4 times BJP has snubbed Nitish Kumar in 4 months of ruling Bihar
On July 27, 2017, Nitish Kumar was yet again sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar. But it was quite different and dramatic from the previous five occasions when he assumed office. Nitish dumped his 20-month-long grand alliance — the mahagatbandhan which had defeated the BJP in 2015 — and joined hands with the BJP, against whom he had got the mandate, to become CM again for the sixth time.
In his last government, Nitish Kumar had been under pressure to avoid the embarrassment of having to defend or ignore corruption charges against his deputy CM — Tejashwi Yadav, his then ally and RJD chief Lalu Yadav's son.
It was not just Tejashwi but also the other family members of Lalu Yadav — the man who controlled the largest party of the mahagatbandhan — who were causing Nitish embarrassment. And so, to protect himself from the humiliation, he chose the alliance with the saffron party.
It is now going to be four months since Nitish's new government came to power, but the embarrassments nowhere seem to be ending. It is just that the nature of the humiliation has changed. Let’s have a look at the four most embarrassing instances faced by Nitish Kumar in just four months of his partnership with BJP:
Power ministers' conference in Bihar cancelled at the last minute
A two-day conference of ministers for power was to be held in Rajgir on November 10-11, 2017. It was cancelled by the central government on November 9 due to “unavoidable circumstances”. In response to a poser on the development, the chief minister said: “I think the decision, at the eleventh hour, was impractical and caused embarrassment”. He also said that ministers from many states had reached Delhi airport (to catch their flights to Patna).
Many political observers interpreted the postponement as yet a snub for the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government by its new yet old friend BJP.
Nitish-Modi Ganga divide
In October 2016, while sharing a public platform in Mokama, Bihar, a subtle battle over the Ganga played out between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Nitish Kumar. Both expressed different views on the Clean Ganga mission, its continuous flow, as well as waterways. For the Bihar chief minister, all these issues were interlinked and inseparable but Modi harped on about cleanliness alone, without addressing the fears about the health of the Ganga.
Nitish pointed out at an anomaly in the Namami Gange programme and said that it doesn't ensure that the contaminated water from sewage treatment plants (STPs) established under it does not reach the Ganga. He explained that, for instance, wastewater from the STP in Patna is released into the Punpun river, which flows in to the Ganga at Fatuha.
Ignoring the Bihar CM's concern, the PM said: "If we clean the Ganga, nobody will be able to stop it from becoming incessant. That's the purpose of this cleanliness mission." He did not pay heed to Nitish's appeal to discuss the concerns about waterways.
No central status for Patna University
Narendra Modi ignored Nitish Kumar's request to deem Patna University a central varsity. The chief minister said, "People of the state are keen that Patna University be made a central university".
In response, the PM said: "I am going beyond the demand and am keen that the Patna varsity compete successfully in the challenge for 10 public universities and become a global-level institution." Narendra Modi was talking about his government's decision to provide autonomy and Rs 10,000 crore to the country's top 10 public and 10 private universities to help them meet global standards. Here, too, Modi overlooked the Bihar CM’s request.
No place in Team Modi
Since joining hands with the JDU, Narendra Modi expanded has expanded his Cabinet by adding nine new ministers to the prime minister’s council of ministers in September 2017. Despite all speculation, Nitish Kumar’s party didn’t get a single ministerial berth at the Centre while two BJP MPs from Bihar, Ashwani Choubey and RK Singh were inducted into the council.
It is being said since BJP has used the JDU to achieve its goal of toppling the mahagatbandhan government, it is now Nitish Kumar who has become dependent on the saffron party to keep his government afloat.
Lalu Yadav mocked the JDU for not getting central ministerial berths, saying “one who betrays his own people won’t be taken in by others”. These four phenomenal embarrassments for Nitish Kumar, in exactly four months of the BJP-RJD alliance, expose his helplessness in the present political setup. With one-time comrade and old friend-turned-foe-turned-friend-turned-foe again Lalu Prasad Yadav declaring that he will never ever support Nitish again, the Bihar CM is now entirely dependent on the BJP for his existence.
It seems Nitish Kumar will have to bear many more such mortifying moments in the months and years to come, unless he can work out another convenient U-turn to change the political equations in Bihar.