Nitish packs bags for first trip abroad, Oppn says flood time is not right time

After taking charge in 2006, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is ready for his first trip abroad—to Mauritius.

After taking charge in 2006, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is ready for his first trip abroad—to Mauritius. But the move has given the Opposition fodder to target him as the visit comes at a time when the annual spectre of flood is looming over the state. Kumar, along with a team of bureaucrats, police officers and ministers, will be leaving for a week-long trip to Mauritius on Wednesday.

In a statement, leader of the Opposition Rabri Devi alleged that the Chief Minister was leaving on a pleasure trip to Mauritius even as the flood ravaged people of the state suffered. However, the irony was that Rabri Devi herself is in New Delhi along with her husband Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, and her statement was issued from there.

Rabri Devi said Kumar’s trip was a waste of the poor state’s money and would not fetch any investments. Interestingly, in the mid 1990s, Lalu Yadav, as Chief Minister of Bihar, had embarked on a much more elaborate tour of a number of foreign countries to attract investments. The trip had not only yielded no returns, but soon after Yadav also found himself embroiled in the multi-crore rupee fodder scam.

Meanwhile, Kumar’s first sojourn abroad is not overtly to attract investments. He is going there on an invitation from the Mauritian Government and hopes to strike an emotional chord among the people of Bihari origin who have a strong presence in the country. To ensure that, Kumar is carrying with him soil from the native village of Mauritius’ first Prime Minister Sir Seewoosagar Ramgoolam. Kumar has also promised to put up a statue of the leader regarded as father of the nation in the island country and set up a special cell to help people from the country to trace their roots in Bihar.

However, the emotional diplomacy also hopes to tap investment opportunities. Kumar hopes to put forward the investment agenda subtly by asking the people of Bihari origin in Mauritius to give back to their roots.