Taking a stand different from the top leaders of other regional parties who are strong critic of demonetisation, Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar has emerged as a vocal votary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s move of scrapping currency notes of Rs500 and Rs1,000 denomination.
The very next day Nitish had issued a statement favouring the decision and even as leaders of other regional parties as well as Congress hit the streets and denounced it in Parliament, the JD(U) chief remained unmoved. On Wednesday when the leader of his party Sharad Yadav was attacking the Centre in the Rajya Sabha, Nitish reiterated his stand at a public meeting in Madhubani saying he was a supporter of demonetisation.
“This decision will automatically scrap the circulation of ill-gotten money and fake notes and solve the problem of black money and that is the reason I support this move. The poor and honest people earn the money after hard work while corrupt people amass ill-gotten wealth,” he said.
Nitish’s stand supporting the PM has raised a question in the political circles if the JD(U) chief was inching closer to his arch rival Modi. References are made that Nitish was getting uncomfortable in the company of RJD headed by lalu Prasad his friend-turned-rival-turned-friend.
Nitish also demanded that the Centre should also take harsh steps to take on the people who are holding benami (unnamed) properties. The CM made only a slight reference of the public woes due to scrapping of notes and said the Government should take care of them.
The stand of the party chief has put other leaders and rank and file of the party in a quandary. While Nitish said the move would by and large benefit the country, his predecessor and former JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav said the decision was like jumping from running train. “You have waived the loans of Vijay Mallya and other industrialists worth Rs7,000 crores and put the honest and labour class people in queues,” Yadav said during debate in the Upper House.
Trying to defend Nitish, the secretary general of JD(U) K C Tyagi said his party had been against black money and its use in politics and that was the reason Nitish supported the decision.
Tyagi said the party’s stand was not different from Nitish but only wanted proper and effective implementation of the plan. “Modi Government did not do proper homework which led to complete chaos in the co0untry,” he added.
The JD(U) from its official tweeter handler criticized the Modi Government for being completely “insensitive” the common people’s plight. It said, “Arun Jaitley should explain as to how people maintain patience when their children cry for food and elders struggle for medicine.”
It is not the first time that Nitish took a divergent stand on certain issues and was found on the same page with Modi whether it was surgical strike inside Pakistan territory or Modi’s visit to lahore in December last.