‘Reformer Nitish’ looks beyond Bihar ahead of 2019

The grand success of the statewide human chain in Bihar reflecting people’s support for liquor prohibition was like hitting two birds with one stone for the campaign’s architect, CM Nitish Kumar.
Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad with other leaders at the event in Bihar on Saturday
Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad with other leaders at the event in Bihar on Saturday

PATNA: The grand success of the statewide human chain in Bihar reflecting people’s support for liquor prohibition was like hitting two birds with one stone for the campaign’s architect, CM Nitish Kumar. Voluntary participation of nearly 30 million people in the event not only gave the JD(U) stalwart a splendid chance to show off his popularity before his allies and critics, but also to firm up his attention on the general elections in 2019. Kumar’s prime ministerial ambitions are no secret.

Four hours after the human chain concluded on January 21, a beaming Kumar described the event as “unprecedented and historic,” and urged other states to take lessons from Bihar without the fear of loss to their exchequers and implement prohibition.

“After the statewide prohibition in Bihar, driven by a contentious law with draconian penal provisions, showed signs of success in mid-2016 and guaranteed the CM a steady flow of news coverage, he decided to make the campaign bigger for a national impact,” said a JD(U) leader. The idea came from Kumar himself at the meeting, sources said. “He (Kumar) wanted that a history-making human chain to be organised across the state at the same time and asked if the state’s administrative machinery could make it a success. Soon an plan was drawn up,” a JD(U) general secretary said.

The education department, which was made the nodal agency for the human chain, put all its might and coordinated with district magistrates for two months to finalise all aspects of the event and bring in the logistics. Meetings were held with block and panchayat-level people’s representatives, school headmasters and NGOs, among others, and ISRO was roped in to provide satellites to take photographs of the panoramic view of the human chain. An awareness campaign was also launched with the government sanctioning `10 crore for the event.
Kumar was directly supervision the arrangements along with the chief secretary.

RJD, the biggest party in Kumar’s alliance government, was initially cold to the human chain idea, but Kumar managed to keep the mouths of the party and the other ally, Congress, shut.

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