“Jab maine IIT ki aur pehla job mila wo Rs 50,000 ka tha. IIM karne ke bad jo offer mila 2017 mai Rs 1.25 crore ka tha. Ye shiksha ki taakat hai aur aapko isse door rakh rahi hai ye sarkar,” (I received a job offer of Rs 50,000 when I first came out of IIT. Then I received an offer of Rs 1.25 crore after doing IIM. This is the empowerment of education and this government is denying this to you),” Shekhar says urging voters not to make the mistake of choosing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) again.
The Patna Sahib constituency, which will vote 6 November, is with the BJP since 2010.
The 34-year-old did civil engineering from IIT Delhi (2014) and later graduated from IIM Calcutta (2017). His campaign is largely focused on education and development.
“He is a young candidate and even after having such high-paying jobs he turned them down to get into politics. He deserves a chance,” says Rohit Kumar, who had turned up to hear Shekhar speak at the nukkad sabha.
Shekhar who began his professional career in Bengaluru before joining Samsung’s innovation labs has been focussing on creating more educational and job-related opportunities for the youth. The Mahagathabandhan, too, has been focusing on the youth and has promised to provide employment to them.
He later worked with political consultancy firms like I-PAC and Inclusive Minds before taking the plunge into politics with the view that youth should be more active in politics.
The Congress candidate respects Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor and terms him a ‘fantastic political consultant’ and a good strategist, but adds he did not use it for the state’s good when in power.
“What he speaks about Bihar, the change he wants to bring to Bihar—I completely agree with it. The things that are as they are—they should change. But again, his politics is different,” says Shekhar.
“If he wanted change, he was part of the Janata Dal (United) when the JD(U) was in power, when Nitish Kumar was the CM— before the last elections he was the number two in the party. If he wanted change, he could have started back then.”
Sharing his vision for the constituency, Shekhar promises to provide scholarships to 1,000 students till graduation, coaching for students to help them with IIT/IIM/medical coaching, starting English medium schools among others. He has been focusing largely on door-to-door contact programmes to reach out to voters.
The Congress candidate is hopeful of winning the seat as he points out that the sitting MLA did not work despite being in power for several terms.
Another factor at play in this constituency is that both the BJP and the Congress have fielded new, younger faces this time. The BJP hopes that bringing in 45-year-old advocate Ratnesh Kushwaha in place of seven-time MLA Nand Kishore Yadav will neutralise voter fatigue.
The seat is considered a traditional stronghold of the party and by replacing its sitting MLA, the BJP is hopeful that the anti-incumbency factor has been taken care of.
For the Congress, which has been failing to win here for years, by projecting Shekhar as its young and educated face, it is reaching out to the youth especially with the promise of jobs.
“Youth ko kya chaiye? Achi education aur jobs. Aur dono yahan nahi hai. Election ke time vaadein karte hai aur bhool jaate hai. Iss baar badlaav (What do the youth want? Good education and hinds; both are not present. Promises are made in elections only to be forgotten. Time for change this time),” says Ashish Yadav, a graduate who is looking for a job.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and its allies including the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation, or the CPI (ML) Liberation, have made employment a central theme of their campaign, while also targeting the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for not doing enough for the youth of Bihar.
Caste, however, still remains a significant factor at play as the BJP replaced Yadav opting for Kushwaha. Shekhar, too, belongs to the Yadav community and is confident of getting their support this time round.
“Bihar mai caste pe vote hota hai. Ye hamari jaati ka hai inko hi hum vote karnege. Bhaiya humare bacchon ko padhwayenge. Khud itna padhe hai. Humare yahan bhi vikas ayega (Voting is done as per caste in Bihar. He is from our caste and will get our vote. Brother (read Shekhar) will educate our children; he himself is educated. Development will arrive here),” says 45-year-old Asha Yadav, who is present at the sabha at Didarganj.
According to a political analyst, while the Vaishya community dominates the constituency, Scheduled Caste voters constitute over 12 percent of voters, Other Backward Class (Yadavs, Kurmis and Kushwahas) makes up a large chunk of the voters at around 54 percent with Economically Backward Class being 11 percent and Muslims around 13 percent. Upper castes constitute around 8 percent.
The Vaishya community is traditionally known to support the BJP. The Congress is confident of getting the support of its core base, Yadavs and Muslims.
In 2020, Nand Kishore Yadav had defeated the Congress’s Pravin Singh Kushwaha by 18,300 votes. This time, Pravin has been shifted to Kahalgaon constituency in Bhagalpur.
The BJP is confident that by replacing Yadav, it has not only taken care of anti-incumbency but also get the support of the other castes. The party also feels that the trader community and the women voters will support it.
Patna Sahib is an urban constituency and was formed after delimitation in 2008 with its first election being held in 2010. Previously, it was known as Patna East.
BJP gameplan
“Humara vote Modi ji ke liye hai (My vote is for Prime Minister Narendra Modi),” says Rohstas Singh, a resident. “Nand Kishore Yadav ji bohat samay se MLA the aur ab ek naya chehra aaya hai. Modi ji ne Bihar ko badla hai aur aage bhi kaafi badlaav aayega (Nand Kishore Yadav has been an MLA for a long time; it’s a new face this time. Modi has transformed Bihar and this will continue as well).”
The BJP has also put all its might behind Kushwaha as Modi held a roadshow Sunday in Patna urging people to vote for the NDA, a point highlighted shared by Shekhar.
“Dekhiye Bhajapa itna darr gayi hai ki khud PM ko maidan mai aana padha iss seat ke liye (Look the BJP is so fearful that the PM had to come to the ground for this constituency),” Shekhar said while addressing the crowd.
Replacing Yadav and bringing in a fresh face is also a part of the BJP’s strategy to usher in a generational change. On 14 October, Nand Kishore Yadav, the Speaker of the Bihar Assembly, after being denied a ticket took to social media platform ‘X’ and welcomed the ‘new generation’.
Yadav has served as a minister in several departments and is a seven-term MLA from the Patna Sahib seat. The selection of Kushwaha, according to many within the party, shows how the party is ‘nurturing’ new and young faces.
In two of the three Patna urban assembly constituencies, the BJP has replaced its septuagenarian MLAs with younger faces. Like in Patna Sahib, five-time MLA Arun Kumar Sinha is replaced by Sanjay Kumar Gupta in Kumhrar. Cabinet minister and sitting MLA Nitin Nabin, however, is contesting from Bankipur.
The BJP’s Patna Sahib candidate is an advocate who represented the Centre in a case before the Patna High Court related to an AI-generated video featuring Modi’s late mother, Heeraben. The HC had found the video to be defamatory and derogatory and directed the Congress party to remove it from all social media platforms.
Exuding confidence that the BJP will emerge victorious, Kushwaha tells ThePrint that elections are not entirely caste-centric in Patna Sahib. “I am confident that even voters from the Yadav community will vote for me.” The BJP candidate says he wants to develop Patna Sahib as a heritage and cultural capital of Bihar.
According to BJP sources, a section in the party is concerned that the Yadavs may be upset over Nand Kishore being replaced in the seat.
Kushwaha, however, downplays these murmurs and adds that the sitting MLA had endorsed his name as he was part of the core committee that decides on the seats.
“Nand Kishore ji is coordinating and leading my entire campaign; so there is no question about anybody being upset. He felt that some new faces should be given a chance, and, hence, they decided on my name,” Kushwaha claims.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: BJP bets big on ‘Mithila ki beti’, Maithili says in fray to debunk notion about celebrity netas