NDA readies Bihar battle plan — with Operation Sindoor and caste census as ammo

The NDA has set in place a joint strategy for the Bihar election 2025 campaign. (File/PTI)

Armed with India's military offensive against Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam terror attack and the Centre's decision to include caste data in the upcoming Census exercise among key talking points, the National Democratic Alliance has devised a strategic blueprint to take on the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly elections slated to be held in October-November this year.

Allies in the NDA fold, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party, have already kicked off a multi-layered campaign in different parts of the state, primarily with the objective to send out a clear message of unity in the alliance even before seat-sharing talks begin officially.

While accomplishments of the double-engine NDA government, coupled with key schemes rolled out by the central and state governments, will form the bedrock of the NDA's campaign, issues like the caste census and Operation Sindoor are likely to feature as the prominent talking points in conversations with the electorate.

The caste factor

Over the decades, elections in Bihar have been known to be heavily influenced by caste -- a challenge that the BJP, once known to be a party of the upper castes, has managed to gradually surmount through its social engineering. While upper castes have stood by the BJP through the years, Yadavs and Muslims have rallied around the RJD, Kurmis and other MBCs have backed Nitish, Dalits supported the Lok Janshakti Party while Jitam Ram Majhi's HAM finds its support base among the Mahadalits.

When clubbed with the influence that Nitish Kumar's JD(U) brings to this complex matrix, the NDA has managed to find itself on strong footing in past elections they contested together. With the Centre promising the inclusion of caste data in the Census, the NDA is confident of neutralizing an threat that the RJD-Congress may pose on this account.

NDA leaders now claim that the decision provides coherence to the NDA's attempt to take ownership of the caste census issue and effectively counter the Opposition's offensive on this account. The fact that Nitish Kumar was the first CM to successfully conduct a caste survey in a state and implement revised quota benefits on its findings only helps the NDA's cause better.

The BJP also claims that the RJD's claims of positioning itself as the messiah of the Yadav community, which accounts for 14.266% of Bihar's population, is limited to the welfare of the Lalu family. "We have about 16 key Yadav faces. When the RJD talks about Yadavs, it means one family (Lalu Yadav’s family). It is under the NDA that leaders from all castes and backgrounds can also rise," a BJP leader claimed.

National security

A strong and decisive leadership that is uncompromising on the issue of nationalism is one of the hallmarks that defines BJP's meteoric rise under Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the last decade or so. Be it the surgical strikes on terror camps along the Line of Control in 2016 or the air strikes in Pakistan's Balakot in 2019, India's military actions have resonated within the masses, leading to windfall gains for the BJP in elections.

With Operation Sindoor, India's strongest military response to Pakistan-sponsored terror since the Kargil War in 1999, the BJP is ensuring that it gets the nationalism factor to dominate the electoral discourse.

Operation Sindoor has also figured significantly in the NDA's interactions with people as leaders highlight it as a milestone for the government in securing national security and curbing terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

So far, the NDA leaders have conducted multiple joint press conferences on the accomplishments of the government in a bid to portray a united front. The Indian Express reports that the NDA allies have also held their coordination meetings at the district to panchayat levels. Attempts are underway to take this coordination to the booth levels ahead of the seat-sharing agreement.