NEW DELHI, Nov 9 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cow politics was put out to pasture on Sunday as the impoverished state of Bihar gave a resounding verdict against the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) campaign to pit Hindus against Muslims over beef eating.
The hefty score of 178 seats in the Bihar 243-member assembly for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's grand alliance demolished virtually all poll predictions, including the highly acclaimed NDTV. The news channel was predicting a landslide for the BJP even after the counting of votes had begun.
The chief minister's Janata Dal-United (JDU) had fought in alliance with former chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Both backward caste leaders have made popular visits to Pakistan, and the BJP targeted them for this. The BJP-led NDA ended with a paltry 58 seats.
Modi began his crucial month-long election campaign in Bihar, India's second poorest state after Orissa, on a platform of economic development.
Midway, however, his party got nervous and, shooting from the hip, claimed that a defeat for Modi would be a victory for Pakistan. "Firecrackers would go off in Pakistan," BJP president Amit Shah said.
A last ditch effort to instil religious polarisation in what has become a communally harmonious state boomeranged.
    ?THE DAWN