Saturday, August 04, 2007


Nitish Kumar: Miles to go

By : Md Mudassir Alam


WHAT’S MOST RIVETING in Bihar today is the wordy duel between chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav. Instead of being the serious kind of one-up battle, the verbal wrangling between the two, with a common political ancestry, often comes peppered with wit and humour. It is fun to see Laloo refer to Nitish as his “younger brother” — to score a point over him — and Nitish ungrudgingly accepting the compliment to make a return-point in humility.

Nitish and Laloo have been seen together on occasions, hugging and praising each other. On few occasions, Laloo has referred to Nitish as a soundless (damp) bomb and himself as a high-power bomb. And, when Nitish blames Laloo for RJD’s poor 15-year governance, Laloo shoots, “I have given Nitish a chance. If he is really good, then he should prove himself.”

Few days back, while addressing the media, Nitish said, “Laloo is a big entertainer. But he did not do justice to the chief minister’s job. He did everything to gain popularity, like dancing and singing with the common people, but never thought of Bihar’s development.” Surprisingly, the very next day, Nitish himself was seen in Laloo’s shoes at an unofficial tribal get-together held at speaker Uday Narayan Chowdahry’s residence. Enthusiastic Nitish was warmly welcomed by the tribals and the womenfolk washed his feet and tied a turban around his head. After the turban-tying function, Nitish hanged a drum around his neck and danced on the beat with the others. Nitish did what Laloo is known for.

Nitish, like Laloo, also didn’t forget to put out the political message and declared how much concerned he was to improve the plight of tribals, especially women. Nitish promised to provide all facilities, rights and full participation in governance.

Having been in power for more than year, the Nitish-led NDA government is trying hard to bring Bihar back on the path of development, portraying himself as a progressive chief minister. As claimed by Nitish, Bihar has certainly moved beyond the Lalu’s lantern regime. But there is so much to be done still that the impact of Nitish’s “good governance” is barely visible. He will have to do a mighty lot in the balance four years of his tenure to justify the boasts. In truth, Nitish seems to have got influenced by Laloo’s ways and has begun trumpeting development works as his achievement in just one year.

The high-decibel PR offensive launched by Nitish is visible at every nook and corner of capital Patna. You will see big hoardings and banners that proclaim the achievements of Nitish and the NDA government’s one-year rule.
If Nitish is really concerned about the people of Bihar, he should focus more on development works instead of wasting scarce financial resources of the state on publicity campaigns and advertisements. Bihar has just come out from its worst nightmare. Nitish, the only hope, must be wary of falling into the footsteps of Laloo.


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