Bihar knew what it was getting into when it elected the Grand Alliance of three desperate parties with the only common objective of stopping the Modi juggernaut. That objective was realised. Modi could well do with a bit of jolt. He was going at breakneck speed trying to expand his party’s footprint where it had hardly had a presence these past sixty years. He should concentrate on delivering acchhe din to the people of all of India. As for Bihar, the goody-goody Nitish Kumar who rode back to power on the shoulders of his friend-turned-foe-turned-saviour, that is, Lalu Yadav, ought to have shown some spunk in resisting the Yadav chieftain’s Project Family. Inducting two complete greenhorn sons of Yadav, the younger, all of 26 and still wet behind the ears, as his deputy, and the older, as number three in a lacklustre cabinet, which clearly bears the stamp of the fodder scamster, was an open confession as any as to who will run the government. Lalu Yadav, who stands disenfranchised due to his conviction in the Rs.800-crore fodder scam, could not have asked for more. He and his sons would control the government while Nitish would take the flak. It is not only that Nitish surrendered on the induction of the two sons of Lalu.
What could prove more deleterious for Bihar is the allocation of key portfolios to them. Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad has walked away with the very productive, very plum, roads and building construction. And the elder brother and number three in the government, Tej Pratap, has been given the key ministry of health, minor irrigation and environment. It could be argued that the sins of the parents ought not to be visited on their progeny, but there is nothing in the record of the junior Yadavs to suggest that they are any different in actual conduct from them. Neither son has accomplished himself in any way, one dropping out of school and the other barely finishing basic schooling to run a motorcycle distribution business which his doting father had arranged for him. Admittedly, politics is the art of the possible. If voters in their wisdom have elected the Yadav juniors to the Assembly, they have every right under the Constitution to be made ministers, especially when their father is the undisputed king-maker. Maybe Nitish felt so obliged to Lalu for the latter having conceded the post of chief ministership to him that he did not mind Lalu dictating to him. Mercifully, Lalu was able to resist pressure from his eldest child, Misa Bharati, who too, going by reliable news reports, wanted to be made a senior minister. For the rest, the ministry held no surprises. If senior ministers of all three parties bristle at the thought of playing second fiddle to the Yadav sons, nothing can be done about it after the chief minster himself had surrendered before Lalu Yadav. Nitish’s best bet would be to keep Lalu engaged in fighting the appeal against his conviction and other scam-related cases, while he tries and builds on the good work done while he was in alliance with the BJP.
Meanwhile, the multi-party assemblage at the podium while Nitish and other members of the government took oath last Friday has evoked much comment, some of it rather far-fetched. Mutual contradictions and regional antipathies would always preclude an omnibus anti-BJP gang-up. Nitish and his fan club might like to project him as prime ministerial but his own electoral capital is rather thin, despite the recent win in Bihar. Indeed, even his senior partner, Lalu, has little or no traction outside Bihar. Yes, the gang-up can make things difficult for Modi in Parliament. Which probably it would in the session opening later this week. Whether aping Rahul Gandhi would win them more friends is highly doubtful. For all the noises, Janata Dal (U) is a regional party with a limited presence in Bihar and hardly any else in rest of the country. Given the poor state of development in Bihar, Nitish would profit by working with the Center rather than against for the good of the people of his state. Confrontation and controversy makes headlines but it inevitably pushes the development agenda on the backburner. The voter in Bihar expects him to build roads, deliver electricity 24×7, improve the educational infrastructure, create jobs at the taluka, district and state levels, and generally ensure the delivery of all other public goods and services. Partisan politics should now take a back seat.
