2020 Bihar election is one of the closely fought battle between the political parties. Kudos to Election commission for holding flawless elections in this Covid-19 pandemic. As I told in my earlier article  ( https://modernwazir.com/2020/10/05/bihar-elections-the-second-way-to-come-first/ ) a month ago that this election is not for CM chair as Nitish Kumar in all certainty will return to Power. It’s all about claiming the coveted the second position in Bihar Political circles. Results just validated thoughts of my article. This election will decide who in future will play a key role in Bihar political circle & Tejashwi Yadav may have dropped out of school, but he certainly passed the 2020 Bihar election with flying colors.

We must analyze the key takeaways & learnings of Bihar elections & how it is going to impact the future politics

1. Rise of Tejashwi Yadav– As I said, he may have dropped out of school or his party may have lost Bihar elections, but he surely emerges as winner on personal front establishing himself as the second tallest leader after Nitish Kumar in Bihar. Single handedly driving the MGB (Mahagathbandhan) to 110 seats with a positive campaign against a formidable opposition of NDA is a big achievement. In future, NDA will surely treat him respect & frame strategies to counter him.
2. Rahul Gandhi is a liability for Congress as well as for its allies- This elections results must put an end to the question mark on Rahul Gandhi leadership capabilities. He may be a good human being but surely not a leader. Brand Gandhi has almost faded & can no longer attract voters for the party candidates. Most of the seats where he campaigned, Congress candidates have lost the elections.
3. Regional parties will avoid partnering with Congress to fight elections. This was the last chance for Congress to show its strength in driving the Lead party to CM’s office. On the contrary, MGB has lost this election just because Congress performed poorly. They fought on 70 seats & won just 19 seats. Had they managed to win 12-15 more seats, Tejashwi Yadav would have been forming the government. Congress dragging its alliance partner has now become a trend & Regional parties will now think twice before partnering with Congress.
4. Brand Modi continue to be sturdier– BJP smartly distance itself from Nitish Kumar to avoid backlash of anti-incumbency & used Brand Modi to get voters for NDA. Also, with just one seat lesser than RJD, BJP has emerged as largest party in Bihar. Central government schemes of Ujwala yojana, rural electrification, Toilets & housing has made huge impact in the lives of poor people. They are returning it by voting for PM Modi. These results are significant as BJP will have more say in the Nitish Kumar government. Its difficult to comment what will happen after five years but I certainly cannot rule the possibility of large part of JDU merging with BJP post Nitish Kumar retirement from Politics.
5. Nitish Kumar has high acceptance among voters despite different partner– Whether one like it or not, JDU has emerged as one party in Bihar which is has high voter acceptance whether its partner with BJP or RJD. This can be one of the most important trump cards of Nitish Kumar & if BJP create problems for JDU, he can easily switch side to form an alliance with RJD. Most importantly, results of 2015 & 2020 has proved that it is acceptable to the voters.
6. India could be heading towards one party monopoly- With strong performance in Bihar elections, BJP has moved one more step in firmly positioning itself as the most dominant party in the country. Further decimation of Congress in these elections only strengthen BJP & if the trend continues, India is slowly moving towards One party monopoly. This certainly not a good sign for the democracy.
7. Loosing relevance of Leftist Media– Since the elections campaign started till a month ago till results were announced yesterday, Godi/Leftist media continued to create perception of NDA loosing. They consistently did the bias reporting & tried to influence the voters. They reported their views not facts & hence were seating on wrong side of the table on the result day. It will be matter of time they will be soon become irrelevant if they continue to walk on the same path.
8. Appeasement will backfire- Till couple of years ago, appeasement was the most productive strategy for political parties for securing voters. But appeasement politics can soon fade away as now it is doing more harm to the parties. Samajwadi Party suffered in Uttar Pradesh elections, Congress in national elections & now MGB in Bihar. The reason is counter polarization of minority appeasement politics. The result of Kishanganj seat of Bihar clearly proves counter polarization. BJP just lost elections by approx. 2,000 votes to INC in this minority dominated constituency.
9. Covid-19 Crisis is an exception & not a political issue– Opposition parties try to rally on the poor health infrastructure & mishandling of Covid-19 crisis to gain voters, but voters turn out to be smarter than leaders. They knew that Covid-19 crisis is one of its kind & entire worlds even with the best infrastructure is struggling to fight against it. They didn’t see Covid-19 as an election issue for voting against the government. Political parties should try to stand together in this moment of crisis & avoid making Covid-19 an election issue.

Lastly, many in leftist media & opposition parties are complaining that NDA has won the elections because of Money, Booth Management & PR campaigns. I fail to understand what’s wrong in it. As a political party, you are supposed to boasting yourself on these skills. Its time for opposition parties to stop playing victim card & upskill them.

If political parties especially oppositions don’t learn from this elections results, they are surely giving away the future.