As Biharis start voting for the assembly elections this week, I hope and pray that the Ayodhya verdict is not able to slow down or completely stop the progress of Bihar.
I was going through an Outlook India article which said "Nitish seemed well placed to retain power before the Ayodhya verdict. Now it no longer looks a cakewalk." It signifies that before the Ayodhya verdict, Development would win in Bihar... but now with the Ayodhya verdict, Development is taking a back seat with many voters giving more weightage to the Ayodhya decision.
However my belief and the belief of many people is that the Ayodhya verdict should not be allowed to make our voting decisions and determine whom we should vote for. Rather vote for the development of Bihar. Ayodhya verdict doesn't change people's situation in Bihar either ways. Ayodhya doesn't provide a livelyhood to the people of Bihar nor does it change the views of people outside Bihar in they way they look at Biharis. The only way the people who laugh at Biharis will stop doing so and respect each and every Bihari is if Bihar develops. The very same people who ill treated Biharis or raised slogals against them or even bashed hardworking Biharis will want to partner with Bihar if Bihar continues on the accelerated growth path it has been on in the last 5 years.
What we don't need is a Chief Minister who used social justice as his rallying point and presided over a kingdom of unsafe streets, endemic poverty and the kidnapping industry (The Bihar Glossary). What we need is a growth story presided over by a CEO-style chief minister in tune with the new economy, a re-made landscape where the roads are smooth and the mind is without fear (The Bihar Glossary).
Vandita Mishra has in a very matter of fact way echoed the above in the first two paragraphs of her article "The Bihar Glossary" in the Indian Express.
Can people who read this post and can influence those sections of Bihar who view the Ayodhya verdict as bigger than the development in Bihar, come forward and exert their influence and educate people to put Bihar's development ahead everything else?
No comments:
Post a Comment