Nitish Kumar seeking an image of Bihar's Gandhi

By Arun Srivastava. Dated: 4/25/2017 11:14:01 AM

Champaran Satyagrah centenary offers a big opportunity

The road to the prime minister's official chamber goes through Champaran, Mahatma Gandhi's karmbhumi. Of late karmbhumis across the country have attained immense importance for the political system of the country as well as to the practitioner of the trade. They have come to realize that for decent survival it is imperative that he should identity with any of the legends.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar too has come to realize this allegory and to encompass it he is busy ordaining a new image makeover; other than his image of being an logo of social justice. Deviating from his avowed political line of social justice, in recent days he has made a tactical paradigm shift to politics of reforms.
Not so naïve to understand that the weapon of social justice has gradually lost its sharpness during the phase of ultra-modernism and Hinduism, Nitish too has been searching for a mace to clear the weeds. Post 2015 assembly elections, caste factor were attributed as the key factor for his win. But he knows that 2019 Lok Sabha election is going to be entirely different. The same social engineering mechanism cannot be used.
Moreover with a strained relation with Lalu Yadav, the backward castes are not likely to throw their behind him. He has already turned suspect in the eyes of Yadavs, and OBCs. They are apprehensive of his future moves. If the voter from the backward castes are unable to repose their faith in him, on his part he is also not feeling cozy in their company. His caste vote quite negligible, barely 1.5 per cent of Bihari population, for Nitish it is better to go for image makeover than to dance to the tunes of Lalu Yadav.
Image makeover has become a compulsion for him. His caste supporters and well wisher from other castes have made him realise that he would be committing a crime by reling on Lalu. Interestingly Nitish who triumphed the 2015 assembly elections on the idiom of caste, a couple of days back publically announced that his government would launch a campaign against casteism and its pernicious impact on society. Significantly he said these words while paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on the centenary of the Champaran Satyagraha.
Nitish will be playing a proactive role. After unveiling a bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Gandhi Sangrahalaya in Patna, he said;"We will start a campaign against jaat-paat (casteism) and its ill-effects on society. We will also campaign against the dowry system and child marriage. Our wish is to implement Gandhiji's thoughts and philosophy in the state, spread awareness about them and march towards progress". The sudden realization that casteism has ill-effects on society is really intriguing.
True enough Nitish is striving to create a new modern socialist-Gandhi out of his image of a socialist-caste leader. But uncertainties are more acute and pronounced. Resorting to Gandhian mode of reform politics, Nitish tried to convey the message that here is person who is not in politics for material gains. Strategically this will help him take him nearer to a major section of society was for decency, transparency and honesty in politics. Like the women who rallied behind him after he enforced prohibition, Nitish nurses the view that his latest Gandhian act will enamour the urban middle class and make them rally behind him. Nitish wants to court Dalits, backward classes and the middle class.
This turn round of the person who in 2009 departed from his development agenda and redrew the caste equation in his favour is quite important. He presented himself as the father figure of Mahadalits. He has made his intentions of launching a crusade against dowry and child marriage. This is nothing but purely a populist move. His prohibition move has failed. There is no guarantee nonetheless that other social issues will receive wide support.
By deciding to celebrate 100 years of Champaran - Gandhi's first satyagraha -Nitish has made his intentions clear. Nitish has been harping on four words. The four words are; Gandhi, satyagraha, non-violence, and sampradayik sadbhav (communal harmony). By using these words Nitish is trying to blunt Modi's ideological line and redefine secularism. The significance of "Champaran 100" goes beyond the usual anniversary celebrations that political establishments indulge in from time to time.
But the fact remains that Nitish is resorting to hogwash. Social reform is not the panacea for the malaise that has inflicted Bihar. The post-Independence era witnessed the dismal failure of the state in ushering in the changes required to accelerate economic development as well as to bring about a fair and equitable social structure. The causes for this can be traced to the very nature of the power structure in Bihar. Ownership of land and other assets, caste dominance, political power structure and the oligarchies that control the state apparatus and their resources all overlap in a way which is by no means unique to Bihar but which takes a particularly entrenched form here.
Modi's stance on demonetization reaped a rich political harvest despite wide protest though it had brought hardships and inconvenience to people and cost many in the informal sector losing their jobs and business. However his action convinced ordinary people that the prime minister was capable of talking tough and bold decisions and would do something good and dramatic in the future. But Nitish's actions do not compensate the trust deficit, His attempt to create an alternative narrative has not enthused the common Bihari. Nitish could not have got a better occasion to talk about the relevance of Gandhism in the present climate of "intolerance and conflict. His move to reach out to the people with Gandhian thoughts and ask them to decide on an agenda of the people, rather than for politicians to decide the country's agenda is still in embryonic stage.
—(IPA Service)

 

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