The dare: just let Modi come | Street turbulence is set to return to Bihar politics after the Mandal-Mandir churn of two decades ago. Today’s bloody skirmish between BJP and JD(U) apparatchik in Patna’s VIP district may just have been a trailer to what awaits. Governance and development, chief minister Nitish Kumar’s much-prided credo, could become its worst collateral victims. “We are staring at a spell of political turmoil from the look of things,” a minister in the Nitish government confessed worriedly. “Our chief challenge will be to keep it contained and prevent any derailing of the governance agenda. ” In the days and months to come, Nitish’s effort to keep the governance writ running will come under serious challenge from tempers generated by his decision to kick the BJP and hurt its power prospects for 2014. Nitish’s newly ejected ally is in jilted rage and promising revenge. “What Nitish Kumar has done amounts to a huge betrayal of both our party and the people of Bihar,” railed Ravi Shankar Prasad, who flew here to join the front ranks of his party’s protest bandh. “We shall fight this with ferocity, this is a battle that will ring in every corner of Bihar. This is just the beginning, just let Narendra Modi arrive and you will see the upsurge,” Prasad said. Prasad issued another dare to Nitish just before he boarded the police bus that carted protesters away after ceremonial arrest. “Don’t forget the importance of this moment,” he said. “Yesterday, we were in government in this state, today we are on the street and being taken to jail. Let the people speak and you will see who is eventually thrown on the streets of Bihar, this fight has just begun, let Modiji arrive.” Modi is scheduled here as star attraction of the BJP’s “hunkar (battlecry) rally” in late October, but pirouetting anger in the BJP ranks could bring him to Bihar at an earlier date. “Modiji is chairman of the campaign committee and could plan his own tour of Bihar,” a BJP leader said. “We want him to start leading this struggle as soon as it is possible for him.” The ruling JD(U) has refrained from any comment on the prospect of Modi hitting the campaign trail in Bihar for the first time in close to a decade. But privately, the thought fills them with apprehension and anxiety. “The worry is not merely political,” a JD(U) leader said. “Of course we are concerned that Modi could put new charge in the BJP cadre and pose a greater political challenge to us. But there is also the possibility of disruption of law and order and social harmony with him on the ground. He is a divisive politician, his style and substance run in the face of secular politics and the basic principles on which our government runs.” It isn’t premature to suggest that some in the ruling establishment have begun mulling the pros and cons of preventing the Gujarat chief minister from entering Bihar on the grounds that he would “represent a threat to social harmony”. The argument has been made forcefully in some quarters over the last few days. It has been met by counter arguments that putting a bar on Modi’s entry will not only fuel trouble but also “make a greater hero of him”. Narendra Modi appears to have caught the JD(U) in a vicious loop the BJP is happy to ride. Permit him and he infuses new energy into the campaign, prevent him and he becomes beneficiary of the muse of censorship. The more the JD(U) demonises Narendra Modi, the more aggressively BJP cadres espouse and eulogise him. The one slogan ringing above the steamy afternoon BJP sit-in at Dak Bungalow, Patna’s central square, was: “Desh ka neta kaisa ho, Narendra Modi jaisa ho!” A fair section in the BJP appears thrilled, in fact, that they no longer have to bear the burden of the coalition with Nitish. “This is liberation for us,” screamed one saffron-bandannaed supporter in the din of protest. “All this while our voice was choked by the coalition and our leader not allowed among us. Now we can say what we want, do what we want, our hands are free, our lungs have opened up. Garv se kaho, desh ka neta kaisa ho, Narendra Modi jaisa ho,” the supporter said. The Patna street today was vociferous affirmation that if there are no permanent enemies in politics, there are no permanent friends either. Till just the other day, Sushil Modi sat next to Nitish Kumar in the Bihar cabinet; today, Nitish’s government was ordering him in jail. Till just the other day, Nitish Kumar was “fit to be Prime Minister” in Sushil Modi’s book; today, Modi was swearing to throw him out of power in Bihar. It’s just the kind of breach Lalu Prasad, former ruler and future aspirant, was waiting for all these years; he is chuckling through it. “Bhaag ho gaya donon,” he told The Telegraph in his air-conditioned outhouse shortly after addressing journalists this afternoon. “Mera raasta saaf ho gaya… the two have split and cleared the vote for me. Both are enemies of this secular nation, let Nitish not pretend after sleeping with the BJP for so long that he is clean. The people of Bihar will defeat both because we are a secular people.” But he was keener on psephology than ideology when it came to explaining why he felt his hour was round the corner. “In the 1999 Lok Sabha election, Nitish and BJP fought together and they took most seats. In the 2000 Assembly election just months later, they were divided and I won again. Simple, look at the votes and numbers,” Lalu chortled. “When it comes to elections, numbers matter, caste and creed matter, that is what really matters, tell me if I am wrong. Let me see how far Nitish’s fraud talk of governance and development take him.” That’s another dare Nitish would want to square to.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:12:39 +0000
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