Bihar is drowned in political colour. You know you have stepped into election territory when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah greet you at the conveyor belt of the Patna airport! And you know you’ve landed on an Air India flight from New Delhi, when dhoti-kurta clad men line the arrivals terminal with garlands.
As you drive out into Patna, there are posters aplenty. While the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance between JDU, RJD, Congress) has a plethora of faces, the BJP has only two, Modi and Amit Shah.
Drawing room discussions in New Delhi have no idea what Patna, 800 km away is thinking! While everyone talks about the need for development, the yearning for dignity still dominates the discourse in several parts of the state. The one that takes precedence may well decide the outcome of Bihar 2015.
As I begin travelling through the state, I think I know why the Bihar election is really like no other. Everyone has a political opinion. Including little kids sporting campaign merchandise. There is more than a thing or two to learn from each.
As the clouds build up in the Lalu family bastion of Raghopur, their party’s campaign jeep with propaganda films starring the entire Lalu family is quite a crowd puller. The Mahagathbandhan campaign jeeps are green and red and are full of faces of local leaders unlike their saffron colour competitors.
In the constantly evolving contours of Bihar’s rural and urban economy, migration is a constant. Notwithstanding the long queues of young men outside the passport office in Patna, popular destinations are Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi. Everyone who can wants to get out.
Connectivity and roads are a huge issue. Boatmen are all smiles because come drought or floods, the business of ferrying people never runs dry.
Women are slowly and finally emerging as the new votebank in Bihar. Free cycles, education, empowerment, reservation and women’s safety are being widely talked about by all the political stakeholders. Talking to many women voters in Bihar, I realised that they all have a mind of their own. Gone are the days where men decided which way the women will vote!
The Bihar election can never be all work, not with ghee-soaked Litti Chokha staring right at you in every nook and corner. While the Bhel Puri stalls in Patna’s Maurya Lok complex all sport the BJP’s kamal, the litti-chokha stalls sport a photo of Aamir Khan’s. Stalls which have put up his picture have got a huge boost in business.
Despite being let down by democracy more than once, the people of Bihar long for a new dawn. Every election, as the dance of democracy plays out, the rules of engagement reverse, the people and not the politicians become supreme.