The BJP might have done well in the civic polls in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, but it is the coming Bihar Assembly election that has acquired far greater significance. Small wonder then that the rival groups are leaving nothing to chance to try and win the election. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is so desperate that he is knocking at every door, seeking help in meeting the challenge of the BJP-led alliance. The other day, he was in the capital to strengthen his new-found friendship with the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. At a function of people from Bihar now living in the capital, the AAP leader facilitated Kumar, pledging all possible help in the coming election. In fact, the beleaguered Bihar leader asked Kejriwal to campaign for him. It suits Kejriwal to expand his footprint outside the national capital. Given that he too harbours prime ministerial ambitions — remember how he had contested against Modi in Varanasi only to forfeit his deposit — Kejriwal would like to exploit the difficulty in which the JD(U) supremo finds himself in. Of course, no one can question his decision to campaign for anyone he may choose to. But what would happen to AAP’s self-proclaimed image for transparent and clean politics?
For company, Kejriwal is guaranteed to find Laloo Yadav, the fodder scam convict. It would make a pretty picture of Kejriwal being flanked on either side by Kumar and Yadav, the trio holding hands at a public rally in Patna. Not that the AAP is a clean party, having been found to accept black money openly and being saddled with corrupt and criminal MLAs, some of whom are now facing investigations by the Delhi Police. Yet, the difficulties of Kumar do not seem to lessen. Now, the Prime Minister has gone and announced a Rs. 1.25 lakh crore special package for Bihar at a mass rally in Bihar. Nitish was unhappy. Why he wasn’t informed first that such an announcement was to be made, he asked most unconvincingly. The package would deflate the Nitish campaign for Bihar being given special status and thus additional funding. With the special Rs. 1.25 lakh crore package, there is nothing more to be gained by insisting on a special status for Bihar. If all the schemes and projects that account for the special package announced by Modi are implemented, there is little doubt the face of Bihar would change. All the funding under the special package is to be allocated for projects which will be centrally administered, be it the Rs 55,000-crore national highways or the Rs. 14,000-crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. But the point is that after the commitment from a public platform to allocate such a huge amount on Bihar’s infrastructure development, Nitish Kumar cannot complain about the denial of special status. In fact, after the report of the 14th Finance Commission there is nothing special about a special status.
Indeed, if the Bihar Chief Minister was so committed on securing a special status for his state, he would have to explain why the UPA, with whom he had tied up after leaving the NDA in 2013, did not grant him his wish. In other words, Kumar should stop playing cheap politics. His bluff having been called by Modi over special status, he now convinces no one by repeating the same demand. Also, for someone who indulged in caste politics of the worst kind, dividing and sub-dividing the electorate into castes and sub-castes, into Dalits and Ati-Dalits, it does not lie in his mouth to complain that the BJP-led alliance is consolidating various castes and communities by organising special conventions for each such sub-group. It takes two to play this kind of game. The Mandalists alone are responsible for reviving caste and making it supreme in elections. They must be ready to pay for their folly.
