Top state leaders say the Bihar elections are a signal to set aside emotive and caste-based politics.
The landslide electoral verdict in favour of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has set the politicians in Maharashtra pondering a return to their tried and tested development plank.
On the face of it, there cannot be any comparison between Maharashtra and Bihar as regards progress on the socio-economic and political front.
Yet senior leaders from the ruling Congress and NCP see Kumar’s victory as signifying that the developmental plank can bring rich electoral dividends provided it changes people’s lives for the better. It has also driven the ruling combine to rethink the over-emphasis on caste-based politics which, they believe, could prove detrimental in long run if it is not accompanied by development.
Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who took over the reins of the government last week, have voiced identical concerns about bringing development to the centre stage of state politics.
At a party function in Mumbai last week, Pawar said, “The results in Bihar have proved that people have risen above caste lines and voted for development.” Pawar exhorted his party workers to set aside caste prejudice and focus on development.
The next assembly and parliament elections in the state are scheduled in 2014. But the crucial 2012 BMC elections will indicate which way the state is headed. Regional parties like the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) are bound to play the migrant card to consolidate the ‘sons of the soil’ in their favour.
And in such circumstances, it remains to be seen whether the Congress and NCP politicians go ahead with the development plank.
Says the Maharashtra Economic Development Council (MEDC) president Chandrahas Deshpande, “Bihar registered a 11% growth rate in 2009-10 because of its low base. You cannot compare Bihar’s growth with Maharashtra, which is way ahead. But over the years, the state’s image has taken a beating, and this needs to be corrected through good governance. Maharashtra requires to improve its human development index (HDI). It has to show inclusive growth and sectors like health, education and infrastructure cannot be ignored.”
Senior BJP leader Madhav Bhandari says, “At a time when Bihar is going forward, Maharashtra is moving backwards.”
He gives a simple example. “Five years ago in Bihar, neither men nor women felt safe stepping out on the roads after 8pm. Today, they feel safe out on the streets till 11pm. On the other hand, a recent survey in Pune concluded that women in there feel insecure after 8-9pm.”
He adds, “If you take the industrial scenario, there is no explanation as to why more than one lakh industrial units have shut down in Maharashtra. In Bihar, there are signs of the small scale industrial sector picking up as migrants across India have started returning to their homeland.”
Bhandari also observed that whereas the Maharashtra government has failed to fill the 1.40 lakh teacher posts lying vacant, Bihar has strengthened its primary education by recruiting one lakh teachers within three years.
The Maharashtra leadership has to reckon with formidable challenges ahead. Despite it being a coalition government, there is political stability in the state. But the ruling party appears to be complacent on the administrative and governance front.
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