No scope for ‘fantasy’ in politics Ramachandra Guha
Soroor Ahmed
If after 17-long years of association with the BJP Nitish Kumar snapped ties with it and later joined hands with the same person whom he left 20 years ago, only Ramachandra Guha can indulge in any ‘fantasy’.
The learned historian seems to have little idea about Bihar. That is why he told NDTV: “Nitish Kumar is a leader without a party. Congress is a party without a leader. If a friendly takeover of the Congress party is organised by Nitish Kumar, I think the Opposition has a chance. That’s not going to happen, but as a democrat, that would be my fantasy.”
But he is not the first person to make Nitish prime ministerial candidate. Another person committed the same mistake––and look what happened to him.
Senior BJP leader and his own deputy chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, found prime ministerial material in him––of course of the NDA then.
What transpired later. He kicked out all the saffron party ministers, including his dearest Sushil Modi and ditched the same NDA, which helped him bounce back into politics. A year later in 2014 Lok Sabha election went to poll alone, only to struggle to win two seats. Even the party of convicted Lalu Prasad could win four seats. JD(U) leaders blamed it on the Narendra Modi wave and argued that the Lok Sabha result was not a referendum on Nitish government.
But the debacle raised serious questions. If Naveen Patnaik and Mamata––not to speak of Jayalalithaa as BJP is very weak in Tamil Nadu––can withstand the Modi wave why could not the most performing chief minister of Bihar?
Nitish’s outfit, then known as Samata Party, was the first party to give the secular legitimacy to the BJP in the post-Babri Masjid demolition years. It was only in 1998 that other secular parties joined hands and NDA came into existence.
Before 1996 the BJP has only two religious parties Shrimoni Akali Dal and Shiv Sena as its allies.
However, pressure from Samata Party and other secular partners as well as political compulsion forced the saffron party then to drop contentious issues like Ram Mandir, Article 370 and Uniform Civil Code.
Earlier, in 1995 Samata Party contested the Assembly election in alliance with the CPI ML only to win six seats in the House of 324 then. So the alliance with the BJP helped Nitish emerged as a political force. He became the Union minister and the chief minister.
If Nitish really did so much for Bihar’s development why in 2014 his party failed to get the support of even the educated middle-class mass––not to speak of uneducated masses.
In this era of political arithmetic there is every reason to ask as to why Nitish failed to translate his performance into votes.
Can he blame only caste? Or is there something really wrong in his style of functioning?
Before demeaning the Congress Guha should know that even in its worst performance nationally Congress managed to win 44 seats (UPA 60) when it contested around 500 seats, which is much better than JD(U) winning two out of 40 in Bihar. Even percentage-wise JD(U)’s performance is worse than RJD.
If “Nitish is a leader without a party” as Guha argues why is it so? Why not he let the party grow into a political force?
No doubt many roads were built during the reign of Nitish. But many of them were constructed under the centrally-sponsored Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana aand by National Highways Authority of India too. He distributed bicycles to students. But, how can one ignore the systematic destruction of education. While the media only derided Plus-II topper Ruby Roy’s ‘prodigal science’ what about the proximity to powers that be of the then chairman of Bihar School Examination Board, Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh and his former JD(U) MLA wife, Usha Sinha.
What about Estimate Scam, Uterus Scam, Rice Mill Scam also known as Paddy Scam, which run into hundreds of crores.
When his successor Jitan Ram Manjhi started raising the issue of widespread corruption, he was thrown out.
Anant Singh, the JD (U) MLA then known for his proximity to the power centre, , went to the extent of calling Manjhi a ‘pagal mukhiya mantri’ (mad chief minister).
Mr Guha should avoid living in make believe world and stop giving unsolicited advice to Congress or any one else. By doing so he is only losing his credibility.
If after 17-long years of association with the BJP Nitish Kumar snapped ties with it and later joined hands with the same person whom he left 20 years ago, only Ramachandra Guha can indulge in any ‘fantasy’.