By SUSHIL KUTTY
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had once told a national daily that if a man was true to himself and to his country, he can become Prime Minister in his 70s! Kumar, born in 1951, is now in his 70s. Also, seldom does one man raise the spirits of more than half the nation, which the “then” Bihar Chief Minister did when he snapped JD(U) ties with the BJP, and the “now” Bihar Chief Minister is fully ready to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the PM’s post come 2024.
The challenge was thrown on August 9. “2014 is history, now worry about 2024,” Kumar told media to a question regarding the BJP after resigning from the Bihar Chief Minister’s post for the seventh time in 17 years. The media snapped up the bite like the flicking tongue of a snake does to a juicy piece of morsel. This was history in the making. Nitish Kumar was about to become “eight-time chief minister”, and the first time a chief minister was resigning to become a chief minister!
Kumar’s record eighth chief minister-ship has earned him the sobriquet ‘Paltu-Ram’, meaning the ‘Ram’ who does more U-turns than a gymnast does somersaults. His current ally and partner in government, Deputy Chief Minister Tejasvi Yadav, has also had a taste of ‘U-turn Kumar’, and Tejasvi is just 33! This is the second time Tejasvi is deputy to Kumar, and this time, it wouldn’t be a repeat if Kumar wants to be Prime Minister!
Which is what the arrangement is between this ‘bhatija’ and this ‘chacha’. Tejasvi Prasad Yadav, who is no longer the callow youth of five years ago, is Kumar’s ticket to become Prime Minister, the one and only chance Kumar will get in a lifetime of 70-plus years. There was talk of Kumar challenging Modi in 2014, but it didn’t happen. And in 2019, there wasn’t even ‘talk’ to liven up the thought!
Now, there is both; the thought as well as the talk. True, it’s a crowded field of opposition leaders in the 2024 fray for Prime Minister. The first thought is one more shouldn’t bother Modi. The crowded field includes Mamata Banerjee, Rahul Gandhi and AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal. Also, K. Chandrashekar Rao of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. Some have even suggested MK Stalin. But unlike all these, Nitish Kumar’s name has raised the most dust.
The question is, does Nitish Kumar come with baggage? On the contrary, the baggage he carries with him will be ‘good baggage’. You know, like ‘good triglyceride’, as opposed to ‘bad triglyceride’, of which, it is believed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has over the years gathered in plenty, enough to drown him in 2024.
For all those with a dislike for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his style of operation, Nitish Kumar spells hope! For the Opposition, Nitish Kumar is the first positive sign in eight years of negativity; the antidote for the poisonous Narendra Modi regime. No ‘government’ likes getting called a ‘regime’, but the Narendra Modi government is increasingly referred to as ‘regime’.
For the Opposition, Nitish Kumar’s latest U-turn is the sign of the end of Modi-rule. Seldom does one man lift the spirits of more than half the nation. Except perhaps a sports personality who wins Olympic Gold. August 9, Nitish won Gold for a down-in-dumps Opposition. BJP lost Bihar and Bihar is half of the “Hindi heartland”. Also, Bihar accounts for 40 Lok Sabha MPs. An RJD-JD(U)-Congress-CPML-CPI-CPM-HAM alliance, the ‘Mahagatbandhan’, can notch up almost all of the 40!
No wonder, the BJP is crying foul, badmouthing Nitish Kumar with all kinds of names including the evergreen and durable ‘Paltu-Ram’. But Kumar perhaps has the thickest political epidermis in the political firmament. And, for some reason, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is nervous when spoken of in the same breath as Nitish Kumar. It’s inexplicable.
But, like it happens, certain facts cannot be explained. It can’t be that Modi didn’t hear Kumar’s “won’t be there to worry about 2024” jibe. Such statements have in them the elasticity to encircle the globe, and this one must have done its circumambulation thrice in three days. And Modi must have most certainly heard it.
That said, Modi isn’t the one to scare easily. When and how he reacts will be to his choosing. If not ‘Clean Kumar’, somebody in his party/ministry will get burned. Let’s not forget, the ‘end of democracy’, or the “ED”, as people know it, is at the beck and call of the Modi government and it cannot be that Bihar is an island of honest political dealings. Add RCP or Ramchandra Prasad Singh to ‘ED’, and it is twice the apprehension. RCP Singh will be in the know where all the JD(U) skeletons must be buried! (IPA Service)