Hooch tragedy hitting spirits, Nitish holds true to his yatra maxim: When in doubt, head out

In the recently concluded Winter Session of the Assembly, Nitish had hinted about the yatra. Attacked over the “failure” of the prohibition law in Bihar, the CM said: “I will go to the field to know what the people are saying (on the liquor policy).”

The Saran tragedy brought further scrutiny on the law at a time when the Nitish government has been facing criticism over it from all quarters, including courts. Ally RJD too is believed to be uneasy over the JD(U) chief’s insistence on enforcing it, despite several incidents forcing climbdowns such as easing of the law’s provisions. Even after the Saran deaths, an angry Nitish had declared that there was “no question of giving compensation” to people who died of consuming illegal liquor.

The state police was accused of under-reporting the deaths, even as adding to Nitish’s embarrassment, the NHRC in an unusual move dropped in for a visit.

While like Nitish’s other yatras, the official objective of this one too is assessing the government’s policies and programmes, its political goals are obvious. Reduced to third place in the state after the BJP and RJD, the JD(U) has been concerned about its shrinking vote base. The seven-party Mahagathbandhan won just one seat of the three that saw bypolls recently, a fact that will also be weighing on Nitish’s mind.

And though Nitish and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav are a picture of bonhomie these days, come polls, the JD(U) worry that the RJD votes do not transfer to it as readily as its own do to Lalu Prasad’s party could make the going tougher.

Sources said JD(U) leaders have also expressed their reservations privately to Nitish over his seemingly eager projection of Tejashwi as his successor. A senior JD(U) leader is believed to have recently told the CM that the party’s core constituency of OBC Koeri-Kurmi was not keen on this “premature announcement” given how far the 2025 Assembly polls were.

In fact, Nitish himself seemed to be trying to make amends recently when he downplayed the feverish speculation following the announcement that Tejashwi would represent the Bihar government at a Friday meeting of the National Ganga Council to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Following his mother’s demise, Modi would now be attending the meeting via video-conference.)

However, it is questionable if the yatra would be more than optics, given that Nitish is unlikely to get any honest feedback during the carefully orchestrated tour. Plus, the extreme cold conditions prevalent in the state currently are also likely to impact the public’s response.

Taking a dig at the yatra, BJP Leader of Opposition Vijay Kumar Sinha suggested that the CM start from hooch-hit Saran. BJP Rajya Sabha MP and former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi raised the state government’s planned purchase of a Rs 250-crore plan, and asked whether it was meant to “tour around country for )(Nitish’s) national Opposition bid or a gift it to his successor Tejashwi”.