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Journalism of Courage
BETWEEN 2018 and now, his party supremo Nitish Kumar has done yet another switch from the NDA to the Mahagathbandhan and is now busy putting together a united Opposition front. However, for JD(U) leader Harivansh Narayan Singh, the clock hasn’t moved from August 2018 when he first became the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson, courtesy the party’s friendly relations then with the BJP.
Occasionally, the JD(U) does sit up and take note of the curious case of the 67-year-old, who goes by the single name of Harivansh, and the dichotomy of his siding with the Narendra Modi government even as Nitish raises the banner against the Prime Minister.
One such occasion was the recent inauguration of the new Parliament building, which was boycotted by most of the Opposition, including the JD(U). Harivansh was not just present but to add insult to injury, read out speeches by the absent President and Vice-President – it’s their absence, specifically the President’s, that provoked the Opposition boycott.
The JD(U) made the usual noises, with its national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh a.k.a Lalan Singh saying “Harivansh has thrown his moral values in the dustbin”, but there was no follow-up action – again.
This has led many to argue, particularly Nitish’s aide-turned-bete noire Prashant Kishor, that Harivansh is nothing but Nitish’s trump card to be wielded when the chameleon-esque politician feels the need to again change political hues.
As a journalist plucked out of relative obscurity by Nitish to be one of his party’s MPs in the Rajya Sabha, and barely into his second term, Harivansh seems an unlikely player for such political games. But, others argue, it is precisely this that makes him a valuable asset for Nitish.
A former editor of a Hindi daily, Harivansh belongs to Saran’s Sitab Diara village, which was also the paternal village of Jayaprakash Narayan. Both the anti-Emergency activist plus former prime minister Chandra Shekhar were big influences on Harivansh.
After his masters in Economics from BHU and a brief stint as a bank official, Harivansh moved on to journalism, starting with Dharmyug, shifting to Ravivar and finally taking over as chief editor of Prabhat Khabar in 1989. He has authored 24 books, in both Hindi and English.
In 2014, Nitish nominated him to the Rajya Sabha for the first time. Harivansh said then: “I had no information… (till) Nitish Kumar called me.”
JD(U) leaders defend the fact that there was no official statement or “diktat” from the party to Harivansh to “not take part” in the inauguration of the new Parliament building, saying it would not have been proper to do so as he was technically only performing his constitutional duties as Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson.
Says a JD(U) leader: “These are tricky matters. Neither the CM (Nitish) nor the party’s national president can ask him anything officially on such matters. It is he who needs to use his discretion in such things and spare the party embarrassment.”
According to JD(U) leaders, any move such as suspension of Harivansh’s Rajya Sabha membership would have to be backed by a solid legal reason, which they don’t have.
In the closest parallel to this situation though, in 2008, the CPI(M) had taken swift action against its leader Somnath Chatterjee after he had chosen to stay on as Speaker, despite the CPI(M) pulling out of the UPA government. The CP(M) had expelled him from the party, and Chatterjee had stayed on as Speaker.
Harivansh was appointed as Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha in August 2018 as an NDA nominee. The Deputy Chairperson presides over the Upper House in the absence of the Chairperson, who is the Vice-President. In the current Rajya Sabha, the role is important because the ruling BJP does not enjoy as comfortable a position here as in the Lok Sabha.
In 2020, Harivansh was re-nominated to the Upper House, and again won the post as an NDA nominee.
Two years later, in August 2022, Nitish snapped ties with the BJP and returned to the Mahagathbandhan. Incidentally, Nitish then named Harivansh as one of the four people who had convinced him to change sides from the Mahagathbandhan to the NDA in July 2017.
Since the JD(U)-NDA split, Harivansh has been receiving indirect messages from various quarters to quit as Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha – but, crucially, never direct.
Though Harivansh was not available for comment, a source close to him said: “We do not understand how his discharging his duty as Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson becomes news or controversy. For the record, Harivanshji performed the same role during the foundation-laying ceremony for the new Parliament building two-and-a-half years ago. That time, he had read out a speech by the Vice-President. The same Nitish Kumar had backed it as an NDA ally then.”
The source also argued that there is precedence regarding Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairpersons – “from 1977 till 2014” — continuing in their posts irrespective of changes in the positions of their parties. “Right from Najma Heptullah to P J Kurien, no one resigned or was asked to resign. It is a constitutional position, above party lines… Even if the JD(U) had officially asked Harivanshji to not take part in the Parliament inauguration, he was under no obligation to obey.”
Pointing out that no one had asked Harivansh to resign, the source added: “Nitish Kumar has always shown grace to not speak on such matters. These are just paper kites floated in the media.”
JD(U) leaders also admit that if Nitish indeed thought Harivansh was “close” to PM Narendra Modi, as some feel now, he would not have been renominated in 2020.
However, few can claim to be sure what Nitish really wants, including the BJP. “Who knows he may need Harivansh again after the 2024 polls?” a senior BJP leader quipped.
