Nityanand Rai, who was appointed as Amit Shah’s deputy in Union Home Ministry after the grand victory of BJP in general elections, is contesting in Bihar assembly elections. Rai was the President of Bihar BJP from November 2016 to September 2019 when he vacated the seat for Sanjay Jaiswal- current Bihar BJP chief- after his appointment in the Union cabinet.
Rai held the Hajipur assembly constituency from 2000 to 2014 when he contested from Ujiarpur Lok Sabha constituency. Since then, he has risen consistently through the ranks under the tutelage of Amit Shah. Under his leadership, BJP has performed excellently in the state and won 17 out of 17 seats it contested in the 2019 general elections and also helped its alliance partners– LJP, who won 6 out of 6, and JD(U), who won 16 out of 17– to improve their vote share as well as the strike rate.
Now, he is contesting in Bihar assembly elections 2020 despite the fact he won Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 and is part of Union ministry. It seems, there is only one reason behind Amit Shah’s decision to bring him back, and that is, to appoint him as CM if the equations in the state change.
54 years old Rai belongs to the right caste, Yadav, in the caste-ridden politics of Bihar and has successfully won elections in Bhojpuri belt–the bastion of Lalu Yadav. In fact, his constituency is surrounded by the constituencies which had been represented by Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi in the past.
Rai has worked for ABVP and RSS-the ideological parent of BJP. A firebrand Hindutva leader, Rai, is head of the 70-member election steering committee for the Bihar polls. He is chairman cum convener of the committee and in a simplistic way leading the party’s campaign in the state.
Nityanand Rai is the only leader in the state who could end the dominance of RJD in Bihar, which has emerged as the largest or second-largest party in almost every election in the last three decades; thanks to the Muslim- Yadav combination of votes. Rai knows well that Yadavs are no friend of Muslims and the alliance of two communities was out of political compulsion.
Only Lalu Yadav could have managed such a complex alliance between the two communities and bring them together to come to power, and, given the fact, the charismatic leader is out of the equation, the stage is set for bringing Yadav into Hindutva fold.
Making a scathing attack against RJD, Nityanand Rai said, “Agar RJD ki sarkar is chunav main ban gayi to jo Kashmir ke aatankwadi hain we Bihar main aakar sharan lenge. Aisa hum hone nai denge (If the RJD forms government in this election then the terrorists in Kashmir will seek shelter in Bihar. We won’t let that happen).”
With right-wing elements already pushing for Krishna-Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura, it is the time that Yadavs come to their true heritage of Hindutva and shed the facade of secularism and socialism.
Nityanand Rai has been given all the responsibilities that a leader gets if s/he is set to be appointed as a CM candidate. If BJP emerges as the single largest party and could make a government with the help of LJP, JD(U) would be thrown out of the alliance and Nitish Kumar would bid a farewell. And even if BJP comes to power in alliance with JD(U), Rai would be given a plum ministry in the Bihar government and after a year or two, BJP would force 69-year-old Nitish Kumar to leave CM chair for Rai.