FISSURES GETTING DEEPER IN BIHAR

Strange are the ways of politics. It is still sometime for the final countdown for assembly polls to begin in Bihar. But fissures between JD (U) and BJP are close to reaching a point of no return over Nitish’s strict denial to allow campaigning for Narendra Modi and Varun Gandhi in the State. Despite BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain’s categorical remarks of there being no Article 370 in Bihar, implying that democratically and constitutionally, it was not possible to stop a party leader from electioneering in any other state, the BJP was left with no choice but to become quiet when Nitish Kumar didn’t budge from his stand. BJP has decided to take into account JD(U)’s sensitivities when deciding the campaigners in the State. Obviously, ground has been conceded by the BJP which had to bow to Nitish’s requests without really saying so. After all, politics is politics and ultimately, compulsions prevailed.
However, things are not so rosy at ground level. Several cases of sloganeering and verbal attacking have taken place in recent past between JD(U) and BJP workers. These fissures may widen further as polls draw nearer and campaigning becomes more cut-throat. Both parties will have to keep a watch on its workers and prevent unwanted disturbance.
The two parties seemed on a splitsville course, when just a few days later, BJP reportedly said that JD(U)’s sensitivities will be taken into consideration when deciding the campaigners in the state. Obviously, ground had been conceded by the BJP. It had bowed to Nitish’s requests without really saying so. So, politics is politics and ultimately, compulsions prevail. The BJP-JD(U) is also likely to stick to their 2005 seat sharing formula, which has not come as a surprise. It can be left unsaid that the 15-year-old partnership cannot afford to break at this point, just months before Bihar polls.
The entire drama started when Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar objected to a poster showing incorrect pictures of some Muslim school girls of Azamgarh (UP), presumably shown as from Gujarat. But what got him fuming was an advertisement in a local daily showing him and Modi holding hands at an earlier election campaign in Ludhiana. This immediately aroused in him fears of any potential loss of Muslim votes at this delicate juncture i.e just ahead of state elections. Nitish, then stretched it a bit too far by returning the Rs 5 crore Kosi flood relief money back to Gujarat and canceling a dinner he was to host for the BJP during its National Executive at Patna. Modi is despised by the state’s Muslim electorate post the Godhra riots. Since the campaigning would be for the alliance as a whole, therefore it is very likely to show Kumar as a Modi supporter and damage his image in front of the 12-16% Muslims of the state. Hence the vociferous stubbornness at not letting his state counterpart campaign in Bihar. Likewise, Varun Gandhi’s speeches are ridden with communal overtones, so Nitish cannot afford to be seen as friendly with him. When the Bihar Chief Minister sent a police team to Surat to inquire into published advertisements, it created cracks in the coalition. But his recall of the cops at BJP’s protest showed that the fissures were just temporary. Both the allies have known their indispensability to each other. And that is why Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi’s accompanying Nitish on the last leg of his Vishwas Yatra did not surprise. Nitish’s statement to the media on the same day, “Everything is fine”, has silenced any alarm bells.