Tejashwi Yadav tweeted a video, saying he felt “humiliated” by the crowd.
Patna:
About a week before the state elections in Bihar, footfalls have increased exponentially at the election rallies of opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav, stepping up to coronavirus safety regulations. Party leaders say time and place have no bearing on attendance: meetings held early in the morning or late at night are just as crowded as “prime time.” His party said that the size of the crowds has been more than 7,000 to 8,000 and in places more than 15,000.
Excited, Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal has increased the numbers to ensure that the party’s message reaches as many people as possible.
On Wednesday, the 31-year-old Grand Alliance chief ministerial candidate – the RJD, Congress and left-wing parties – will address no fewer than 12 meetings.
Tejashwi Yadav has tweeted, saying he felt “humiliated” by the crowd:
This sea of people advocates for change, development, jobs and employment in Bihar. The incompetent 15-year government of the NDA has ruined Bihar. Humbled and grateful to receive an enthusiastic reception on the other side of Bihar. Such an electrifying crowd at the Goh assembly, Aurangabad.
This sea of people advocates for change, development, jobs and employment in Bihar. The incompetent 15-year government of the NDA has ruined Bihar.
Humbled and grateful to receive an enthusiastic reception on the other side of Bihar.
Such an electrifying crowd at the Goh assembly, Aurangabad. pic.twitter.com/ztfz0fjhHK
– Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) October 20, 2020
The BJP is downplaying the crowds. Party spokesman Sahnawaj Hussain said most of the meetings are held in the RJD strongholds, where “traditional supporters come in large numbers.
“But if you see previous elections, the results have no connection with participation in the rallies,” he said Tuesday.
However, the 2015 results were different. That year, RJD Patriarch Lalu Yadav, who is currently in jail, spearheaded the campaign. A quintessential speaker with his engaging style and earthy wit, Lalu Yadav’s rallies were always well attended. But that year, he had spoken of extraordinary crowds: “the largest since 1995,” he had put it.
The results showed that his Rashtriya Janata Dal won 80, most of the state’s 243 seats, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United won 71 seats and Congress 27 seats.
Without waiting that long, the RJD leaders are happy with the response that the political heir of Lalu Yadav is getting. “We are really taken aback by this large number, but it only confirms that there is huge opposition to Nitish Kumar,” said senior RJD leader and party spokesman Shivanand Tiwari.
However, he said the crowd is made up of people “beyond our traditional support base.”
While admitting that crowds at rallies don’t translate into votes, Tiwary said that what fueled this massive footfall was anger among migrant workers.
The state government, workers feel, did not support them or make any effort to bring them back from the faraway places where they are stranded after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s late-night announcement of the shutdown in March, Tiwari said. Worse, even after seven months, most of these people are unemployed, he added.
Under the circumstances, Tejashwi Yadav’s promise to provide 10 lakhs of jobs at his first cabinet meeting has its appeal, he said, adding that for now, he is generating curiosity about the young leader.
Given that his parents’ 15-year rule has both responsibilities and advantages, Tejashwi Yadav has kept his message direct and simple rather than going for rhetoric like his father.
Your survey promises depend on a few key points. In addition to 10 lakh of jobs, it talks about equal pay for equal work, regularizing contract workers, increasing the salary of people in basic level administration like panchayats, eradicating bribery at the local level and repealing agricultural laws.
A senior BJP leader said it would be “foolish” to dismiss the crowd. The BJP leader admitted that his promise of 10 lakh jobs has given him space among young people, saying: “What really amazes us is the way he connects with people at his rally.”
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