Nitish Kumar's 'secular' credentials fool nobody

This refers to the news report, “Bitter end to an era” (June 17).

The decision of JD(U) to end its 17-year-old alliance with the BJP in an attempt to attest its secular credentials is nothing but a farce. In 2002, when the Gujarat violence occurred, Mr Nitish Kumar, who happened to be a Union Minister then, didn't show any haste to resign; he didn't even demonstrate any noticeable agitation against Mr Narendra Modi. So what has gone wrong that he has become so anti Mr Modi nowIJ

Ever since the idea of a Third Front was floated, Mr Kumar has set his eyes on the prime ministerial post. With the NDA more or less set on Mr Modi as its candidate, the only option for the JD(U) was to bow out of this coalition. Mr Kumar seems to be envious of the exponential rise of Mr Modi and his increasing popularity among the masses. The very fact that the minority community very overwhelmingly voted for him in the recently held Gujarat elections speaks volume of his acceptance among the masses. Mr Kumar is finding it extremely hard to come to terms with this.