Nitish Kumar is like a record stuck in a groove
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is being cussed and tiringly predictable when he refuses to credit the Bharatiya Janata Party for its magnificent victories in the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, and for emerging as the single largest party in a keenly-fought triangular contest in Delhi. His remark that the results are more a rejection of the Congress than an endorsement of the BJP is way off the mark and not worth buying into. In both Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the people voted the BJP back to power, thus demonstrating their trust in the party led by Mr Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Mr Raman Singh respectively.
This was a positive vote for the BJP and not just a rejection of the Congress. In Rajasthan and Delhi, the voters not only booted out the Congress but also inflicted a humiliating defeat on the party. The anti-incumbency factor against the Congress for a variety of reasons did help, but what Mr Nitish Kumar refuses to admit is that the people also voted for the BJP because they believed the party's State-level leadership will govern effectively. They were also influenced by the fact that the BJP was on the ascendant on the national stage with Mr Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. Indeed, it is this undeniable fact that has got Mr Nitish Kumar's goat and led him to a verbal convolution. The Bihar Chief Minister's uncalled for and completely misplaced dislike for his Gujarat counterpart is well known, but it is amazing that the hatred should cloud the former's thinking to such an extent that he begins to sound not just unbelievable but even hilarious.
Mr Nitish Kumar is behaving like an ostrich with its head buried in the sand. Therefore, nothing that he says changes the reality that Mr Modi is getting stronger by the day and that the results of the Assembly elections to the four States are also an endorsement of Mr Modi’s growing stature. In fact, the Bihar Chief Minister must devote more time to his home turf than in needlessly panning the Gujarat Chief Minister, because the Modi factor is expected to play a major role in Bihar in the coming lok Sabha election. The huge impact that the BJP prime ministerial candidate's Patna rally made has rattled the ruling Janata Dal (United). Mr Nitish Kumar came on a weak wicket ever since he unilaterally snapped ties with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance over the Modi issue, and now there is every possibility of his party faring badly in the general election. If Mr Nitish Kumar does not want to appreciate the grim possibility, he risks a lot.
The Bihar Chief Minister's observation that the people will vote, if they have the choice, for an alternative to both the Congress and the BJP, is clearly meant to reassure those who mistakenly believe that the so-called Third Front has bright prospects across the country. Mr Nitish Kumar's Delhi example, to further his argument, ignores the fact that even with the strong performance of the Aam Aadmi Party, the BJP emerged as the single largest party. The people have reposed faith in the party as much as they have soundly rejected the Congress. Finally, he appears to have assumed that anti-BJP regional parties will beat back the Modi impact. His assumptions have been woefully incorrect in recent days.