By Vivekanand Jha*
Nitish Kumar is once again back with a bang with one notable difference: he has seemingly exhausted all his lifelines now. He will remain on the chief ministerial chair so long as Laloo Yadav would like him to be. In other words, he, henceforth, will perhaps remain the caged parrot of the Laloo family.
Today, Nitish Kumar takes oath along with Laloo’s son Tejashwi Yadav, where the latter is sworn as the deputy chief minister. Significantly, even before the oath-taking took place, Laloo’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has started dictating terms to Nitish Kumar, with Tejaswi seeking the Home portfolio, apart from being sworn as the deputy chief minister. His brother Tej Pratap Yadav is all set to become a minister, and bargaining is underway as to who gets which portfolio.
Is this all because Nitish has apparently exhausted all the arrows from his quiver and consequently has no option but to concede to every single demand of the Laloo family or else, the love for the chair, which has come to be the imprimatur of Nitish Kumar, will be gone forever?
With the benefits of hindsight, and the revelations made by Nitish Kumar, in course of his series of conversations, the gist of the same is this: he has already had enough with his chief ministerial innings and, hopefully, he is looking for something new. Willy nilly the impression gaining currency is this: Nitish Kumar, apparently, has entered into a ‘secret pact’ with Laloo Yadav, whereunder he will hand over the reign of administration to Laloo’s son Tejashwi and himself switch over to Delhi’s national politics. Incidentally, the situation emanating from this new political permutation and combination is this: Nitish’s prime ministerial dream has reached a crescendo, with the depleting corresponding importance of Mamata Banerjee in national politics after the cash scam breaking out, culminating in the vice-presidential election. And, presuming that the above hypothesis is true, for there is hardly any evidence to debunk the same, it beggars a belief that how could a man who has been the longest chief minister of Bihar, could dare to commit this humungous breach of public faith in him–he had no mandate to form the government with any other combination, far less hand over the reign of governance to a trespasser–the mandate in 2020 was to govern the state in alliance with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
However, if Nitish is to be blamed for this fiasco, so is the Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition RJD, as well as the Congress Party. The BJP joined hands with Nitish in 2017 in the flagrant violation of Constitutional propriety, and the entire Opposition today when all have allied against the BJP. Small wonder then, in this whole episode, the people of Bihar in particular and that of the people of India in general, have lost out in the game of one-upmanship in politics. Whereas Nitish Kumar, through this mastery of somersaulting, might have changed the equation to his favour has he really succeeded in winning the trust of the people of India? The answer is for all of you to guess; in fact, the jury is out on this.
Regrettably, the stigma of Bihar being perpetually associated with the tag of feudalism bordering upon obscurantism deepens further with Nitish Kumar cementing his image of being a ‘ political turncoat’, inviting the ones to join him in plundering the state further of the remnants of whatever little vitality it might still be left with it.
No wonder, the situation in Bihar is absolutely pathetic: it remains at the lowest position in the health sector in India where, even the so-called premier hospital, Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH), is tottering at the helms of an impending disaster; the literacy rate in Bihar is the lowest in the country, where the rate of literacy is somewhere around 69 per cent, as compared to over 77 per cent across India, this appears ironical from the perspective of Bihar being the primary source of providing the pool of IAS and IPS officers; Bihar, despite presenting the spectacle of political Circus jamboree, since the days of Jayaprakash Narayan, where in every tea stall boasts of showcasing the mini parliament, despite the fact that none bothers to ask this question: while the politicians scramble to grab the booties, the poor citizens of the state make a beeline to the metropolises of the nation to feed themselves and their families. Tragically, in the process, these poor inhabitants of Bihar end up as the casualty in the hands of parochial leaders such as Raj Thackeray and the like-minded chauvinistic leaders who make a mockery of their Bihari identity. Apparently, Uttar Pradesh, another backward state of the Union, which had the infamous tag of juxtaposing with Bihar, is purportedly progressing upwards on the ladder of progress, leaving Bihar behind to fend for itself.
Nitish Kumar, a master in political somersaulting, for whom his self comes first, before the state or the constitution, continued to masquerade himself as ‘ Sushashan Babu’, especially seeking this tag of being a ‘ redeemer’ of the state from the state of perdition it had slipped into, had started celebrating the so-called Bihar Diwas to restore the glory of the image of being a Bihari, for the very words ‘ Bihar’ and ‘ Bihari’, over a period of time, had come to be symbolised as ‘ shameful’ heritage. Bihar Diwas was intended to obliterate the shameful legacy of the ‘ Bihari tag’. Unfortunately, this became another farce where crores of rupees were spent for showcasing the non-existent glory. Where is the glory for Bihar, in reality, when the people, in drove, are scrambling towards metropolises to eking out their living, where is the so-called Bihari Asmita? Bihar continues to reel under the ignominy of being a state which continues to make itself a laughing stock, outside its own jurisdiction. Unequivocally, Bihar remains the only state in the Union, whose inhabitants, albeit for some genuine reasons, continues to be the butt of jokes, who should take the blame for the same?
Top photo: Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav
*Vivekanand Jha is an author, academician and public intellectual. He is the author of Yes, I can Achieve (Wisdom Publication), Yes, I am Bihari (Peacock Publication), Delhi Beckons: RaGa for NaMo (Virtuous Publication), The Living Legends of Mithila (Virtuous Publication), The Making of Narendra Modi, Unmaking of Jawaharlal (Novelty), and The People’s Leader (Prabhat Publication). His upcoming book is A Journey From Rajneeti to Lokneeti. The views expressed are personal.
This article is biased and one-sided showing Nitishbabu as a Turncoat.
The writer should have posed same question to the duo Modi-Shah for taking support of JDU and breaking natural ally partners Nitish-Lalu in 2017.
The writer wants to show BJP as a holy cow, while all others as villains.
Whats so hurry for BJP in forming state governments by allowing outsiders with shady characters.
Take Assam CM Himanta Biswa was close aide of then Congress CM late Tarun Gogoi. He is also involved in Sarada scam.
Similarly, in Goa, they dumped former Defence Minister late Manohar Parrikar’s son and opted Congressman Babush Monseratte, who is allegedly involved in many shady deals including rape.
Recent episode of Maharashtra is fresh in everyone’s mind.
BJP posing self as holier than cow role should follow rather than preaching and blaming others.
Hats off to Lalu who did not bend before the duo the real hero of “Pushpa” “Mai Jhukunga Nahi”.
Had he bent like Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and other Sena MLAs Lalu would have been the blue-eyed boy of the duo under whose command is ED, CBI, IT…
Infact Nitish was a caged parrot with BJP now he has come back to his old friend and family.