In the first state election in India after the Covid19-induced lockdown, where youth and their ambitions and aspirations have taken centre stage, Pushpam Priya of Plurals party took the electoral fight based on a fixed agenda and a clear vision. She has the right combination for her election fight; age (33 yrs), political background, and a qualification in the relevant field (a London School of Economic education). Most importantly, she promises 80 lakh jobs, and has a target to make Bihar Europe by 2030.

Moreover, Pushpam has distinctively defied the norms and has set trends since the founding of the party on the women’s day this year to the announcement of the first list of her party, which identifies the participating candidates only as Biharis. She stated that the Plurals party is planning and aiming for a caste-less inclusive approach, reflected in the  party’s name, involving “discussion-based development politics” which will include multiple realities. She has placed herself as the CM candidate. She has also shown the visible defiance of local trends by not using Indian outfits; rather she chose to wear western wear, which she is comfortable in. She has a remarkable presence on social media with well-shot photographs. She considers Martin Luther King Junior and Subhash Chandra Bose as her idols and heroes.

Her party has contested from 148 out of the total 243 assembly seats and she chose the Bankipur seat for herself.  The seat had another scion, Shatrughan Sinha’s son Luv, fighting to make his political debut. Bankipur (held by the BJP) has registered a dismal 35.9% voting, among the lowest in these elections as per data of ECI.

Pushpam has been confidently stating that she is the only one who speaks about real issues. She has further elaborated that since she knows the system with her close observation through her family ties, she would be able to identify the exact problems and figure out their solutions accordingly.

Pushpam has voted from Darbhanga and is confident that her party will form the government without any coalition support. She also claims to have raised money for her campaign by crowd-funding and have picked candidates after “rigorous interviews and background checks”. The Plurals Party says that it has a presence in all districts, with “thousands of workers”. Pushpam added that the three-phase state polls did stretch their resources, with a state as large as Bihar being difficult to cover for a small party in a short time. She further added,”It is a system of elimination, meant for big parties who can travel in helicopters and conduct big rallies.” She added that when she went to study in the UK, she saw how strong their systems are, and how equal the society is. She wants to bring that feature here in the socio-polity of Bihar. In a way to hammer the idea of bias against women, which she intends to counter and fight, she stated that only misogynists and corrupt people are dismissive of her.

The author is a member of Amity centre of Happiness