Siwan: If the Opposition alliance wins, it will be the “beginning of the end of Modi”, CPI(ML)-Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said of the high-stakes Bihar assembly election, the first phase of which is due in days.
Bhattacharya’s CPI(ML) had sprung a surprise in the 2020 assembly election, winning 12 of the 19 seats it had contested. The party’s performance that year had helped it emerge as a significant political force in the state, outperforming even the Congress in various regions. Of the 70 seats that Congress had fought for in the 243-constituent assembly, it had won just 19.
This election, Bhattacharya told ThePrint, his party hopes that the alliance is “more balanced”.
“We had five parties last time. It’s a bigger coalition with two new parties, VIP and IIP, which have considerable presence and influence in several districts of North Bihar… North is also where we did badly… So, I hope, this time around, we have a stronger coalition, a more balanced kind,” he said.
CPI(ML) had hoped to contest 30 seats in the upcoming polls, but eventually agreed to 20 in the “interest of larger political unity”, Bhattacharya said, adding: “We settled for 20 seats. It’s a very compact, united coalition. We have to focus on the fight.”
Mahagathbandhan, as the Opposition alliance is known, originally comprised Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation.
Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and Indian Inclusive Party (IIP) joined the fold this time around.
Bhattacharya defended RJD’s decision to field Osama Shahab, the son of late Siwan strongman Shahabuddin, drawing a distinction between the two. Osama’s nomination from Raghunathpur in Siwan has been criticised by NDA leaders, among them Union Home Minister Amit Shah and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
“I don’t think it (Osama’s nomination) should be bracketed with Shahabuddin… Shahabuddin, obviously, had his own criminal record and we fought against him after Chandrashekhar’s assassination. And he went to jail. He’s no more. Chandrashekhar and all the victims of terror in Bihar, I think, got their justice,” he said.
The CPI(ML) leader’s remarks referred to the murder of CPI(ML) activist and former JNU Students’ Union president Chandrashekhar in Siwan in 1997. At the time, the Left party had accused Shahabuddin of being involved in the murder, but the strongman was not named in the chargesheet. Four men were convicted for the assassination in 2012.
Bhattacharya said, “Here is a new man, Osama. I don’t think it’s fair to bracket everybody together. Osama will be judged on his own merit.”
Asked about the Left’s relatively more visible influence in Bihar, Bhattacharya said CPI(ML) was a “movement-based” party. “Our electoral presence may be limited, but our actual impact and our role is beyond electoral numbers. Ours is a party rooted in people’s struggles, and Bihar is a state where people know they cannot win any rights without fighting for them,” he said.
Also Read: In race to win over Jeevika Didis, Tejashwi’s Bihar manifesto looks to one up NDA with big promise
‘Kishor’s politics hypocritical’
The Left leader waded into discussion on the possible impact of Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj in the election, and said there was “a lot of curiosity” earlier but interest was waning day by day.
Jan Suraaj, launched by political analyst Kishor just last year, has posed itself as an alternative to both the coalitions—NDA and Mahagathbandhan.
Bhattacharya believes that those who were “interested” in Kishor were the ones “farthest from ground reality”.
He said Kishor originally attacked RJD leaders over lack of formal education, but shifted his target to the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government soon after. “In the last 10 days, he (Kishor) has started saying that the battle in Bihar is between NDA and his party. He may claim that. But the point is, if his candidates are being pressured to withdraw from the fray, why are they all extending their support to NDA? His politics is hypocritical and paradoxical,” Bhattacharya said.
The CPI(ML) leader pointed out that Kishor’s party appears to be “resource-rich” too. “Some of these candidates may be disgruntled political leaders. They might pull some votes… But, when it comes to Prashant Kishor as a brand or as a new party, I don’t really see much happening in his favour.”
‘Manifesto recognises people’s needs’
On criticism and questions of practicality over Mahagathbandhan’s poll manifesto promises, including government jobs to one member of households, Bhattacharya asserted that those weren’t “freebies”.
“No questions are raised when big loans are exempted. Corporates run away with tax exemptions. Nobody talks about that. Those are the real freebies. What people are actually getting is not free… This is just a small and partial recognition of people’s needs,” he argued.
More than one deputy CM?
The CPI(ML) leader addressed criticism by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi of the coalition not having announced a Muslim deputy CM candidate, and indicated that the possibility of more than one appointment to the post was still under consideration.
“This has not been announced, but this is definitely under consideration. I’m sure there will be more deputy CMs,” Bhattacharya said. So far, VIP’s Mukesh Sahani is Mahagathbandhan’s deputy CM nominee.
In turn, Bhattacharya said, BJP hasn’t named a single Muslim candidate out of 101 nominations.
“Just look at the BJP candidate list and compare it with Bihar’s latest caste census. Muslims constitute more than 15% of Bihar’s population. Why are they absent from the entire list,” he asked.
A ‘difficult’ election
The CPI(ML) leader referred to the electoral roll revision exercise, and said everyone knew this was “not going to be an easy election”.
The state government wants to “grab power… so, we know this is a very difficult election”, he said, adding: “The whole country is looking at Bihar. If we can win Bihar, it will be the beginning of the end of Modi.”
(Edited by Prerna Madan)
Also Read: Bihar beyond Buddha and Mandal—why the 2025 polls are critical for Indian democracy