By Vivekanand Jha*
The hell appears to have broken loose for another Janata Dal-United leader, Harivansh, the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, following the bitter parting of ways between JD-U leader Nitish Kumar and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Harivansh reportedly said today that he will not resign from his post. He also seems very angry with the Janata Dal-United that why he was not called to the meeting.
Significantly, if Nitish had openly accused his former lieutenant, RCP Singh for singing panegyrics for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and engendering a break-up within the JD-U, Harivansh too should, unequivocally though, fall in the same category: He too, of late, sang hosannas for Modi, seldom recalled his association with Nitish or showed any apparent love for his leader whose blessings constituted the hallmark for his reaching Rajya Sabha and then being elevated to the position of the deputy leader of Rajya Sabha.
Harivansh even wrote a piece in Indian Express, heaping accolades upon Prime Minister Modi while keeping an enigmatic silence on Nitish Kumar.
In the wake of the latest development happening in Bihar where Nitish Kumar, irrespective of all praise and criticisms of his decision, has proved himself to be someone none can ever trust. Be that as it may, now, as Nitish Kumar is no longer in the National Democratic Alliance, what should be the status of Harivansh?
He hinted he will not resign. Nitish had endured his rise from that of an editor in chief of Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar into that of the Deputy Leader of Rajya Sabha.
So will he follow the footsteps of Somnath Chatterjee, the former speaker of Lok Sabha who, despite his party, the Communist Party of India – Marxist, withdrawing his support to the then United Progressive Alliance government, sought his resignation too?
Somnath, enamoured of the position of the Speaker of Lok Sabha, declined to do so, arguing instead that he had ceased to be a member of any political party. Small wonder then, Somnath was expelled and all sorts of criticisms were levelled against him. Thus at the funeral of Somnath, his son Pratap Chatterjee did not allow any CPI-M leaders to even see the corpse and express their Lal Salaam.
Hence against this backdrop, what remains a matter of severe excitement, is this: will Harivansh follow Somnath, because his publicly expressed admiration for Narendra Modi is an open secret?
Top photo: Harivansh (Source Wikipedia)
*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.
