‘Congress’ assertiveness and focus on Bihar reflects through Kanhaiya’: Experts

Kanhaiya’s entry into the Congress fold is a significant development. Along with Tejashwi and Chirag, the youth may have plenty of voices to identify with to strengthen the anti-BJP opposition.

Kanhaiya Kumar’s entry into the Congress is mostly being viewed as an attempt to resurrect the party in a state where it has struggled for over three decades and mostly rode piggyback on the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). But there is more to it.

Bihar Congress remained with leadership vacuum for far too long and the party decided to project Kanhaiya. (HT File Photo)

The way Bihar politics is evolving, youth may end up in the drivers’ seats to script a new trend in tune with the state’s predominantly young population. With almost 58% of the Bihar population below 25 years of age, the highest in the country, it could be a potent force cutting across caste and creed if properly channelised.

Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, 31, and Chirag Paswan, 38, are already in the political ring and now with the entry of Kanhaiya Kumar, 34, the battle may be truly on. Only time will tell if all the three could come on one platform, but even if they don’t, all three have shown their penchant for connecting with the state’s youth with their powerful oratory skills and talking in their language.

This makes Kanhaiya’s entry into the Congress fold a significant development. Along with Tejashwi and Chirag, the youth may have plenty of voices to identify with to strengthen the anti-BJP opposition.

“It is a timely move both on part of the Congress as well as Kanhaiya. If the CPI is also toeing the line of the Congress, Kanhaiya thought it wise to directly enter the party. CPI should also not have any reason to complain. On part of the Congress, it is a sign of the assertiveness of its new leadership at the Centre which it demonstrated even in Punjab and now taking it further. It is a fact that Bihar Congress remained with leadership vacuum for far too long and the party decided to project Kanhaiya, who could ask for a due share in the anti-NDA front and compete even within the non-BJP opposition, which, too, has tough competition to occupy the front space in Bihar,” said social analyst Professor Nawal Kishore Choudhary.

He said that the Congress, having none to fill the void in Bihar from amongst the state leaders, while the RJD and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) enjoyed dynastic leadership change, has gone with Kanhaiya in the hope of capturing the imagination of the enormous youth power in the state with a generational shift.

“This demonstrates new strategy on part of the Congress leadership with an eye on future, which is very important and may augur well, for both Janata Dal-United (JDU) and the BJP seem to lack young and dynamic leadership for future at the state level not only in Bihar, but in other states also. Kanhaiya also gets a larger platform to deliver,” he added.

Former director of AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies, DM Diwakar, too, viewed it as a pro-active step of the Congress to cash in on the opportunity in the form of Kanhaiya to take on the BJP and at the same time have a voice in the non-BJP opposition.

“For Kanhaiya, his rise is attributed to the CPI and so his switchover may put him in the same bracket of leaders who look for political opportunism, but for the Congress, it is an indication of its willingness to change and bring competent leaders to its fold. Both BJP and the JD-U don’t seem to have young leadership at present and so it is to the credit of the Congress to realise its limitations in Bihar and bring Kanhaiya to its fold. It shows that the Congress is getting decisively active ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” he added.

BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand said that projecting hired or dynastic leaders would not serve many purposes for the Congress. “BJP has already gone in for a generational shift at the organisational level and the process started ahead of 2019 elections and has yielded good leadership at the mandal and district level. It will gradually find its place at the higher level. Even in ticket distribution, the youth got preference. In the mandals, the average age of chiefs is less than 40 years,” he added.

JD-U spokesman Neeraj Kumar said the youth of Bihar would never go by rhetoric, rather by what they have experienced during the Nitish Kumar regime in the form of youth-centric schemes and incentives. “The line Nitish Kumar has drawn will be tough for anyone to match, as he believes in delivery. Be it a large number of engineering and medical colleges, polytechnic, incentives for girls, allowances for competitive exams and many others, they are all meant for youth only and the people know it,” he added.