Rahul Gandhi will step into Bihar on September 19, to kick start his party’s poll campaign in 40 seats. He will arrive when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already addressed four huge rallies in the state. It’s a road full of political mines for Rahul Gandhi, strewn with obstacles from the past. Jaiprakash Narayan, the staunch critic of Rahul’s grandmother Indira Gandhi, was born in Saran district of Bihar. Patna was his karambhoomi. None in the top brass of JD-U and RJD has not has not opposed Congress in their early days of Bihar politics. Thus, the `maha-gathbandhan’ of JD-U, RJD and Congress is as awkward as PDP-BJP coalition in J&K. Congress’s coalition partners JD-U and RJD are facing intense opposition from the Bharatiya Janta Party for the election time partnership. BJP’s Rajput leader and cabinet minister Radha Mohan Singh says, “When at Patna’s Swabhiman rally Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav shared the dais with Sonia Gandhi it turned into anjali-sabha of the historic JP movement.” BJP’s poll campaign thrust against Nitish Kumar, Lalu and Rahul Gandhi will be that their coalition is betraying Jaiprakash Narayan, Karpoori Thakur and Ram Manohar Lohiya's politics for the poor people of Bihar. In the last election, the Congress had fought all the 243 seats but this time the Congress has agreed to 40 seats. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the Congress played a clever game to hurriedly tie-up their bilateral talks. That weakened Lalu Yadav’s position at the bargaining table. The combined strength of JD-U and Congress helped Nitish Kumar force Lalu to concede 100 seats to him. That was a big surprise even for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah who has assessed that Lalu Yadav would not concede that much ground to Nitish Kumar who is facing anti-incumbency. The perception is growing in Patna that Lalu Yadav has a stronger presence on the ground than Nitish Kumar. Still, Lalu Yadav agreed to the candidature of Nitish Kumar for the chief minister’s post and gave 100 seats to JD-U. Many observers think that this has happened because of the JD-U and Congress tie-up in Delhi before Lalu and Nitish could meet for discussions in Patna. The Congress allowed itself to be used as bargaining chip by Nitish Kumar to checkmate Lalu Yadav. Lalu Yadav's options were limited because he faced the risky option of a triangular contest on most seats. That would have been to his disadvantage. In the Bihar election the most crucial disadvantage for the BJP will be on seats where its candidates are directly pitted against the maha-gathbandhan’s candidate. In Bihar, Congress is, apparently, not concentrating on electoral politics. It aims to strengthen the secular plank against BJP. It wants to echo Bihar’s secular victory, if it happens, to pan-Indian voters. As, the former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has loaned his mahadalit candidates to fight on BJP’s lotus symbol, some of Nitish Kumar’s supporters too will be accommodated by the Congress. The Congress general secretary C.P. Joshi, party in-charge of Bihar, is in the unenviable position of keeping the focus on the larger secular fight than on his party’s battle to win seats. Since 2010, the Congress has not little to improve its ground situation when they won only four seats but got roughly 9 per cent votes. Joshi has to keep saying that Nitish Kumar is Congress’s leader. He says, “Yes, Nitish Kumar is our leader. Under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar we are asking for votes. We have very clear cut vision.” While defending Congress’s unconditional support to Nitish Kumar, Joshi says his party supported Nitish Kumar as soon as he broke his alliance with BJP. When asked, whether Nitish Kumar walked into a trap when he decided to target only Modi”, Joshi replies, `‘Not at all. What is Modi’s plank? Fifteen months have passed since people of Bihar have voted for you. What have you done for them? Modi’s performance will be tested in Bihar.” Joshi thinks in Bihar the main issue is about, “One leader who is performing and another leader who is not performing.” If BJP loses Bihar the Congress will have a tremendous psychological advantage in its fight against BJP in Delhi. `‘They may get Manjhi, they may divide votes, they may get the community players, they may have some game, they may manage booths but they will not be able to touch 38 per cent votes that they got in the May 2014 Lok Sabha elections.” Joshi thinks fighting Bihar is important to not only defeat Modi and BJP but to target RSS. He says, ‘`You have to understand the strengths and the weaknesses of the party. You have to have a strategy. Ultimately, you are not fighting Modi ji. You know the role of RSS. You know how RSS is influencing the entire system of the governance. So, the issue is very serious not just in Bihar but in the entire country. You have to see the Bihar election in that context. Whatever weaknesses and strengths we have we will contribute in that context. We have a national presence. We have a role to play. That’s why we have contributed to the alliance. We owe this to country and its people that whenever the secular fabric of India is threatened, parliamentary democracy is at risk, the Congress will take a leadership role to organize secular forces and achieve the goal.” In short, the Congress has not gained anything since it lost disgracefully in 2010. From four seats they could not rebuild the party as they could not retain any vote bank block or appeal to any caste share. Now, Rahul Gandhi will have to target the RSS to fight for a secular plank.
