Kamal Ghorui
In Bihar, just like in Maha, the party outshone its state outfit ally. But Nitish is still a political presence
Who’ll be CM in Bihar – Nitish Kumar’s unsurprising exit will be followed by him joining Rajya Sabha – is not even a blip on the news waves. This is because BJP central command’s MO is to appoint party workhorses who have zero name recognition nationally, to positions of power as CMs. Haryana, Odisha, MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh are proof. In fact, even BJP’s new party chief started his national career as Nabin Who.
While it’s no surprise that Nitish will no longer be CM, the change may have been effected earlier than anticipated. Indications that Nitish’s tenth stint would not be full-term were evident during electioneering, his reported state of health one factor.
Nitish’s remarkable stint as CM is marked by his dexterity of political re-alignment, having last won an election in 2004 LS polls from Nalanda. He has never contested since, and was sent to Bihar’s Vidhan Parishad (upper house) after he became CM for the second time in 2005. Yet, he navigated Bihar’s caste politics smartly, created an EBC base, and was among early politicians to champion caste-impact of backward Muslim communities, the Pasmandas. And more than within a withered JDU, which has been but a one-man party, it is this EBC/ Pasmanda Muslim base that will eventually see a slow churn, with BJP at the helm – even if in Bihar, Hindutva politics have always ridden on a social justice plank.
BJP is now Big Bro in all big states where it was once junior partner to a regional party. Its electoral victories in Maharashtra and Bihar are evidence of its firm grounding, turfing out the state party it once piggybacked. And yet, even if only for the optics of it, BJP could not avoid giving deputy CMship to Nitish’s greenhorn son in “good faith”. That’s another measure of how much Nitish means to Bihar’s politics, even when he’s out of it.
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