Why Nitish Kumar is being hailed a hero in Kashmir
On Monday when the Jammu and Kashmir government conferred the first Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Award for Probity in Politics and Public Life on Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, it seemed spot-on in picking the man who personifies the two signature qualities mentioned in the award.
The award was conferred on Kumar to commemorate the first death anniversary of People's Democratic Party (PDP) founder and former J&K chief minister and Union home minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.It was not without reasons that the Jammu and Kashmir government zeroed in on someone who stays 2,000 km away from Srinagar as the first recipient of the award. Nitish Kumar, as Bihar deputy CM Sushil Modi describes him, is one of the rare brands of contemporary leaders who set high standards of probity in political life. "Something which has won him respect, admiration, and high esteem across the spectrum."
But what makes Nitish a different politician? "You need to know Nitish to understand his politics," said a senior JD(U) leader. All through his career, Nitish has been strikingly different from other regional chieftains such as Lalu Prasad of the RJD, Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, HD Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal (Secular), and Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP.
The demands of realpolitik may have forced Nitish to join hands with them in the past, but the Bihar chief minister has always remained different from other regional politicians. Unlike them, Nitish doesn't face any corruption allegations. Besides, he is also the only one among the socialist politicians to have delivered good governance and won three consecutive assembly polls on the strength of his performance.
This is not all. Nitish is perhaps the only front-line politician in the country who never promoted dynasty in politics. As a leader of a regional party where his words are rule, Nitish could have easily given key party positions to his brother and only son, but he has kept them away from politics," said a JD(U) spokesman.
"To top it all, Nitish Kumar is very conscious of his image, something that made him quit the CM's post after his party's defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, a result which had no direct bearing on his government. And he did not pick anyone from his family to succeed him," said a senior JD(U) leader, referring to the 2014 general election result after which Nitish had quit the chief ministerial position and instead installed Jitan Ram Manjhi as CM.
Again, in July 2017, Nitish Kumar quit the CM's post when his then deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav refused to step down notwithstanding corruption taint and a pending CBI case against him.
Nitish quit even before BJP offered its support to make an alternative government. Even earlier, Nitish was only the second railway minister to have resigned taking moral responsibility of train accidents.
The first one was Lal Bahadur Shastri, who resigned taking moral responsibility of the Ariyalur train accident in November 1956. "Nitish was only the second - and last one since then - who quit the coveted post of railway minister after Gaisal Train Disaster in August 1999," said a JD(U) spokesman.
Now, besides bringing glory to Bihar, the award has once again highlighted a politician with a difference that Nitish is. The CM is not influenced by the company he keeps. In fact, he defies it. His decision to resign as Bihar CM in July, 2016, leaving the company of RJD and Congress - an alliance that gave him brute majority of 178 in the 243 member Bihar Assembly - is a case in point.
Instead of defending his then deputy CM, Tejashwi, Nitish preferred to resign as Bihar CM.
Nitish was no different in the company of BJP either. While in NDA, Nitish had shut the door on the BJP leaders in 2010 when a newspaper advertisement showing him in the company of then Gujarat CM piqued him.
While receiving the award, Nitish quoted Mahatma Gandhi, saying that the earth can fulfil every need of human beings but not their greed. That perhaps aptly describes the politician that he is.
(Courtesy of Mail Today)