There are two narratives that are being peddled by two sets of analysts from both sides of the spectrums over the Bihar debacle (or victory depending on which side of the spectrum you are). But both sets of analysts still don’t see the picture clearly for what it really is because they are feigning an air of superiority since they see only their positions as the ideal ones.
The so-called liberals will have you believe that this is a victory of Nitish’s development plank over BJP’s communal agenda. But if asked to explain why did Nitish get pushed to the 3rd position while Lalu gained at his expense when Lalu had nothing but caste politics to offer, they are at loss.
On the other hand, the RWers would want you to believe, it is the caste-communal combination that worked while development plank got derailed. However they will not be able to explain why BJP did well in Phase-5 where it was expected to perform badly, just after they decided to go all out on the cow-controversy after being coy about it over the initial phases.
@SarthakGanguly is candid about this however, as he himself admitted he won’t pretend to be idealistic, but I have some doubts over his assessment about phase V, which I will discuss later.
If we get over our hypocrisies and see the battle from the right perspective we can clearly see what went wrong.
Let me use a market analogy.
BJP sold a washing machine. MGB sold a washing machine. BJP expected MGB to go broke because it thought people will buy its washing machines only. But MGB was originally a merger of a mobile phone manufacturer (RJD) and a washing machine manufacturer (JDU). The mobile phone division was still selling its phones and that business was going good. By the time BJP realized this it decides to re-start it’s now defunct mobile phone division (BJP is a diversified conglomerate here – like Samsung) and enters the mobile sector, MGB has already become an established player there.
The washing machine is the development agenda, while the mobile phone is the communal agenda.
BJP and JDU were selling the same things. These competitors brought each other down because the demand was diluted due to over-supply of the same commodity. On the other hand RJD let these two idiots fight each other while selling the other commodity that was in demand – an appeal to the baser feeling of communalism – and reaped enormous profits from that.
While the BJP-JDU idiots were fighting for their market-shares in the washing machine market, RJD comfortably established its monopoly in the mobile phone market.
Think about it? What was Nitish’s only selling point? Development after all. If you are thinking that you can make that same sales pitch and somehow magically capture the entire market, then I’d say you are stupid beyond belief.
And BJP decides to enter the automobile market at the last moment when the race is finished.
My conclusion would be, the next time you are faced with a casteist party, go for polarization early on. Not after the media hyenas define the course for you at the last minute.
@Star Wars @TejasMk3 @magudi @
Darmashkian @saurav