BJP to showcase its love for Lohia in Bihar elections

Party believes Nitish-Lalu alliance beatable, but wary of self goals

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will propagate its devotion to the ideology of socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia in its face-off with the combined might of Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad in the Bihar Assembly polls.

The BJP believes the Nitish-Lalu combine can be defeated but is wary of self-goals by the party unit in Bihar.

At the party’s Bengaluru national executive, sources said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked BJP leaders to act as a bridge between the ideology of Jana Sangh founder Deendayal Upadhyaya, Mahatma Gandhi and Lohia. While Upadhyaya isn’t as well known in the state, both Gandhi and Lohia have had a seminal impact on Bihar’s politics. Nitish and Lalu are professed Lohia-ites and have championed the cause of social justice.

Modi had launched his Lok Sabha campaign in Bihar by announcing his backward caste origins.

BJP’s Bihar campaign will also focus on the pro-poor agenda of the Modi government. The party leadership is hopeful that the prospect of ‘jungle raj-II’ — a reference to the poor law and order situation when Lalu Prasad was the chief minister — will strike a chord among voters. It thinks the ground-level contradictions in Lalu Prasad’s Yadav and Nitish Kumar’s Kurmi-Koeri caste bases will make many from these two castes vote for the BJP, while it might make inroads into Nitish’s ‘Maha Dalit’ support base after the perceived “insult” to former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi. But Manjhi and BJP are unlikely to have any seat sharing arrangement.