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INDIA’S ruling Hindu chauvinist party was defeated yesterday in Bihar, India’s third-most populous state.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Nalin Kohli conceded defeat to the state’s current chief minister, Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) party (JD-U), saying: “The people of Bihar have given a decisive verdict.”
The secular centre-left alliance of the regional JD-U with the RJD, another Janata Dal faction, and the Congress Party had taken 78 seats in the 243-seat legislative assembly by yesterday afternoon and was on course to win 101 more.
The BJP was set to win just 52 seats in the state of more than a million inhabitants.
Janata Dal traditionally draws its support from the pastoral Yadav caste and Muslims, who have suffered persecution under BJP governments.
Since winning last year’s general election, the BJP has faced criticism for its failure to speak out against lynchings of non-Hindus accused of eating beef.
Earlier this year it was trounced in Delhi state elections.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) congratulated the people of Bihar for handing the BJP a “resounding defeat.”
“They have rejected the rank communal campaign conducted by the BJP, led by the Narendra Modi/Amit Shah duo with divisive issues like cow and beef and the bogey of reservations for minorities,” the party said in a statement.
The CPI-M said the decisive JD(U)-RJD alliance victory was “an indication that the 18-month record of the BJP central government which has imposed economic burdens on the people has met with disapproval.
