Opinion Simply Nitish

The story of Bihar has almost become like a Panchatantra story overnight. It has many different morals for those who are listening in — “he” has built more bridges than roads,the property tax system introduced in Patna has been replicated in several states,marginalised social groups not only felt they were visible,but felt benefits flow down to them. “Magical radicalism”,an analyst called all this some months ago. But the result this week is singularly marked by the emergence of a leader,who on one hand sups with the BJP,but openly thumbs his nose at one of its most powerful men on the other,one who also stands for ideas which the aam aadmi brand Congress would love to own and also displays a wily ability to craft out “class” as a political category within old social identities,which would make leftists envious. All in all,it has been a shrewd mix of generating expectations,creating a desire for more time to “him” to “complete” the task at hand. Nitish Kumar has creatively ensured that “development” is not just a codeword signifying the furthering of interests of the privileged,but a word that every Bihari would take to mean a better life,however understood — institutional deliveries for pregnant Musahar women,bicycles for adolescent schoolgirls,late opening hours for Hindu and Muslim shopkeepers alike and scholarships for the poor,of all denominations.Several Bihar watchers admit it’s not as if all roads are great and,to quote Lalu,there aren’t too many “sui-maachis” factories. But Nitish’s success lies in having effectively turned this election around himself and having changed the political discourse in India’s most political state. So,effectively,you had the finger-wagging Congress and a cynical RJD talking well within the newly laid parameters of Nitish,when they argued that “development” was just a myth. Expectation is easy to win on if you are in the opposition,especially as the last election was fought on and around the other Bihar stalwart,Lalu Prasad. But this time,if after five full years in office,Nitish was able to see his alliance back in office with a three-fourths majority,it should be no exaggeration to term it a turning point.The emergence of another powerful state satrap must signal good times for voters as it heralds more choice for electorates and their well-being — as assessed by themselves as a factor in politics. What makes this victory significant is Nitish’s location in the NDA framework. After Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s retirement,the NDA has been looking for an anchor,in terms of not sheer winnability but also a larger question of what it stands for. The new president of the BJP has often been caught hearing that they “need” Muslim and Dalit votes,but there was a strong voice in the party which urged them to desist from trying to mimic the Congress’s umbrella and keeping “nationalism” as their hallmark,nationalism which wary minorities read as another form of crass identity politics directed against them.Nitish’s victory trumps the BJP’s identity politics as much as it does his rivals’,as he has pushed policies which they would hardly have championed in their states and invested social justice with new meaning,and not junked the idea as it’s being sometimes said. Nitish’s persona and appeal also ensured a thumbs up for the BJP,ostensibly from groups who would never have voted for the BJP before — overall,signalling to them that there was plenty of sense in recasting themselves,and blunting the edge of being seen as the party of upper castes and minority-bashers. It is now up to the BJP to respond to Nitish in the alliance,to either build him up as someone the BJP can do business with,and toy seriously with the idea of embracing him,like a cautious Congress did with YSR and then Sheila Dikshit — proof that their party was about programmes which they could implement,which would benefit everyone. There could of course be a minimum of two ways in which the BJP plays this. It could ideally want to use Nitish,as it did Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy in Karnataka,to ultimately make it “their” state,but Nitish’s persona makes that comparison futile. But it could also use Nitish as a model to attract other leaders — who presently see the Congress as the only national winnable ally — and hope to divest itself of the baggage of Gujarat 2002.For the Congress again,hitting such a low in Bihar would of course mean recognising the power of building local leaderships in states,and delicately balancing the desire of having a viable central command as well as networks on the ground locally. It will also wonder if it was at all viable to go-it-alone without the necessary tool-kit,after all. In a more immediate sense,an obvious fillip in the BJP’s position would mean a more aggressive opposition,and a challenge to the Congress’s stance of being the sole providers of “social provisions” and therefore inclusive growth.For Nitish’s main adversary,his erstwhile friend Lalu Prasad,it is a rude shock. Those of course celebrating the demise of caste in Bihar would be celebrating too soon. Lalu,after all,took on feudal oppression in the form of senas and vahinis of the landed elites in the state and cleared the path for what is today Nitish’s peace dividend. But Lalu failed himself by his inability to innovate on the job and to stop treating issues of governance as an upper-caste conspiracy,not comprehending that poor governance impacts the poor the most. But most of all,in the brave positioning of Nitish during the Rajya Sabha’s passage of the women’s reservation bill in March,something that Lalu and even his own party MPs opposed so vehemently,there were seeds of what he reaped on Wednesday. Fifty per cent reservation for women in all municipal bodies in his state,despite all the cynicism around it,has meant a new loyal,if somewhat quiet,support group which struck when it had to.In a way that they don’t all perhaps acknowledge,Nitish may not have jumped ship dramatically as Naveen Patnaik did before the 2009 polls,but he has bolstered the argument for imaginative political entrepreneurship beyond the pale of what just the Congress and the BJP stand for. Hobbled by trying to balance their national presence with the need for dexterity at the local level,it’s the Congress and the BJP that are now fumbling to deal with a changing India. Nitish Kumar has shown that the patent for all political innovation does not necessarily lie with the two big parties.

seema.chishti@expressindia.com