congress.

A different leader

And he successfully managed to chart his own course, dabbling into aspirational politics and coining the 10 lakh jobs poll promise to attract the young voters in Bihar. Unlike during the 2015 elections, where the RJD’s campaign had stressed more on “dignity”, in 2020, the party single-mindedly focussed on unemployment, issues of migrant workers and the problems in managing Covid-19. Tejashwi’s effort was to target the Sushasan Babu image of Nitish Kumar. At one point, Kumar even had to announce that this is going to be his last election, conceding the “youth power” in the Opposition’s camp. Tejashwi, compared to the rallies of the NDA, drew huge crowds, creating problems for the ruling coalition.

He also presented himself as a soft and friendly person compared to the image of the leaders in the post Mandal political scene Bihar. Lalu Prasad Yadav’s politics was built on social justice and dignity. Questions on development and issues such as land reforms and infrastructure improvement were either taken lightly or not answered at all.

Often termed by the Opposition as jungle raj , the 15 years of Lalu-Rabri regime was infamous for criminalisation of the State politics. He alienated not just the upper class but also the upwardly mobile OBCs, apart from Yadavs. The migrant population, spread across the country, also did not give much value to Lalu and his party.

Tejashwi Yadav tried to change this image of his party. As senior CPI(M) leader from the State Arun Mishra said, the manifesto of the RJD had a number of issues taken up by the Left parties in the past. Tejashwi succeeded by retaining the largest party position in the Assembly and gathered a comfortable lead in Raghopur constituency (at the time of filing this report), where he is contesting for the second time .

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