In back-to-back public meetings in the state—ruled by the National Democratic Alliance following Nitish Kumar’s switchover to the Bharatiya Janata Party—the Prime Minister made his campaign against corruption and the promotion of sons and daughters in politics the central theme of his speech.

‍

‍

He addressed rallies in Aurangabad and Begusarai on March 2, and in Bettiah on March 6.

‍

‍

At the mammoth INDIA rally in Patna on March 3, the Rashtriya Janata Dal president, Lalu Prasad Yadav, said that Modi was devoid of progeny and dismissed him as a "fake Hindu who didn’t shave his hair on his mother’s demise". Modi certainly sounded more bitter against Lalu by claiming at his Bettiah rally that the "latter had pampered and promoted his sons and daughters only at the expense of the state denizens".

‍

‍

However, Modi’s attack on parivarwad coincided with the BJP declaring Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of former BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, as its nominee for a Delhi Lok Sabha seat, while Jayant Choudhary, grandson of former Prime Minister Choudhary Charan Singh and son of former Union Minister Ajit Singh of Uttar Pradesh, joined his fold.

‍

‍

The BJP in particular and the NDA in general perhaps have the highest number of leaders who have promoted their progeny in politics or other spheres of public life. The biggest example is Jai Shah, son of the second-in-command to Modi and Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, who serves as the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), governing the politics and administration of the rich cricket body. The present BJP president, J.P. Nadda, was tutored in politics by his professor-cum-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader, N.L. Nadda.

‍

‍

The Patna Sahib MP and former Union Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, son of a former minister, Thakur Prasad, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia, daughter of former BJP leader Vijayaraje Scindia, former Karnataka CM H.D. Kumaraswamy, son of former Prime Minister H.D. Devegowda, Jyotiraditya Scindia, son of Madhavrao Scindia, former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan, son of former CM Shankarrao Chavan, and Chirag Paswan, son of the Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan, are among a plethora of leaders in the BJP carrying the pedigree of their forefathers.

‍

What sounds highly incongruous in the context of Bihar is that the BJP has replaced Tejashwi Yadav as deputy CM with Samrat Choudhary, son of Shakuni Choudhary, who served as a minister throughout the rules of the Congress, Janata Dal, RJD, and the NDA; and Modi is attacking Lalu on ‘parivarwad’. Another minister in the Bihar government is Santosh Suman, son of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi; their Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) is part of the NDA.

‍

‍

Tejashwi Yadav, at the INDIA rally in Patna on March 3, said, “Some people say that the BJP is a washing machine where tainted leaders are laundered clean. It’s not so. The BJP is a dustbin of garbage from other parties.” Tejashwi’s remarks are not wide off the mark, as the central investigating agencies have stopped pursuing charges against myriad politicians who have switched over to the Hindutva camp. The latest example is Ashok Chavan, who was named in the Adarsh scam in the ‘white paper’ presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The BJP nominated him to the Rajya Sabha after he crossed over to it from the Congress.

It was after all, the PM himself who alleged at a public meeting in Madhya Pradesh that Maharashtra leaders (Ajit Pawar and his colleagues) were "guilty" of embezzling over Rs 60,000 crore of public money, barely three days ahead of Pawar splitting from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and joining the Maharashtra government as deputy to Eknath Shinde. Three of his party colleagues who were being pursued by the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate have also joined as ministers in the western state.

What works for the BJP?              

There is no empirical evidence to suggest that voters choose the BJP out of faith in the PM’s campaign against corruption and nepotism, or that they rate the Hindutva party better than the opposition on these issues. However, under Modi-Amit Shah’s stewardship, the BJP has apparently used investigating agencies to either frighten several opponents into meekly acquiescing or to keep silent, thereby aiding the BJP.

‍

‍

A quintessential example is the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and Bahujan Samaj Party chief, Mayawati, who has retreated into her cocoon for fear of the central investigating agencies. Her lone party MLA voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections, and she has rejected the Congress’s overtures to join the INDIA bloc. She has opted to go it alone in the most populous state. It is believed that her "neutrality" will benefit the BJP at the expense of the Samajvadi Party—the largest component of INDIA in the Hindi heartland.

‍

Besides the selective use of investigating agencies against political opponents, what works for the BJP are the unmatched resources at its command, the mixing of religion with politics, and vice-like control over almost all institutions of governance. The Hindutva party recently gained seven MLAs from the RJD and Congress who switched sides to it.

‍

‍

Despite the Supreme Court declaring electoral bonds illegal, the party has acquired over 6500 crores worth of bonds, compared to the minuscule share for other parties. Songs about Rama and Ayodhya are played through LCD TVs, and large cutouts of Rama alongside Modi are prominently displayed at the PM’s meetings, presenting him as a larger-than-life persona. The PM repeatedly refers to his opponents as “anti-Ram” in his speeches, despite the Election Commission warning political parties against using religion for election purposes.

‍

‍

Furthermore, BJP-RSS cadres are more "resourceful" in influencing opponents’ cadres and voters at the booth level, a significant advantage that opposition parties lack.