Central Hall – Bandra to Bihar

@prashanthamine

Mumbai: What is happening in Bandra these days appears to be intertwined with what is happening in Bihar as well. It seems as though the political and destiny otherwise appear to be interlinked with each other. Both the places are not only politically significant, but Bandra is both politically significant as well as being the epicenter of a crime scene that has everybody’s eyes transfixed, but is where Bollywood is!

It is rather ironic that in the Bollywood crime thriller where the Bollywood and the Political actors themselves are lead players. The developments in the Sushant Singh Rajput (SSR) mysterious death case may have impacted the Box Office collections for some adversely.

On the political box office the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe appears to have given a life line to a beleaguered Janata Dal (United), JD-U leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who was desperately trying to ward off a stiff political challenge from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav. The latter had even managed to poach one of Nitish’s cabinet ministers Shyam Rajak.

‘Sushasan Babu’, ‘Mahanayak’ as he was called then in 2015, Nitish Kumar was under pressure to act in the SSR case. If he had not acted it would have immensely adversely impacted on the significant six percent Rajput community vote in Bihar. With the RJD snipping at his heels, the First Information Report filed by Sushant’s father K K Singh was like a divine intervention for Nitish Kumar.

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If the political stock of the JD-U may revive in Bihar ahead of the October-November 2020 assembly elections, it surely is going to nose dive for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies, the Shiv Sena, Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), all of whom had contested the 2015 assembly elections in Bihar.

The impact of Bihar, its politics and its sizable presence in the entertainment and cultural landscape of Mumbai has not gone unnoticed. Be it Sanjay Nirupam of the Congress, Shatrughan Sinha, Manoj Tiwari or the Chhath Puja, the impact has been there to be noticed. Who can forget the showdowns between Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray and politicians from Bihar over the Chhath Puja performed on the shores of Mumbai.

Initially the clash over jurisdiction between the Bihar police and the Mumbai police snowballed into a Bihar versus Maharashtra issue. Even the presence of Mumbai police cops at SSR’s Bandra residence hours before the CBI team was to arrive, all these incidents point towards a much more serious attempt to put the Federal structure of our polity and constitution under severe strain. It is in light of these events that the judgment taken by the Supreme Court of India serves to end the controversy.

The Bihar versus Maharashtra showdown in the SSR case is bound to have its political impact on the ensuing Bihar assembly elections. More so for the Congress and NCP, and also for the Shiv Sena which had dented the chances of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Congress had barely secured six percent vote share, winning 27 seats in 2015 polls, whereas, the BJP had won 53 seats, securing 24.42 percent vote share. Although the Shiv Sena despite contesting 73 seats, polling 0.55 percent of votes and failing to win a single seat, had ensured that the BJPs victory chances were marred in at least 35 assembly seats.

The Mahagathbandhan of the JD-U and RJD which had equally contested 101 assembly seats in the 2015 polls had fared differently. While the RJD won 80 seats, the JD-U managed to win 71 seats. Although Nitish Kumar was at the helm of affairs, the two sons of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav proved more of a headache.

Although the RJD patriarch’s magic may have waned, his son Tejashwi Yadav appears to have rustled up some challenges, there is no denying that by ordering a CBI probe into the SSR case, Nitish Kumar has somewhat restored the electoral balance.

The impact of the decision is more to be felt not just for the JD-U, RJD, the BJP, but more importantly for the Congress and NCP which is part of the MVA and would want to contest the Bihar assembly elections. By ordering the CBI probe, Nitish Kumar has neutralised the RJD campaign over the issue.

Back in 2015, the resentment against the BJP led to the Sena splitting its vote bank in at least 35 assembly constituencies, thereby tilting the scales in favor of the RJD. Although the Sena praised Nitish Kumar as being the ‘Mahanayak’ who could take on the BJP juggernaut, the recent stand-off over the SSR case has washed away all that bonhomie of 2015.

In the present politically charged circumstances it is very highly unlikely that the Sena might be able to put up the kind of performance it had in 2015 polls, notching up an impressive 2,11,136 votes. Worst still a dark grim cloud hangs over the MVA government, as the Congress, NCP will be weary of the fallout the SSR case has on its electoral fortunes in Bihar.

One incidence and an unsavory showdown appears to have turned the wheels of fortune for some, for good or worse. Much of the electoral outcome of the Bihar assembly elections will depend upon what happens in the CBI probe in the SSR case, and in Bandra!