People in Bihar have faith in me: Nitish

There is an expectation now,at the individual and collective level,that Bihar will change. There are symbols of that expectation and hope.

Traditionally people have migrated out of Bihar because the state has had only agriculture,riddled with feudalism. People have gone from Bihar to Calcutta,Mumbai,Dhanbad and other places in search of opportunity. They used to be humiliated as Biharis. There is an attitudinal change now. People outside the state can see that there is economic activity in Bihar. Schools,roads and hospitals are being made. There is NREGA.

There is no definitive study on this yet,but our broad assessment is that the numbers of migrants have dwindled. More importantly,those who have gone outside feel like coming back to Bihar. We say to them: “Upar uthiye,Bihari baniye” (Rise and be proud to call yourself Bihari). In fact,this time in Punjab,they had to offer special incentives – free mobiles,unlimited calls home etc — to lure Biharis to work in their fields.

For the first time,there is an institutional arrangement for Bihar’s migrant labour to turn to even outside the state. The office of the resident commissioner has a cell attached to it,migrants can approach this cell with their problems. For instance,when work permits were made mandatory in Punjab,there was agitation and lathi charges. We took up the issue with the Punjab government. The work permit order was withdrawn and the problem was solved. Even UP migrants in Ludhiana started writing to me to help them.

* NOW that Lok Sabha elections have been all but declared,speculation about your alleged discomfort with the BJP leading to a political realignment is again doing the rounds.

This is just Delhi gossip. The BJP-JD(U) understanding is an old one. We have fought four Lok Sabha elections together – in 1996,1998,1999 and 2004 – and three assembly polls.

Look at it from my point of view. I am running a government that is showing results. Why would I want to destabilise it?

* BUT is the JD(U) uneasy about fighting these Lok Sabha polls in Bihar with LK Advani as the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate?

Our alliance is with the BJP,the BJP is the leading party at the national level and its prime ministerial candidate is Advani.

Lok Sabha polls should normally be about the performance,good or bad,of the government at the Centre,in this case the UPA. But in every state,the performance of the state government also matters. In Bihar,there was no performance worth the name of the government before this. Now there is a sense of government. The process has been started,right from holding cabinet meetings downwards. This will matter in these Lok Sabha polls.

I will ask for votes on my government’s performance. We didn’t have a pre-poll common manifesto with the BJP,our ideologies are different. But after elections,we arrived at a shared agenda of governance – ‘sushasan ka karyakram’. In this agenda,there is a 10-point programme for the welfare of minorities.

Advani’s candidature is no secret,everyone knows he is there. But the minority community in Bihar feels that my government is taking them along,they want us to stay. They’ve been scared about the BJP. But there has been absolute communal harmony in Bihar. They are completely reassured on every count – on education,for example,in bringing out-of-school children back to school,we have especially targeted Mahadalits and Muslims who make up the majority of the deprived.

The trend may be different in other states,there may be a question mark against the BJP. But in Bihar,the people have faith in me. They know that despite the BJP being a partner in government,we’ve moved for justice in the Bhagalpur riot cases. We’ve identified 8,000 kabristans for the construction of boundary walls in four years – this has long been a matter of dispute and violence between communities.

If they strengthen me,Muslims know I will be able to influence the national government under Advani too. Also,there is complete alienation of the people from the RJD – this much is explicit.

* IN the context of your alliance with the BJP,do incidents like the Mangalore pub assault by organisations of the Hindu right worry you?

I am not worried because my stand is clear. We have zero tolerance for such incidents in Bihar. There can be no intolerance in my state. That’s been my campaign for three years and it has only grown stronger.

* WOULD you be amenable to the BJP bringing in Narendra Modi as its star campaigner for these Lok Sabha polls in Bihar?

It does not matter. He hasn’t come to the state,either for the assembly polls or for the last Lok Sabha polls. In any case,outsiders don’t usually come to campaign in Bihar.

* WHAT do you make of the recent public jostling between UPA allies,Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan,on the question of who should lead the UPA in Bihar?

People know that they don’t get along,but they also know that this is just about bargaining for a better deal in seat-sharing.

* HOW do you view the controversy over the rift within the Election Commission?

The UPA is in power and it will decide. But in my view,the entire correspondence of the CEC to the government should be placed in the public domain in the best interests of the country. Only then can any informed debate begin. What were the specific instances of partisanship by Navin Chawla? Did the CEC cite only the BJP’s allegations or his own? The people have the right to know. At the moment,there are only selective leaks to the media,and it is being branded as a Congress versus BJP feud. For now,it is only a debate of captions,there is no clarity about content.

The CEC is a constitutional authority. We cannot dismiss what he has to say.

* THE CWC announced last week that the Congress would have only state-level alliances with its allies,and no national alliance.

In the case of both the NDA and UPA,the alliances are at the state level. So why say it out loud? By doing so,you are only showing up your internal contradictions. I think the Congress target was the NCP.

* OR Lalu’s RJD?

No,that relationship is unique. Congress workers may grumble about the RJD,but the leadership’s approach towards the RJD is like it is towards no other Congress ally. They don’t antagonise the RJD. This is despite the fact that Lalu has eaten up the Congress party in Bihar.

* IS there a difference between the Congress and BJP approach towards coalitions?

While under Atal Bihari Vajpayee,the coalition ran smoothly at the national level,the Congress is still in the learning process. They said something against alliances at Pachmarhi,and supported governments from outside and toppled them. Once they realised coalitions are inevitable,they led a coalition government but kept all the key portfolios with themselves. The Congress is half-hearted in its approach to coalitions.

* THERE are reports that the Centre has never been friendlier to Bihar.

If by Centre you mean the prime minister,the planning commission,yes,they want to help,they have a positive attitude. But the Congress’s ally doesn’t allow them to do so.

We’ve never had a problem in getting a hearing from the PM,we have a cordial relationship. But when it comes to a basic issue for Bihar – our demand for ‘special status’ for the state – we get nothing.

There are other issues as well. In electricity,we have said that a one-phase connection has no meaning for us,we have demanded three-phase connectivity for the state. No decision has been taken.

In education,we say give us the money. They say they will open high schools in every block of 400 backward districts. Will the Centre now run high schools?

The prime minister declared the Kosi calamity as a “national calamity” but when we gave a rehabilitation package,again no decision was taken. Similarly,when there was no decision on our demand for wheat,we started distributing cash instead.

The prime minister announced he would visit the state under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. But the visit was cancelled at the last minute.

This is a result of the Congress’s special relationship with the RJD.

* WHAT do you see as your political base in Bihar? There was a lot of talk of an unprecedented EBC consolidation in your favour when you won the election in 2005.

My base is constituted by all sections. Everyone realises that the government works for them — the Mahadalits,women,minorities. EBC consolidation is also underway.

A year ago,we set up the Mahadalit Aayog – now Paswan says I am dividing the Dalits. Even among the Scheduled Castes,some castes are more deprived than others. For example,the Musahars have a literacy rate of only 6 per cent.

The first report of the Mahadalit Ayog is already out. The Mahadalit Vikas Mission has been set up. Funds have been allocated,work has begun.

Bihar doesn’t have a settled state machinery like Tamil Nadu. But we are targeting deprived sections,our delivery is improving day by day.

* LALU Yadav says you have mimicked his style in your Vikas Yatra.

He is a single piece. How can I copy him? He is a worried man today. That is why even his sense of humour has gone missing.