On Bihar Election Results

Relief is the word. ‪#‎BiharElections‬
I have always been somewhat circumspect in taking election results and state power seriously beyond a certain point. But the fact remains that it would have been quite a disaster in many sense had the results gone the other way. The scary first hour of counting when it did seem to head down that path gave a good glimpse of that. Apart from the clear polarization around majoritarianism, it would also have been a big defeat for social movements of all kinds. So a sense of relief…
But the winners need to be questioned and challenged on many counts. One of these (among many others) is the casteist treatment meted out to Jitan Ram Manjhi. Electorally they got away without paying for this, but I do hope that in coming days there is an introspection. Any political mobilization is meaningless if it excludes some of the most marginalized sections of the society.