RJD’s Manoj Jha: ‘We are undoubtedly a dominant force… Tejashwi’s jobs pitch will help us in Assembly too’

HAVING ended without a seat in 2019, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) recovered to four constituencies in Bihar this time, with the INDIA bloc’s tally in the state growing to nine.

RJD Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Manoj Kumar Jha speaks to The Indian Express on the outcome of the polls, the RJD’s prospects and the future of the INDIA bloc. Excerpts:

The results are very encouraging. We have demonstrated that people back you when they see a fighting spirit. It was a difficult election with everything stacked against us — institutions that broke parties and allowed the theft of people’s mandates; agencies that left no stone unturned to harass, defame, and jail leaders; a mainstream media that has been timid… I can go on.

But what kept us going was belief in the Constitution, as well as being among the people at all times. Its results have served the message that the people are sovereign and nobody can take them for granted.

The INDIA bloc has put up a spirited fight. It has been a pleasure working with all the partners. We would have liked everyone to focus on the elections and leave the rest of the issues for later.

On Wednesday, all of us met to discuss the future course of the collective. But given the diverse contexts from which all of us come, sometimes it is difficult to micro-manage some moving parts.

Fortunately, in India, there are a large number of people and parties that hold the letter and spirit of the Constitution sacrosanct.

On the whole, the INDIA bloc did quite well. We could have definitely done better. The RJD is undoubtedly a politically dominant force, but the arithmetic of elections is dependent on so many small little things that only a close booth-by-booth analysis will tell us what we need to be