PATNA:When the entire Opposition stands united in demonising Narendra Modi government’s demonetisation move, Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) national president Nitish Kumar has been cutting a lone furrow and giving non-NDA parties the jitters. But what appears politically self-defeating at the moment may well be part of a daring, long-term gamble the ambitious satrap of subaltern politics has engaged himself in, with eyes fixed on the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the race for prime ministership.
Nitish’s use of words such as ‘historic’ and ‘courageous’ to praise the scrapping of `500 and `1,000 currency notes has alarmed the RJD and the Congress—his allies in the Bihar government—and fuelled speculation of his inching closer to the BJP. By admiring the demonetisation move even when his own party’s senior leaders are speaking against it, Nitish has risked his alliance government’s stability. On Friday, when he praised the move at a rally in Patna, sitting beside him with uneasy composure were deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and Ashok Chaudhary, education minister and state Congress president.
“That Nitish’s support for Modi’s demonetisation decision has created cracks in Bihar’s Grand Alliance is both real and exaggerated simultaneously,” said a JD(U) leader close to Nitish.
JD(U) leaders, who vouch for their determined strategies to project Nitish as the prime ministerial candidate of a “non-BJP, secular alliance” in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, said the CM’s support for the demonetisation move stemmed from two crucial developments—failure of a non-BJP alliance in Uttar Pradesh that led to JD(U)’s decision to contest the polls there in alliance with two smaller parties, and JD(U)’s growing chill with the RJD.
“Nitish is the champion of clean, secular and idealist politics, which is the need of the hour for the country. He holds the courage to embrace anything, any decision, that is good for the entire country, be it ban on liquor or demonetising high-value currency notes,” said JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar.
With relations between Nitish and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav having turned less and less cordial in the last eight months, Nitish is decidedly weighing his options for an honourable and gainful way out.
But Nitish’s apparent resolve to give JD(U) a national footprint through alliances and present himself as a strong contender for the next prime ministerial candidature have prompted him to experiment with strategies that appear politically incorrect on the surface.
After Uttar Pradesh, JD(U) plans to contest in Delhi and in some northern states.
The crux of Nitish’s support for demonetisation, which analysts call a “double-edged sword,” is that while Lalu Prasad and other non-NDA leaders are busy scoring points against Modi and BJP, Nitish is presenting himself as a leader of national commitments who can be a better alternative to Modi in 2019. “This is why Nitish has called for raids on benami property as the next anti-corruption measure,” said a JD(U) strategist. Top JD(U) leaders have clarified that there is no plan of the regional party once again allying with BJP.
“With RJD being the largest party in Nitish’s ruling alliance and there being growing possibilities of the currently open doors closing abruptly on him in the near future, he is opening windows big enough for him to jump out for a bigger role both in Bihar and in national politics,” said a JD(U) insider. Nitish, it seems, revels in flying while on the verge of falling when the ground under his feet recedes.