BJP Foundation Day 2023: From Atal’s ‘intentions’ to Narendra Modi’s ‘magic’, how much has BJP changed in Bihar?

Neelkamal, Patna:The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was formed on 6 April 1980. Before this, the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee was made the national president. From the very beginning, BJP started propagating the party with Hindu nationalism. However, in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections, only 2 representatives of BJP could reach the house. But after this the party never looked back. In 1984, LK Advani was made the president of the party and it was under his leadership that the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was started. In the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP got 161 seats and Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as the Prime Minister. However, his government fell in just 13 days due to not being able to prove its majority. With the increasing reach of BJP at the national level, the ‘lotus’ of BJP had started blooming in Bihar as well. Not only in the Lok Sabha, but also in the Bihar assembly elections, the BJP progressed very fast.

Let’s take a look at the number of BJP members in the Bihar Legislative Assembly

Assembly elections in Bihar started from 1951. Since then, 17 assembly elections have been held in Bihar till 2020. In 1980, when the BJP was formed, it contested 246 seats in the Bihar assembly elections, out of which it was successful in only 21 seats. Let us tell you that in 1980, the Congress formed the government in Bihar. After this, in the Bihar assembly elections held in 1985, BJP contested on 234 seats and won 16 seats. After this, in 1990, the Janata Dal government made Lalu Prasad Yadav the Chief Minister of Bihar. Then BJP fielded 237 candidates for the 324-seat Bihar Assembly, but only 39 candidates won.

There was neither RJD nor JDU in the 1995 assembly elections

The Bihar assembly elections of 1995 were very interesting. Because neither Rashtriya Janata Dal nor Janata Dal United was contesting in this election like now. Let us tell you that in 1994, Nitish Kumar separated himself from Lalu Yadav by forming Samta Party. Then the Janata Dal under the leadership of Lalu Prasad Yadav contested on 264 seats and formed the government by winning 167 seats. In 1995, BJP fielded candidates on 315 seats, but could get success only on 41 seats.

As soon as Jharkhand became a separate state, the seats in the Bihar Legislative Assembly were reduced.

After 1995, assembly elections were held in March 2000. Jharkhand was made a separate state only in the year 2000. That is, there used to be a total of 24 assembly seats in the entire Bihar, after the formation of a separate state of Jharkhand, the number of seats decreased to 243. Let us also tell you that in 2000 itself, due to fractured mandate in Bihar, Atal Bihari Vajpayee made Nitish Kumar the Chief Minister. Although there is a situation of not being able to prove majority, Nitish Kumar resigned and went to Delhi again and became a Union Minister in Atal ji’s government.

Let us also tell you that in this election, RJD got 124 seats, BJP got 67 seats and Nitish’s Samta Party got 34 seats. After the resignation of Nitish Kumar, the RJD government was formed and Rabri Devi became the Chief Minister.

Political equation of Bihar changed in 2005

No party got a majority in the February 2005 Bihar Assembly elections. After this, in the second election held in November 2005, JDU emerged as the largest party with 88 seats. BJP had secured 55 out of 102 seats. That is, in Bihar with 243 assembly seats, the BJP and JDU coalition government was formed with absolute majority. Whereas in 2010 elections, Janata Dal United won 115 out of 141 seats and BJP won 91 out of 102 seats. But Nitish Kumar broke friendship with BJP even in 2013 and worked to fight the 2015 assembly elections together with his rival Lalu Prasad Yadav. Contested on 101-101 seats in JDU and RJD. In this, RJD won 80 seats and JDU won 71 seats. On the other hand, BJP fielded its candidates on 157 seats, but could get success only on 53 seats.
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Nitish Kumar made a comeback in 2017

In 2015, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who formed the government in Bihar in alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s party, made a comeback in 2017 and again formed the government with the BJP. After this, in the 2020 assembly elections, BJP, which fought together with JDU, got 74 seats and Nitish Kumar’s JDU got only 43 seats. Rashtriya Janata Dal won 75 seats in this election. But Nitish Kumar turned again on August 9, 2022 and left the BJP and holding the hand of Lalu Prasad Yadav, is running the Grand Alliance government in Bihar.
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BJP has made Nitish Kumar an untouchable who constantly backstabbed

After repeated separation of Nitish Kumar, who has been together for many years, the top leadership of BJP is continuously saying that he will never take Nitish Kumar’s side in future. After the formation of Narendra Modi’s government in the center in 2014, the way BJP expanded and the way people’s faith in BJP has increased. Looking at this, the central leadership of BJP seems to be in a mood to take a big decision regarding Bihar as well. Current Bihar BJP state president Samrat Chaudhary also says that BJP will gain power on its own in the 2025 assembly elections. Because along with the people of the country, the people of Bihar have also come to believe that only BJP can develop Bihar and solve the problems of the people.
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A look at the number of Lok Sabha seats won by BJP in Bihar

So far 17 Lok Sabha elections have been held in the country from 1951-52 to 2019. BJP was formed in 1980. Now let us have a look at the seats won by the BJP in Bihar in the Lok Sabha elections. Let us tell you that BJP, which was formed in 1980, got success in 1984 only on 2 seats. And these two seats were won not by Atal Bihari Vajpayee or LK Advani, but one seat in Gujarat and the other in Andhra Pradesh. After this, in Bihar in 1989, BJP fielded candidates for 24 seats, out of which 8 were successful. Similarly, BJP was successful in winning 5 Lok Sabha seats in 1991 and 18 in 1996. In 1999, 12 Lok Sabha seats were won. But in 2004, BJP had to satisfy only 5 seats in Bihar. After this, in 2009, BJP won 13 seats. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP had captured 22 seats, while in 2019, BJP, which contested 17-17 seats with JDU, won all 17 seats with a hundred percent strike. Even in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the situation of 2014 is in front of the Bihar BJP. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how many seats the BJP gets in Bihar in 2024, following Atal’s path, thanks to the Modi magic.