Eighteen months after his massive drubbing at the hands of Narendra Modi in the lok Sabha polls — when Nitish Kumar quit the post of Chief Minister taking responsibility for JD(U)’ poor show — not many would have thought people of Bihar would welcome Nitish back to power with such open arms so soon.
But the “Vikas Purush” of Bihar silenced his critics by not only winning a personal ego combat against Modi, but emerging as face of the Opposition against the NDA Government at the Centre.
In May last year, the Opposition was in a shambles and a few saw any hurdle for Modi in running the country the way he wished. The Bihar poll rout has altogether changed that situation. The euphoria in the Opposition camp might transform into something more tangible than momentarily celebration. It could be beginning of the coming together of anti-BJP forces under one umbrella and Nitish Kumar’s emergence as the face of Opposition against Modi at national level.
The victory for the Grand Alliance has also given a fresh lease of life to RJD chief lalu Prasad, who would go all out to seek a stay on his conviction a la Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
Had the NDA won the polls, it would have marked the end of the political journey of lalu Prasad, who would have neither age nor stamina to carry on with his “Mandal raj” dream. For Nitish, who is a few years younger to lalu, the setback would have delivered a deadly blow to his political ambitions.
Now, Nitish and lalu are expected to play a key role in bringing together regional forces on one platform and persuade the Congress to admit that its “Yuvraj” Rahul Gandhi would not be ready to put up a challenge against Modi in 2019 lok Sabha polls.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banejree, who openly backed Nitish during the campaign, too are expected to play a crucial role in cementing the unity of the Opposition.
The acrimonies Bihar poll debate has created an atmosphere of hostility in which neither the Congress nor the regional satraps are likely to come to the aid of the Government in running Parliament. The defeat will make the Opposition more aggressive on the issue of “intolerance” and Parliament could see major uproar over the Sangh Parivar’s ‘Hindutava’ agenda in two weeks from now.
In his third term, Nitish’s main challenge will be to ensure that Bihar does not return to the type of “Jungle raj,” which Modi kept on highlighting during his election speeches. More than Nitish, the onus is on lalu to ensure that his supporters are kept in control for his own sake.
Nitish is aware of the challenge on the front and has often told the media that he will not compromise on law and order situation come what may.
Nitish will also be needed to take due precaution during Cabinet formation to ensure that a lot of “tainted” elements who had to be accommodated for winnability don’t get in his Government under compulsion of coalition politics.
Secondly, Nitish will have to end the atmosphere of hostility between upper and backward castes that dominated better part of the Bihar poll campaign. Now that the battle is over, Nitish will be required to reach out to the upper castes and carry them together in the task of shaping the future of Bihar.
Nitish will also have to build bridges with the Prime Minister so that State’s interests are not compromised because of their ego tussle.
In ten years, Nitish has given Bihar road and electricity, now the State expects him to improve health and education infrastructure in a big way and create employment opportunities by focusing on agriculture, food processing and cottage industries.
Caste and communal discourses might have dominated the poll campaign, but Nitish has proved that there are more takers for “development” than any other emotive issues.