MIXED SIGNALS
The Bihar CM is keeping the BJP guessing, and eyeing the Muslim vote ahead of the 2020 assembly poll
It took just two days for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to retort to Union minister Giriraj Singh’s July 17 ‘retweet’ demanding that his party, the BJP, break its governing alliance with the Janata Dal (United) in Bihar. Singh was reacting to reports that the state police was gathering information on the saffron party’s mother ship, the RSS. On July 20, Nitish visited senior RJD MLA Abdul Bari Siddiqqui in Darbhanga district where he had gone to oversee the flood situation. He spent an hour with Siddiqui, which immediately set tongues wagging in capital Patna. While RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s wife Rabri Devi clarified that the ‘visit’ wasn’t political, BJP leader and deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi came out with a unilateral statement, affirming that the NDA would contest next year’s assembly poll under Nitish’s leadership. It was seen as both damage control and a bid to keep the CM in good humour.
Sushil Modi’s attempt to assuage the JD(U) camp comes
BIHAR’S SIZEABLE MUSLIM VOTES, ALMOST 17%, CAN PROVE DECISIVE IN MANY ASSEMBLY SEGMENTS
after a spell of friction between the two allies, which started during the unsuccessful powersharing negotiations at the Centre. The JD(U) has since opposed the BJP in the Lok Sabha on issues like the uniform civil code, Article 370, citizenship bill and triple talaq. Sidiqqui may or may not figure in Nitish’s scheme of things “but the Muslim votes certainly are”, says a senior JD(U) leader. Bihar’s sizeable Muslim voteshare, almost 17 per cent, can prove decisive in many assembly segments. Though the community has traditionally supported the RJD, they have shown signs of a rethink after the party failed to win a single Lok Sabha seat in Bihar. “With Lalu still in judicial custody and heir apparent Tejashwi losing his way after the poll results, there’s a huge opportunity for us to take over the RJD’s vote bank,” says the JD(U) leader. “Even the most ardent RJD supporters agree that at least onefourth of the Yadavs voted for the NDA in the general election. Now it’s time for the Muslims to turn to the JD(U). It helps that they find Nitish acceptable.”
On July 27, the JD(U) inducted fourtime MP and exUnion minister Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatmi, who quit the RJD in April. Fatmi soon declared that his mission was to transform the minority community’s “proNitish thought process” into gains at the hustings.
The CM is already halfway there. Apart from walking the extra mile for the 1989 Bhagalpur communal riots victims (including reopening of cases against the accused), Nitish is credited with granting government affiliation to 2,400 madrassas, implementing Pay Commission recommendations for the maulvis there and appointing Urdu teachers in primary schools.
The JD(U) leaders say the 2019 LS polls marked a paradigm shift in Bihar policies, where they “emerged as the biggest gainer”. The party added more than 2.49 million voters to its 2015 assembly election tally, a 38.7 per cent jump (the BJP gained just 310,000 votes while the RJD was the big loser). The word is already out that several “disillusioned” RJD legislators are in touch with the ruling coalition and may switch sides. ■