New Delhi: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Mahagatbandhan in Bihar is consciously avoiding bringing up the India-China stand-off in its campaign for the upcoming assembly election as it is wary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holding the advantage on the subject of national security.
This is despite the fact that many of the 20 soldiers, including a commanding officer, who were killed in a violent clash with Chinese soldiers in Galwan Valley on 15 June, were from the Bihar regiment.
“The minute we bring in that issue, BJP will find a way to invoke nationalism and start thumping their chests again and distract from the actual issue, so it is best to avoid that,” a senior Bihar Congress leader told ThePrint.
The grand alliance, which includes the Congress and three left parties — CPI, CPIM, CPI-ML — is, instead, focusing on state-centric issues such as the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic by the Nitish Kumar government, the migrant crisis and the economy.
“We are focusing on state-level issues that affect the people of Bihar closely. National issues are best meant for Lok Sabha elections. Here, our focus is on bringing out the corruption of the Nitish Kumar government, the poor handling of coronavirus, and the growing unemployment,” Bhai Virendra, RJD spokesperson and MLA told ThePrint.
RJD leader and the Mahagatbandhan’s chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav promised 10 lakh jobs to the youth of Bihar, if voted to power.
Also read: Who’s challenging BJP in Bihar fortress? Oxford, LSE-educated Independents & ‘Shotgun’s’ son
China a national and not state issue
The opposition alliance is keeping its distance from the border stand-off issue while Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to the ‘Bihari pride’ in June when he launched the ‘Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan’. a government scheme aimed at boosting employment opportunities for migrant workers.
“The country is proud of the sacrifice made by our braves in Ladakh. Today, when I am speaking to people of Bihar, I will say the valour was of Bihar Regiment … every Bihari is proud of it. I pay tributes to the braves who laid down their lives for the nation,” Modi had said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi chose to address the issue through a series of videos that were posted on social media in late July. In them, he said he is “absolutely convinced” that China has entered Indian territory.
However, as of now, the Congress has decided to treat China as a national issue, and not focus on it during the Bihar polls.
“This can be a national issue for national leaders to focus on, but for state leaders, our focus is entirely on local issues,” the Bihar Congress leader quoted above said.
Also read: How Indian troops chased the Chinese for a kilometre over LAC in Galwan on 15 June night
National security topic now taboo
Experts say the opposition’s decision to not drum up China or the border stand-off is in line with a “template” that has become popular among non-BJP parties in the recent assembly elections held in Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi.
“The template is very clear — don’t make the state election about national issues, especially issues pertaining to nationalism, Pakistan, China or anything to do with national security. The opposition parties realise that whatever may be the reality, the public perception is that the Modi government has managed to stand up to China,” said Rahul Verma, fellow at Centre for Policy and Research and co-author of Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India.
Verma said the opposition alliance is being careful by focusing on those that impact the people directly.
“The template also includes not pitching a state election as a battle against Modi, but, instead, pitching it as a state leadership issue, and that is why they are attacking Nitish Kumar and his policies. Every election will have a hundred different issues, but you can’t campaign on all hundred as you would not be able to mobilise the masses that way. So it’s important to choose a handful and focus on those,” Verma said.
Also read: ‘Murder, extortion, rape’ — 30% candidates in Bihar first phase have criminal records