CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar is drawing large crowds in Begusarai. Question is, if hits on the web, will translate to votes
CPI candidate from Begusarai constituency Kanhaiya Kumar interacts with an elderly woman during elections campaign for Lok Sabha polls on Saturday. Pic/PTI
It's a lot like great music, or a stand-up comic's act, which sounds as good on your speakers on YouTube, but the infectious energy of a live gig is still incomparable.
As is the case with CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, 32, at a sabha in Nawab Chowk in Begusarai town, where we join his campaign. He gently tears into the Opposition to loud cheers on his perfectly-timed punch lines: "In five years, Smriti Irani jee's educational qualification has dropped from BA to plus-two… She should become a minister, but B-Tech [degree holders] pakoda taley (fry pakodas)?"
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Throughout, Kumar presses on how his relatively mofussil hometown - it goes to poll on April 23 - has turned into Ground Zero this election. "Why did they field a minister [Giriraj Singh] here, but asked him to stay quiet about me? Is this Varanasi? Why is the [national] media here?"
The answer to the latter is certainly the former JNU students' union president, whose rise to prominence, much like the anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal's in 2014, is effectively a short story - his arrest on sedition charges on February 12, 2016, and that maiden speech that went viral, upon his release, on March 3.
This sounds like showbiz, because social media is no different. Kumar possesses a spontaneously sharp, silver tongue, and a very Lalu-like Bihari chutzpah that can easily be mistaken as youthful arrogance, albeit wrapped in a sweetly unintimidating demeanour, as he refers to Singh, his BJP rival: "Ee kapaar karega? Iske boss se hi nahin darte hum (What'll he do? I am not even scared of his boss)."
Also read: Kanhaiya Kumar: Donate 1 rupee to help me contest election
Or, answers Narendra Modi's hardened supporters, one of whom heckled him the previous day: "Tum Modi Modi karte ho, tumko Modi jaanta bhi nahin. Aur hamara video dekhe bina, Modi sota nahin (You chant Modi, but he doesn't even know you; and he can't sleep without checking out my videos)."
This is apparently a reason Kumar is standing alone on a CPI ticket for Lok Sabha, rather than joining the 'maha-gathbandhan'. For, his possible allies, chiefly RJD, fear getting partially eclipsed on the national stage, if upon victory, he monopolises the sound-byte from Bihar. That's supposedly the internal dynamic. Or, so the local experts say. And practically everybody sounds like a political-analyst in this state.
On ground though, Kumar draws considerable, organic crowds and assertions that this will be a "clean sweep" for him, as we drive from Nawab Chowk to a far-off village Singdaha, and further into the dusty interiors of Begusarai. He's not having a great day, looking slightly dehydrated. "Tabyat theek nahi hai, paikhana (not feeling well, need the loo)," he tells his crew. And his main vehicle, a Honda SUV that he campaigns atop the sun-roof, has been temporarily detained for lack of registration papers.
Kumar shuttles between an open-air tempo, and one of four Mahindra Scorpios in his modest entourage, where he's most uncomfortable, since he can't attend to people lined up by the driver's window.
We've squeezed ourselves into the Scorpio's backseat, and he speaks to us intermittently (see interview), stopping at corners, shaking hands, and especially urging the old, "Aashirwaad dijiyega (do bless)." These are mostly Muslim-dominated parts.
I don't need to Google, just nudge the young boy, Saurabh, unconnected to politics, sitting next me on the train back from Begusarai, to break down the constituency's community arithmetic. He rattles off: "19 per cent, Bhumihar [same caste as Kumar, and his BJP rival, Singh]. 14 per cent, Muslim [like RJD's candidate Tasnvir Hasan]. 12 per cent, Yadav." "Kanhaiya already has young voters, but if he manages to get old Yadavs and Muslims on his side, he's in good wicket," Saurabh adds. Having verified, Saurabh's data turns out to be roughly accurate. That said Begusarai also has a fairly strong CPI cadre - around five to six per cent. In his speeches, Kumar ensures his electorate doesn't see this as a triangular fight.
Also read: Election 2019: Kanhaiya Kumar to contest against Giriraj Singh
"Do hi log kushti ladte hain (only two people fight a bout)," he says, attempting to corner the Muslim-Yadav vote that is naturally predisposed towards RJD. In the same vein, he urges Muslim crowds not to fall for propaganda videos pitting them against Hindus, or false stuff personally maligning him.
And videos, and indeed Facebook, are quite a thing, even in Bihar's rural elections, let alone Kumar's campaign. One repeatedly hears about low turnouts at rallies - people are often paid R150 to 300 plus meals, to show up anyway - because live-videos and social media keep you instantly connected. "The live-feed has got 6,000-plus viewers as of now, and growing," Kumar's campaign manager tells his associate over the phone, referring to the speech he's just delivered. My timeline is already buzzing with some of Kumar's videos: "Kanhaiya ne godi media ko diya karara jawaab," "Chatukaaron ki bolti bandh".
This is right up BJP's alley. They've mastered social media, like none others. If Kumar does win, he might be the first campus hero-turned-YouTube star, to walk straight into Parliament.
Also read: Elections 2019: Kanhaiya Kumar files nomination from Begusarai
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