Split-screen politics in Bihar: Rahul jabs PM Modi with 'Ambani' remark; RJD feels the pinch

NEW DELHI: Campaign heat in Bihar intensified this week after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi told a rally that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could “even dance for a vote.” The line was framed as a critique of spectacle-driven politics.

But the timing gave it layered political weight.Just days earlier, Tejashwi Yadav had gone viral while dancing with local youth during an outreach event. And when Rahul linked PM Modi to the Ambani family, it was quickly noted that Tejashwi and the Lalu family had also attended the same wedding celebrations. Though the attack landed on PM Modi, the echo pierced into the INDIA bloc.

The alliance contradiction in Bihar

Congress and RJD stand together today, but their power trajectories were shaped in opposition to each other. In the 1985 Bihar assembly election, Congress was the state’s dominant force, winning 196 of 324 seats with about 39 per cent vote share. The rise of Lalu Prasad Yadav in the post-Mandal decade reconfigured the social base with OBC consolidation, and new caste mobilisations shifted the centre of gravity.

By 1990, Congress had fallen to 71 seats, and Lalu’s Janata Dal had come to power.When Lalu formed the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 1997, the shift became permanent. The party inherited Congress’s Yadav–Muslim core, organisational networks, and district-level nodes. By the 2020 election, RJD was the single largest party with 75 seats, while Congress was reduced to 19 seats, struggling to hold even pockets it once dominated.

Rahul’s line carried more than one message

Rahul’s rhetoric targeted the BJP by casting Modi as performative and aligned with corporate power. But it also subtly differentiated Congress from its ally. That signalling was directed at urban, youth and minority constituencies where the Congress hopes to rebuild.In that frame, Tejashwi’s dance clip became a visual contrast, and the Ambani reference brushed against RJD because both leaderships were seen in the same frame of elite access.

The outcome was political shading: an attack outward that cast a carefully measured shadow inward.

The seat-sharing tussle exposed the balance of power

Seat-sharing negotiations between RJD and Congress this season were prolonged and tense. RJD, backed by a larger cadre structure and broader voter base, argued for limiting Congress to a smaller quota than in 2020. Congress, citing national visibility and Rahul Gandhi’s campaign traction, pushed for expansion.The disagreement spilled into public view. Congress leaders accused RJD of treating it as dispensable. RJD leaders countered that Congress’s ground presence did not justify its demands. The standoff delayed candidate announcements, forced hurried swaps, and left smaller allies squeezed. The episode indicated that the alliance is driven by electoral compulsion, not ideological alignment.

A familiar pattern across the INDIA bloc

The contradiction on display in Bihar is part of a broader pattern across the INDIA bloc, where several of Congress’s current allies originally rose by eroding its own political base.

In Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav formed the Samajwadi Party in 1992 and consolidated the OBC and Muslim vote that had once anchored the Congress.In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee broke away in 1998 to form the Trinamool Congress and, over time, absorbed Congress’s organisational networks in both urban centres and rural belts. In Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar’s split in 1999 and the creation of the NCP established a parallel power structure that drew away district leaders, cooperative institutions and vote blocs from the Congress.These parties did not simply emerge alongside Congress; they expanded by replacing it in the very regions where Congress had once been dominant.

Bihar exposes the reality again

RJD seeks to retain primacy. Congress seeks to prove it is not a junior spectator. Rahul’s remark, therefore, worked on two planes: it targeted Modi’s persona politics while subtly reminding the Bihar electorate that Congress is still a political claimant, not an accessory. The INDIA bloc remains together. But in Bihar, as always, the real contest is not who stands on the same stage, but who stands taller.