‘Nitish will now face an assertive BJP’ Fresh alliance not a hurried affair, took seven months to finalise
NEW INNINGS Experts say new alliance with the ‘force’ will be different from what existed earlier when the JD(U) leader was in command and things moved in the desired direction
chief minister Nitish Kumar may have to work with a more assertive and aggressive BJP than the party he allied with earlier, when the saffronites readily played second fiddle, experts and political leaders say.
Kumar begins a fresh innings heading an NDA government but the scenario has changed radically despite the fact that the BJP has been reduced to 53 MLAs from the 91 it had in 2010.
For one, the BJP’s reach now extends through the length and breath of the country, including Bihar’s immediate neighbours — Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
“There is no denying the fact that new alliance will be different from what existed earlier when Kumar was in complete command and things moved in the desired direction,” said DM Diwakar, a political scientist from the AN Sinha Institute.
“BJP is a force now and you cannot rule out the emergence of Hindu affiliates and more agressiveness, etc.,” he added.
Kumar’s ally may also not forget that he has been foraying into Jharkhand, and organising rallies for prohibition along with former BJP man and former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi. This has not gone down well with present Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das.
Kumar has also been a target of Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath over the BJP’s stance on triple talaq. Kumar had countered the jibe, asking Yogi to first enforce prohibition in UP.
Yogi, who visited Bihar recently, had predicted that the so-called grand alliance won’t last long. “Nature would not tolerate such an incompatible marriage. There will soon be a cleanliness drive in Bihar,” he said at a rally at Darbhanga.
A top Bihar BJP leader admitted “it is not the same old BJP”. “Although we are less in number, the fact is that we have our own agenda and will pursue it,” the leader said.
Social scientist Saibal Gupta of the Patna-based Asian Development Research Institute, however, felt “things would be smoother for Nitish than it was under GA”.
The reunion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Biahr chief minister Nitish Kumar appeared hurried on Wednesday, but it was in the works for nearly seven months.
Warmth returned to the chilly relationship between the two as early as this January. The two astute politicians met after a long gap at a function in Patna to commemorate the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh.
It was January 5 and TV screens flashed images of the two politicians sitting together, smiling at each other and even holding hands at different moments. “The unease in the relationship between the two leaders was over,” a BJP leader said.
Modi praised Nitish for arrangements he made for prakash utsav and going ahead with prohibition despite opposition. Kumar reciprocated by praising Modi for successfully implementing a liquor ban in Gujarat as its chief minister.
The event at Gandhi Maidan in Patna happened within months of Kumar supporting Modi’s decision to recall high-value banknotes. He also supported Modi on the “surgical strikes” against terrorist hideouts in PoK.
Less than a week after this bonhomie blossomed, Kumar had an ice-breaking meeting with a top BJP leader in Patna.
They met again in Delhi in February to explore chances of a reunion.
The subsequent months saw Kumar talking of a grand alliance against the BJP, and simultaneously sharing with the BJP leadership his unease about the functioning of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, his alliance partner.
He was jittery over Prasad calling the shots in departments headed by his son, deputy chief minister Tejashwi. A dispute between Tejashwi and another minister close to Kumar over a project in Raxaul was another flashpoint.
are asking us to vacate our villages. If we don’t, we will be forcibly evicted,” says Jagarnath Tikam, who resides in a village on the banks of Narmada river.
His Bagud village in Madhya Pradesh’s Barwani district falls upstream of Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada and faces submergence like many others due to the project, especially during heavy rains, as is happening now.
After Supreme Court ordered residents to vacate submerged areas by July 31, district authorities are working on a war footing to evict over 8,000 people in Barwani, Dhar, Khargone and Alirajpur districts who have stayed put.
Tin sheds (10x15 ft), where people will be shifted for three months, are being constructed rapidly at 23 rehabilitation sites. At least 23 of the 367 religious structures in submerged areas have been moved to safer places. Authorities have also sought assistance of 5,000 police personnel for the final eviction.
“Of 18,063 project-affected families, 9,316 have shifted to rehabilitation sites and other places. 5,343 families have constructed their houses at the rehabilitation