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Patna: Siwan, the den of jailed don Mohammed Shahabuddin, is witnessing the impact of Balakot air strikes and of the churning Prime Minister Narendra Modi has triggered in Bihar politics.

It’s a quite a sight when Hena Sahab, Shahabuddin’s wife and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate in Siwan, shouts in her public meetings: “Vande Mataram… Vande Mataram…Bharat Mata ki Jai… Bharat Mata ki Jai”. Then follows her speech focused on development issues in a constituency better known for murders, extortions and dacoities, thanks to her gangster-turned-politician husband. He is lodged in Tihar jail.

Give it to ‘Brand Modi’. Everyone seems to trust it to deliver.

Sahab’s main rival, Janata Dal (United)’s Kavita Singh, is seeking votes for Modi to make India stronger. She also cautions people against reverting to “old days” (when Shahabuddin, a four-term MP, was a synonym for terror). Kavita is the wife of Ajay Singh, another muscleman accused of multiple murders.

It’s not just Siwan that is witnessing a change in the electoral discourse in Bihar. Travel across the state and the strongest and the commonest buzz is about India growing “stronger” under Modi.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has been criss-crossing the state in a helicopter, talking about the threat to the reservation system and the Constitution of India, but nobody on the ground seems to be mindful of them. The issue of national security often outweighs even caste considerations.

‘Brand Modi’ — a “leader who taught Pakistan a lesson” — is showing the potential to melt even age-old caste rivalries and prejudices.

Also read: Modi, alcohol & caste: Why BJP-led NDA has a clear advantage in Bihar

BJP’s growing influence

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) candidate from Samastipur, Ramchandra Paswan, has for long been very unpopular among upper castes due to his not-so-endearing remarks about them. The upper castes stand solidly behind him in this election. A Rajput farmer from Sripur Gahar village in the constituency explained: “It was for Modi, not for Ramchandra.”

Wary of the Dalits’ perceived antipathy towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party gave away six seats to Ramvilas Paswan’s LJP. The BJP might have underestimated its growing influence beyond its traditional votebank though.

Paswans of Dariapur village on the outskirts of Patna are disillusioned with Paswan’s “family-centric politics” and don’t consider him their leader. Some of them haven’t got any benefits from government schemes but “desh ke liye Modi hi theek hai (Modi is the best option for the country)”.

Noniyas and Koeris — categorised as economically backward class (EBC) and other backward class (OBC) — of Mahana village in Maharajganj constituency echo similar sentiments.

Nationalism + welfare

In an interview to ThePrint Wednesday evening, deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Modi claimed that people wanted to give Modi “another chance” because they have seen him as a performer in the past five years.

The senior BJP leader’s claims do get endorsement across different sections of people who have got new LPG cylinders and toilets under Central government schemes. The Nitish Kumar government has done a tremendous job by providing 15 to 20 hours of electricity supply, good roads and piped drinking water in Bihar but people credit Modi for this.

Modi’s narrative of nationalism blended with welfare schemes is getting stronger resonance in Bihar than the caste and community-centric poll strategy of the opposition ‘mahagathbandhan’ that is banking on Lalu Prasad Yadav’s sway over Muslims and Yadavs and on the influence of self-proclaimed leaders of communities such as Kushwahas, Dalits and Shahanis.

The BJP can’t wish away caste loyalties as a factor in Bihar elections, but the electorate is also betraying an increasing fatigue with Lalu brand of politics.

As it is, ‘Brand Modi’ is getting as much, if not more, traction in Bihar in 2019 elections as it did in 2014 when the National Democratic Alliance minus JD(U) got 31 of the 40 seats.

Also read: How Lalu Prasad is plotting to defeat Modi in Bihar from a jail in Jharkhand

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