Bihar election shock for BJP

Dear Sir,

The assembly election results from the Indian state of Bihar have come as a shock to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies. Many exit polls had predicted a clear win for the BJP. But it had to bite the dust.
In this context, the report, “Projecting me as CM could have made a difference: Sinha” (Gulf Times, November 10),  demands response.
I feel that the BJP could not have done any differently even if former Bollywood star Shatrughan Sinha had been projected as the party’s chief ministerial candidate, given the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, belonging to the BJP, has been following a combative style of politics.
He ridiculed his political opponents and stooped to the level of calling his three political bete noires who joined together to contest against his party “three idiots”, obviously after a popular Hindi film. Further, India’s secularism, which is the backbone of the constitution, seems to be at stake under the BJP rule. This may have affected the BJP’s performance in the elections, especially since Modi’s opponents are projecting themselves as sentinels of secularism.
Also, it seems, some of BJP members of the parliament and ministers have been behaving haughtily, much to the chagrin of the people of Bihar.
All these factors may have played their roles in BJP’s election debacle.
Sinha too could not have helped his party win even one more seat. Most people in India, including those from the state of Bihar, would prefer refined, secular leaders with progressive ideas and political sagacity at the helm. The people of Bihar have given their mandate to chief minister Nitish Kumar to head the state administration for the third time at a stretch.

C Robinson, robin_son_ch@yahoo.co.in

Democracy is the real winner

Dear Sir,

The recent election results in the Indian state of Bihar show that democracy is thriving in the country. The central government is headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Narendra Modi. In Bihar an opposition front, called Grand Alliance, led by Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad, has won the elections.
The campaigning before the elections was spirited and full of vigour. A number of political and social issues dominated the electioneering.
Most exit polls predicted Modi’s BJP winning the elections. So the Grand Alliance’s win came as huge surprise to many. But the real winner in the election is Indian democracy.

VT, (Full name and address supplied)

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