Bihar's Grand Alliance: Did Congress Play the Villain, or Just a Bit Part?

It’s a tale as old as alliances themselves, isn’t it? The grand vision, the united front, the promise of something truly transformative. And yet, when the dust settles, someone inevitably gets to shoulder the blame. In Bihar, after the recent electoral dust-up, the finger-pointing, honestly, seems to have landed squarely on the Congress party, casting it as the unexpected anchor that dragged down the Mahagathbandhan.

You see, the numbers, when laid bare, tell a rather stark story. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the undeniable heavyweight of the alliance, secured a commendable 75 seats. Its left-wing comrades, those ever-reliable allies, punched well above their weight, clinching 16 seats with an impressive strike rate, almost as if they were operating on a different electoral plane altogether. And then there was Congress. Oh, the Congress. Out of a generous—some might say overly generous—70 seats it contested, a mere 19 were converted into wins. A strike rate barely scraping past 27 percent. Quite a contrast, wouldn't you say?

Think about it for a moment: the Mahagathbandhan fell short of the magic majority mark by a mere dozen seats. Just twelve! Now, had the Congress managed to perform, well, even just a little better, had it not, in truth, appeared to be something of a 'dead weight'—a phrase, I must admit, bandied about quite liberally by its own disgruntled allies—the entire electoral narrative might have shifted dramatically. The air is thick with the 'what ifs,' and one can't help but wonder about the opportunity lost.

And it's not just the opposition or the general public whispering; even within the Mahagathbandhan, there's a palpable sense of frustration. Leaders from the RJD, not usually ones to mince words, have openly voiced their disappointment. They accuse the Congress of having overestimated its own strength, of demanding a hefty share of seats that it simply couldn't deliver on. It's a classic case, perhaps, of ambition outweighing ground reality, a scenario that, for once, proved detrimental to the collective.

The internal rumblings within the Congress itself paint an even more intriguing picture. Dissension isn't exactly a new phenomenon in politics, but when a party’s own senior figures start publicly questioning the leadership’s strategy, the seat-sharing arrangements, and even the very commitment to the Bihar campaign, well, it speaks volumes. Was there a lack of cohesive effort? Was the focus, as some suggest, diluted by other political battles happening simultaneously elsewhere? These are questions that, quite frankly, demand answers if the party ever hopes to regain its footing.

Historically speaking, Bihar hasn't been a stronghold for the Congress for quite some time now. The glory days are long past, and the political landscape has dramatically reshaped itself. Yet, for an alliance to truly succeed, every component, every single cog in the machine, must function optimally. And, honestly, in Bihar, it appears the Congress cog, sadly, just didn't quite turn with the same efficiency as its partners. A costly lesson, perhaps, in the delicate dance of coalition politics.